2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
18th Edition
Djougou: Local water committee for the Djougou dam
The commune of Djougou is located in north-west Benin in the Donga department. It covers an area of 3,966 km² and is 461 km from Cotonou. The commune of Djougou is divided into twelve arrondissements, subdivided into one hundred and twenty-two villages and town districts. The capital of the department, it is the third most populous commune in the country, after the capital and Abomey Calavi. According to the 2013 general population census, Djougou had 267815 inhabitants. Its population, which has grown by 3.53% per annum, is estimated to reach 365,954 in 2022. Its urban population is 238,000.
In 1950, on the eve of the country's independence, the town was equipped with a surface water reservoir known as the Djougou dam, designed to meet agro-pastoral needs. Located to the south-west of the town, it is wedged between the town and the outlying villages, which have been home to a classified forest since 1946. The dam had a wet, dense and varied ecosystem, with large, inexhaustible ponds that were its main water reservoirs. The largest of the ponds was sacred to the local people because of the crocodiles that lived there. In the 1980s, with the rapid growth of the population, drinking water began to run short. Faced with the pressing need for drinking water, the water dam was entrusted to the Société Nationale des Eaux du Bénin, which made it the main source of drinking water for the urban population.
Under the combined effects of the economic activities of the growing population and climate change, the dam's ecosystem is being attacked and destroyed. The dam, under attack from all sides, dried up completely in 2014. It was finally saved by the government, which cleaned up the bottom of the basin without, however, planning a programme to restore its ecosystem.
In 2020, with a view to preserving this main water resource, the Djougou Municipal Council decided to set up a Local Water Committee (CLE) for the first time, made up of the stakeholders involved in managing the dam. The CLE's main mission is to ensure the restoration of the dam's catchment area through the participation of all stakeholders. Thanks to this committee, the municipality has benefited from financial support from the German Cooperation (Agir Eau), which has enabled it to develop several activities to restore and preserve the dam's catchment area and ecosystem.
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