Community swaps garbage dump for fast food and basketball

Public, private sectors unite for better community conditions

Local official Pape Mesta Anne (right) and Sicap resident Marie Louise Diawara discuss the improvements brought about after authorities worked with a local business to develop and clean up the area for the benefit of the entire community. Photo: R. Nyberg, USAID

What was once a filthy, foul-smelling trash heap frequented by drug users has become a green and airy recreational area that people come out to enjoy each day. Residents in the central Dakar district of Sicap owe this positive transformation to some clever businessmen and local authorities, who with USAID assistance quickly realized the benefits of working together.

“Before you couldn’t even breathe here because of the trash,” said Pape Mesta Anne, general secretary of Sicap’s local development committee. For years this area, the size of a city block, had precious little value and was something to be avoided.

It all started to change when USAID, through its implementing partner, Environment Development Action (ENDA), began working with 35 local associations as well as elected officials, religious leaders, retired individuals, and others to draw up a five-year development plan running through the year 2009. One of the recommendations was to do something with these unused public spaces.

Sicap’s government worked out a deal with a local butchery, “La Belle Viande,” in which Sicap provided land for butcher shops and “la Belle Viande” agreed to spruce up the public spaces surrounding their new establishments. This has provided Sicap residents easier access to butchers and cleaner and safer recreational areas for their families. The arrangement has worked well for La Belle Viande, its customers, and the community at large.

“Young people used to take drugs here, but now with the business open and a park with benches, people can now meet in a clean environment to eat in peace and talk,” said Anne.

Another big draw for Sicap has been the new basketball court – the only one for miles around – set up by La Belle Viande. “Kids are out here playing all the time, sometimes even at night because there are lights,” said the fast food cook at the shop, Mame Ngone Seck, as the first teenager strolled in with his orange ball. “Creating this park is good for the people who saw the garbage that was piled up here before. Now there are public benches, and the neighbors come out to buy their dinner.”

“This is a good example of partnership, thanks to the support from USAID and ENDA,” he added. “We have to approach the private sector because we need businesses here. The local development plan plays a key role in developing our town, and we have been successful so far.”

Anne said that when Prime Minister Macky Sall saw Sicap’s local development plan, he suggested that other local governments should follow their lead in bringing the private sector into the development picture.

Through its programs, USAID/Senegal has helped local governments and communities across the country develop the tools and policies needed to more effectively collect revenues and manage their budgets, provide drinking water, dispose of solid waste, and manage profitably and soundly their forests and arable lands. USAID has also helped build advocacy and management skills among local elected women to make them more effective representatives of their constituents’ interests.