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Case Study
USAID helps a local
government reinstitute
garbage collection
services
Municipality Springs To Action
Photo: Urban Institute
A $17,800 grant from USAID helped the
city jumpstart its plans.
“USAID helped us to
implement our plans for
better public services.
Now the local government
and residents can work
together to find solutions
and be successful together.”
-Muhiba Yakubova,
Chairwoman of Isfara.
Challenge
The city of Isfara with the population of 38,600 in Sughd Province,
northern Tajikistan, was a typical Tajik town with dysfunctional
services and disillusioned residents. Isolated from the rest of
the country by the surrounding borders of Kyrgyzstan, Isfara’s
local government lacked the financial and technical resources to
develop and implement needed services. In particular, solid waste
management became an increasingly urgent issue: uncollected
trash made the streets unsightly and posed environmental and
health threats to residents.
Initiative
USAID partnered with 9 Tajik local governments across the
country to improve their performance and accountability to their
communities. One of the local governments was in Isfara. With
assistance and trainings from USAID, Isfara’s local government
developed an all-encompassing Service Implementation Action
Plan. The plan prioritized community needs, called for the creation
of municipal services to address concerns, and provided for the
long-term viability of these services. With USAID support, the local
government used public hearings, public meetings, group sessions,
and civic education to engage residents and develop a garbage
collection service. USAID experts helped detail its budget, the
roles and responsibilities of officials and citizens; plan equipment
procurement and maintenance, collection schedules, and routes;
and design a financial recovery plan to ensure the services’
sustainability. A grant from USAID helped the city jumpstart its
plans.
Results
In June 2008, Isfara debuted its reinstated garbage collection
service for the first group of 20,000 residents, something the
city had not seen for more than 15 years. The service includes
individual household bins, community metallic trash containers, and
a modern compactor truck, bought with funding from USAID and
the local government. As residents begin to pay for the garbage
collection, Isfara’s local government plans to expand services to
the other parts of the city. As soon as the fee collection reaches the
next benchmark identified in the city’s transparent financial recovery
plan for the solid waste management services, the municipality
plans to buy an additional compactor vehicle. This equipment will
enhance the city’s landfill operations and enable more residents to
benefit from the improved public services.
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