Facilitating sanitation governance in small town DRC

This paper describes the initial results of formative research on Sanitation Governance carried out through the Sanitation Marketing (SanMark) programme in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is a fragile state slowly emerging from a dictatorship and a war. The development of a local sanitation market is hampered by a high degree of distrust towards the state amongst citizens, and the expectation that international development organisations will provide free goods and services. The SanMark programme has sought to overcome these challenges by working with the Comité Locale de Pilotage (CLP), a local steering committee, composed of a broad coalition of representatives from local government, civil society and the private sector. The work of the CLP has contributed towards ensuring the legitimacy of the SanMark programme within the local community, the business community, and within the local state structures.