The Influence of Community Partnership Approaches on Household Waste Management in Ngaba Municipality, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

The aim of the study was to assess the influence of community partnership approaches on household waste management in Ngaba Municipality, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The study was anchored on Stakeholder Theory. A mixed method with convergent-parallel design was used. A population of 5,985 household heads and 8 local leaders was targeted. Further, 386 households were sampled using Yamane's formula of 1967 and stratified technique used to recruit the household heads while 8 local authorities were considered purposively. Interviews and observation techniques collected qualitative data while questionnaires gathered quantitative data. Validity was ensured by applying data triangulation to compare quantitative data from surveys with qualitative data from interviews with key informants. The quantitative data was analyzed using statistical techniques with the help of SPSS Version-27. Qualitative data were analyzed through semantic and narrative thematic analysis. Findings showed that community partnership approaches have an important role in supporting household waste management in Ngaba, particularly through financial support, training activities, awareness, and waste collection services. The study concluded that, although community partnership was established as instrumental in waste management, it was also established that it was not sufficient, owing to issues of poor visibility, poor engagement, and structural issues. On the effectiveness of community partnerships in enhancing household waste management, 60.3% of the respondents saw the partnerships as moderately effective, 20.0% saw the partnerships as extremely effective, while 19.7% saw the partnerships as not effective. The study recommends local and National governments to develop and improve a formal structure for the involvement of communities in waste management by facilitating training and awareness-raising and promoting waste management projects among communities like recycling and segregation and ensure improved coordination and greater access to services among households. Key words: Community Partnership Approaches, Households, Waste Management Practices