The African Water Association (AfWA), in collaboration with the National Sanitation and Drainage Board and the commune of Yamoussoukro, organized from December 5th to 6th 2017, an urban sanitation strategic planning workshop centered on the Non Sewer Sanitation (NSS). This workshop, which was held in the Ivorian political capital city Yamoussoukro was attended by key sanitation stakeholders in Côte d’Ivoire, development partners, including the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the African Water Facility (FAE), the city council of Yamoussoukro and the Senegal National Sanitation Board), a mentor within the framework of the project relating to the capacity building of the African operators in Non Sewer Sanitation and fecal sludge management through peer partnerships (RASOP-Africa). The objective was to share with the main stakeholders, the results of the initial sanitation evaluation in Yamoussoukro and the Performance Improvement Plan (PIPs) elaborate within the framework of the project, in order to make sure that the interests and contributions of the stakeholders were appropriately taken into account. Also, the ultimate objective was to agree on the contents of the document relating to the strategic planning of the Non Sewer Sanitation management of the city. During the opening ceremony of the workshop, Mr Sylvain USHER, AfWA Executive Director recalled the progress already achieved by the project and then, expressed the wish that participants fully join the program of the workshop and that their contributions lead to better results expected from the project. As for the first assistant of the mayor of Yamoussoukro commune, Mr Yaoura KONAN, the representative of the Mayor, he expressed his gratitude to the AfWA for choosing Yamoussoukro for the implementation of the project since the access to sanitation remains a major concern for the commune.

The work in group which followed dealt with the increase in the rate of access of the populations to adapted and operational drainage systems, the capacity building of the stakeholders of non-collective sanitation, the development of the non-collective sanitation market and the setting-up of a follow-up-evaluation and capitalization device.

At the end of the workshop participants expressed their satisfaction for the fruitful exchanges which made it possible to finalize the performance improvement plan and to have a precise idea regarding the expectations of the commune with respect to the project. According to the organizers, the project files will be elaborate from the results of the workshop and presented to the financial backers. Thus, the future can be promising for Yamoussoukro because the issue relating to Non Sewer Sanitation will be dealt with and living environment will be improved.

Let us note that this workshop was organized within the framework of the capacity building project of the African sanitation operators through peer partnership training (Rasop-africa) which started in 2015 and which is financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).