The Sanitation Tours aim to increase advocacy capacity among key influencers, building key stakeholders’ capacity for greater impact.
In 2019, delegations from Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire, including journalists visited sanitation facilities initiatives in Burkina Faso. The Tour allowed Mayors to learn about domestic resource mobilization strategies that were successfully implemented by local authorities in Burkina Faso.
In June 2019, representatives from Yamoussoukro (Cote d’lvoire), including the Second Deputy Mayor, and from Senegal, including Mr. Ismaela Diagne, Mayor of Agname Civol in Senegal, toured Burkinabe cities’ local sanitation facilities and discussed solutions to local sanitation challenges. Ms. Maimouna Diarra Dione, Technical Advisor to Senegal’s Minister of Water & Sanitation, Ms. Dedo W. Mate-Kodjo, Regional Advocacy Manager at WaterAid, also attended.
The same month the municipality of Yamoussoukro initiated its own Leader-Led Total Sanitation (LLTS) Strategy, also known as the “Merci Houphouët” Initiative. The city should hold its first “Sanitation Night” in 2020, as part of the LLTS approach.
Building on the LLTS-Yamoussoukro launch, local journalists were convened to a field visit for them to familiarize themselves with Non-Sewered Sanitation and for them to better understand local authorities’ role and responsibilities in the sanitation and fecal sludge management sector, as well as the major challenges encountered in the implementation process.