| Abstrakt: |
The rapidly growing urban centers in the Lake Victoria basin-Kenya, are playing an increasingly important role in the economic development of the region. But most of these towns are experiencing unplanned and spontaneous growth. The run-down and often nonexistent basic infrastructure and services in most of them poses a major threat to their sustainability. The poor populations of these urban centers, most of who remain outside the reach of municipal services, are most affected. The unplanned urban development and intense pressure on basic infrastructure have had significant negative impact on living conditions, natural environment and fragile ecosystem of the lake. These small towns are yet to reap the benefits of upstream reforms taking place in water and sanitation sector in the country as a whole particularly in solid waste management sector. The local authorities overwhelmed by the rapid and unplanned development of these towns, lack the capacity or resources to address the widening demand-supply gap. When local governments confront common regional problems, they can pursue benefits of coordination with other local entities through regional governance organizations or regional partnerships . Kisii, Homabay and Migori municipalities in Kenya are the councils under study that provide a potential for regionalization because of among other reasons, their proximity. This study used interview schedules, observation sheets, waste characterization and stakeholders' workshop to gather the data necessary to advance policy recommendations for regionalization. The study employs theoretical arguments of modernized mixtures and multi-level governance by bringing on board 'regionalization' which would be grouped under 'Type II Governance.' In Type II Governance, jurisdictions are aligned not on just a few levels, but operate at numerous territorial scales. There is generally no reason why the smaller jurisdictions should be neatly contained within the borders of the larger ones. On the contrary, borders will be crossed, and jurisdictions will partly overlap. The study revealed that regionalization may not necessarily be possible throughout the waste chain but it can be a useful strategy along certain aspects of the waste chain in a bid to manage solid waste amongst the small urban centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
