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Empowering Young Women to Rise Above Challenges

Group your waste

An efficient waste management and recycling system that creates jobs for young people, women, and disadvantaged groups while lowering expenses.

Municipality

GH
Ciudad de Kumasi , Región de Ashanti,

Category / Sub-Category / Topic

Environment, Environmental management

Type of investment needed

Subsidy

Associated SDGs

The challenge

The Metropolitan Assembly currently spends approximately 60% of its income on waste management. Our objective with this is to reduce the cost using Fante New Town as a pilot.

The project

Waste management and recycling solution that focuses on source separation by residents to reduce current costs of managing waste and generate employment. The main goal of the initiative is to promote the separation of waste at the source of generation.

This project, which focuses on separating organic trash from inorganic garbage, would encourage the reuse and recycling of generated waste rather than depositing it in a landfill. For instance, organic waste can be turned into compost for crop production while inorganic waste like plastic can be recycled for other uses. Source separation is important because it helps to segregate waste into organic and inorganic. Separating inorganic waste will help to reduce the amount of dry waste in the environment. Doing so will help keep the environment of Fante New Town cleaner.

Infrastructure and logistics will be provided to support source separation in Fante New Town. In addition, there will be a set of actions conducted to properly educate and create awareness on source separation, such as community engagement, sensitization programmes and training.

There is also a specific goal, that is to create jobs and derive revenue from waste. People would be employed in the source separation processes to raise awareness of the need to separate waste. In addition to this group of people, additional individuals would be needed to gather waste and give instructions on how to dispose of it properly. These duties will open up job opportunities. Moreover, the recycled waste will be transformed into final products which can be sold to raise income and also sell gathered plastics to other recycling companies.


Know more...

The Kumasi Metropolis is centrally located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Its unique central position makes it accessible from all corners of the country. It is the second largest city in the country and the administrative capital of Ashanti Region. With a population of over four hundred thousand, it occupies a total land area of about 86.03 kilometers; its physical structure is basically circular with a commercial area in the centre. There are concentrations of economic activities in the city. The first and most important location is the Central Business District (CBD), which embraces the Kejetia Lorry Park, the Central Market and the Adum Shopping Centre. The other economic nodes include the Sokoban Wood Village and Asafo Magazine (vehicle repair center). There are also a number of satellite markets in the metropolis. These include Asafo Market, Bantama Market and Krofrom Market.

The estimated amount of unseparated waste generated in Kumasi is approximately 616,485 tonnes annually (KMA, 2021). The Assembly spends about 60% of its revenue on the management of waste generated. Fante New Town is one of the vibrant economic nodes in the city with a generation rate of about 0.24% (1,450 tonnes). The town's solid waste is disposed of either at the public dump site or through the door-to-door collection system. Although these two systems are in existence, there is a problem with the separation of garbage collected; as a result, the Assembly spends around one-third of its revenue on waste management. The landfill site which serves as the final dumping location for garbage generated in the city and its surrounding areas is now at its maximum. Also, the area where the landfill is located is surrounded by residential buildings and the presence of the landfill causes health hazards to the residents.

Contributing to this issue, currently the majority of the socially excluded population of the community, which is made up of women (particularly single mothers), youths, the elderly, and disabled people, scavenge at various dump sites and event centers to gather plastic and metals to sell to recyclers for profit. In these neighborhoods, it is typical to see nursing moms scavenging for plastic at dump sites while carrying their infants on their backs. As a result, either the mother, the child, or both end up getting dangerous infections, and the meager money made from selling the salvaged goods is then used to pay for medical care.


To promote the separation of waste at the source of generation

  • 1st Activity: Develop a baseline study of the community. This study will be developed to get to know the existing conditions in terms of waste generation and collection.
  • 2nd Activity: Community engagement. There will be an awareness campaign launched, composed of 4 events where residents will be informed about the project to be undertaken, to properly educate and create awareness on source separation.
  • 3rd Activity: Organize sensitization programmes on source separation. To educate residents about source separation and how to do it, there will be 10 monthly programmes organized.
  • 4th Activity: Train community agents of change on source separation. There will be 3 trainings to promote the emergence of 20 community agents selected from the following groups: youth, women and socially excluded, to transform them into agents of change who will lead the efforts to properly educate and create awareness on source separation, sensitizing and influencing the behavior of residents towards source separation.
  • 5th Activity: Procurement of logistics and equipment: Equipment, such as waste containers and container liners and personal protection equipment will be acquired to aid in the implementation of garbage separation at the source and provide the necessary resources for 20 people.

To create jobs and derive revenue from waste

  • 6th Activity: Construction of a community compost system: A compost system will be constructed to convert collected organic waste in compost to help improve soil fertility
  • 7th Activity: Train youth, women and socially excluded in the circular/green economy: There will be training workshops to teach the people trained as community agents of change to help them generate income from waste and empower them to open their own businesses related to the circular economy.

Direct results

  • 1 baseline study of the community
  • 1 awareness campaign launched
  • 4 events held to raise awareness
  • 10 sensitization programmes organized
  • 3 trainings for agents of change for 20 selected youth, women and socially excluded
  • Personal Protective Equipment distributed for 20 people
  • 1 compost system constructed
  • 20 Trainings workshops held for 20 selected youth, women and socially excluded

    Expected Impact

    • 30% of houses within the pilot area practice source separation in one year
    • 30% of separated waste collected is processed (reused, recycled or composted) in one year
    • 20 people open their own businesses in the circular economy in one year
    • Right and Responsibility Initiative Ghana
    • Joshua Tetteh-Nortey - Senior Planning Officer, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (jtettehnortey@gmail.com)

    Investment

    (*): In kind/pro bonus

    (**): Financing

    Goods and inputs
    Funds
    Needed
    Covered
    Solicited

    Stationary (*)

    u$s 250.00

    u$s 250.00

    u$s 0.00

    20 Tablets (*)

    u$s 6500.00

    u$s 6500.00

    u$s 0.00

    Personal protection equipment for 20 people who work in waste separation (*)

    u$s 400.00

    u$s 400.00

    u$s 0.00

    50 Waste containers (**)

    u$s 50000.00

    u$s 10445.00

    u$s 39555.00

    50 Container liners (*)

    u$s 2000.00

    u$s 2000.00

    u$s 0.00

    T-Shirts, banners, posters and flyers for sensitization programmes (*)

    u$s 1905.00

    u$s 1905.00

    u$s 0.00

    Services
    Funds
    Needed
    Covered
    Solicited

    23 Training Workshops for 6 months and 04 hours monthly (**)

    u$s 24500.00

    u$s 11360.00

    u$s 13140.00

    Event Organizing for 4 events of community engagement (*)

    u$s 420.00

    u$s 420.00

    u$s 0.00

    Consultant for 3 trainings in 3 months (*)

    u$s 1050.00

    u$s 1050.00

    u$s 0.00

    Hiring Venue for each training workshop within 8 months (*)

    u$s 912.00

    u$s 912.00

    u$s 0.00

    Construction of a community compost system (**)

    u$s 13400.00

    u$s 0.00

    u$s 13400.00

    Human resources
    Funds
    Needed
    Covered
    Solicited

    5 Supervisors and 20 Enumerators for 1 month (**)

    u$s 20125.00

    u$s 13000.00

    u$s 7125.00

    1 Data Analyst for 1 month (*)

    u$s 700.00

    u$s 700.00

    u$s 0.00

    Others
    Funds
    Needed
    Covered
    Solicited

    Vehicle hiring for events and activities (**)

    u$s 8280.00

    u$s 1500.00

    u$s 6780.00

    Seed funding for 20 trainees to open circular economy businesses (**)

    u$s 110000.00

    u$s 0.00

    u$s 110000.00

    TOTAL AMOUNTS:

    u$s 240442.00

    u$s 50442.00

    u$s 190000.00

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