Long-term affairs
Finding ways of sustaining interest in community initiatives is a question faced daily by thousands of groups involved in agricultural and rural development. Often, after an initial surge of activity and success, they find that energy drops, interest fades, and funds run out. Not so with the Set Setal group of women in Thiès, Senegal, whose work on the collection and management of household waste recently won them the Grand Prix from the President of Senegal. Set Setal, which means Òbe clean, make cleanÓ in Wolof, aims to improve local hygiene by collecting much of the 65% of household waste that is not gathered by local authorities. Using small carts bought with a start-up grant from the United Nations Development Programme, Set Setal teams take the waste to a composting site, which supplies local farmers and a nursery (annual output of 12,000 trees). Set Setal's 30 employees and almost 1000 member households all strive to ensure the sustainability of their initiative. Their daily operational costs are covered by the monthly rental of CFA francs 750 paid by members for a rubbish bin. The fact that all financial transactions are managed by women is a guarantee that payments are made. The group plans to increase its income through market gardening and by operating a telecentre (see Spore 79) so that it can create more capital for expanding its services to the whole city. Set Setal also devotes much effort to monitoring, staff support and training in financial management and planning. For further information Centre ressource pour une agriculture régénératrice BP A 237 Thiès, Senegal Fax: +221 511 670
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
1999
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/48427 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99583 |
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