Turning Waste to Wealth in Cameroon, Nigeria and Uganda

The 'Waste to Wealth' project responds to the urgent need to improve the lives of the increasing number of impoverished and vulnerable people residing in urban slums in Douala (Cameroon), Port Harcourt (Nigeria),  and Kampala (Uganda).

FCTV is the implementing partner in Cameroon and is working in partnership with Living Earth Foundation (UK), Living Earth Nigeria Foundation and Living Earth Uganda to deliver this multi-country Urban Waste project.

The project is funded by the European Union (in all three countries), Comic Relief (in Cameroon and Nigeria) and DED/Unilever (in Uganda).

For the first time in history over half the world’s population lives in urban areas. The trend of urbanisation is expected to increase markedly, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the urban population is forecast to double between 2000 and 2030. Of this urban population over 70% live in slum conditions with the associated problems of un- and underemployment and subsequent low household incomes and widespread poverty.

The growth in population is placing increased demand on the urban environment; there is the same amount of land but more people; the same number of toilets but more human waste; more rubbish and even less space to dispose of it. Widespread poor solid waste management creates associated health problems and poses a threat to surface and groundwater quality. The onus for managing the physical environment in poor areas remains with the communities themselves: if they don’t address the problems of household waste, poor public sanitation, clogged and disease-spreading drainage, no-one will do it for them.

Project Aim:

The project aims to create a virtuous circle wherein slum dwellers in 9 urban areas in the cities of Port Harcourt (Nigeria), Douala (Cameroon) and Kampala (Uganda) take responsibility for collecting and managing household solid waste: instead of shipping it off to landfill, social ventures and micro-enterprises will oversee a process of sorting of waste, recycling and re-use. The project will result in sustained environmental sanitation improvement, with subsequent benefits in health and well being for the slum inhabitants, and the emergence of a skilled and effective business sector wherein social enterprises, founded by and in poor urban communities, derive wealth from the provision of environmental services and derivative recycling and re-use activities. The waste becomes the catalyst for income generation and employment creation.

Expected Results:

1. Sustained environmental sanitation improvement, with subsequent benefits in health and well-being for the inhabitants, in the 9 target communities through improved service provision as a result of partnerships involving local governments, the private sector and civil society.
2. The emergence of a skilled and effective business sector wherein social enterprises, founded by and in poor urban communities, derive wealth from the provision of environmental services and derivative recycling and re-use activities. The role of women in the sector will be promoted.
3. Improved awareness among all stakeholders, including policy-makers, of the rights and entitlement of poor urban dwellers to a clean environment and of the potential to harness local cost-effective resources to deliver these rights.
4. Enhanced capacity among local authorities to engage in public-private partnership (PPP) development, particularly involving the less formal private sector. Strengthening managerial, technical and organisational abilities of municipalities and addressing statutory limitations will play a key part in achieving this result.
5. Improved South-South linkages and networking between partners and associates to increase learning, information dissemination, consensus building and advocacy skills with which to influence policy makers.
6. Scaling up of the approach and methodology to other urban centres within the three target countries.

Project activities:

Key project activities in the three countries will include:

• Support 18 micro-projects delivering environmental sanitation services to poor urban residents, implemented by social venture groups and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in partnership with local authorities
• Build capacity among 120 micro and Small enterprises run by poor urban slum dwellers
• Provide business training to 90 poor urban entrepreneurs
• Provide functional livelihoods skills training to 600 urban slum dwellers
• Raise awareness of rights to a clean environment among slum dwellers
• Support residents’ and vulnerable people’s groups to advocate for rights to a clean urban environment
• Provide advocacy training and support to 180 urban community leaders
• Ensure available information resources on urban environmental rights to up to 210,000 slum dwellers
• Partnership training delivered to 90 local authority officials
• Capacity building in project management for 9 councils addressing urban slum problems
• South-south dialogue (between Nigeria, Cameroon and Uganda) and information sharing facilitated
• Networking platforms for cross-fertilisation and exchange established
• 9 seminars on urban environment and poverty held
• 3 National conferences on the urban environment held
• Publication of Public-Private Partnerships toolkits and awareness raising materials