Lives and Livelihoods Fund deliver sanitation trucks to tackle rapid urban growth challenges in Guinea

The Government of Guinea and the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) provided 56 sanitation trucks to the National Agency for Public Hygiene and Sanitation (ANASP) under the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation to address challenges linked to urgent solid waste disposal in the poorest parts of the city.

The ceremony of handing over these trucks was held under the high patronage of the country’s Head of State, Professor Alpha Alpha Condé and [the representative of LLF], on March 30, 2021, at the ‘Palais du Peuple’ in Conakry.

This multilateral development initiative assists the least developed countries in the region to lift their populations out of poverty.

Indeed, Guinea has experienced rapid urban population growth, with the number of people living in urban areas rising from 16.6% in 1971 to 36.9% in 2020. Within 10 years, it is estimated that more than half of the Guinea population will live urbanised.

However, a reported 80% of rural households, and some 54% of those in the urban areas, dispose of their waste in the open, and it is estimated that less than 6,7 % of households in Guinea practice safe waste disposal. The impact of the situation contributes to both environmental problems, such as flooding, and health risks, such as contamination of open water sources.
As a result, the government, through the “National Plan for Economic and Social Development”, has identified access to quality social services such as hygiene, sanitation and drinking water as a top priority.

“Populations living in a healthy environment and who are themselves healthy are citizens capable of investing themselves fully and with all their might in the process of resilience to shocks and socio-economic development underway in Guinea as part of the emergence hoped for in 2040.” His Excellency Professor Alpha Condé, Head of State, President of the Republic.

The Conakry Sanitation Project aims to improve safety, environmental and social conditions in the city. This is done for instance through better access to a sustainable waste collection system and protecting the environment through improved waste treatment at the public garbage dump.

Thanks to the project, 1.7 million inhabitants will be protected from flooding and benefit from regular collection of solid waste. Sludge treatment will increase from 0 in 2017 to 500 cubic metres per day in 2022, while the number of cases of malaria, diarrhea, schistosomiasis, and typhoid are predicted to drop by half in children under 5 years old. The project is also creating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.

The purchase of the fleet of sanitation trucks was made with US$54 million allocated to the Conakry Sanitation Project funded by the Lives and Livelihoods Fund, a multilateral development initiative created by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and development cooperation partners including the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, King Salman Relief and Humanitarian Aid Center, and Qatar Fund for Development. An additional financing of US$ 1 million was also injected into the Conakry Sanitation Project by the IsDB to further rehabilitate the project and ensure the proper maintenance of the newly acquired fleet.

In a speech that was delivered on the behalf of His Excellency Dr. Bandar Hajjar, President of the IsDB, Dr Alpha Diallo, the IsDB field representative in Guinee, said: “The ambition of the Lives and Livelihoods Fund is to enable countries to invest in the key services and infrastructure that will ensure a safer, healthier and more prosperous future for their people.

“Access to safe and effective waste disposal is one such necessity that every person should have, which is why we are proud to be supporting the Conakry Sanitation Project and helping the city to tackle a challenge that will fundamentally improve the lives of some of its most disadvantaged citizens.”

The Lives and Livelihoods Fund uses an innovative financing model that combines grants of the regional and international donors with the lending capital of IsDB to offer concessional loans. These loans don’t just address immediate needs but set in motion fundamental change for millions of world’s most disadvantaged people.

By blending grants with affordable loans, the LLF also unlocks capital for those that would not normally be able to access a higher level of financing. The fund currently supports 28 projects across Africa and Asia, including in Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mauritania and Uganda.

“With the support of our technical and financial partners, the Government has invested significantly in the purchase of equipment and logistics to improve hygiene and sanitation in the capital. We urge the beneficiary populations to ensure maintenance of the equipment and we urge those in charge, at all levels, to manage these facilities efficiently in order to restore Conakry’s image as the pearl of West Africa.” Ms. Kanny Diallo, Minister of Planning and Economic Development of the Republic of Guinea and IsDB Board of Governors representative of Guinea .

According to UN-Habitat, lack of sanitation has led to more than 1,200 daily deaths of children under five worldwide, more than the number of deaths caused by AIDS, measles and tuberculosis combined.

It is for this reason that Professor Alpha CONDE, Head of State, President of the Republic constantly urges the Guinean population to adopt appropriate hygiene practices and attitudes so that everyone protects themselves and their relatives as well as the environment, in accordance with the strategy of professionalization of the management of solid waste in Conakry.