Project Detail

Prevention of environmental degradation through plastic waste recycling

Plastics are a common pollutant in The Gambia. This project aims to address issues around plastics to prevent environmental degradation through plastic waste recycling. The project will build on work that has already been done and proven successful in the village of Njau in the Central River Region of The Gambia. The project will provide opportunities to more women to benefit from this experience. It will also provide additional income to the women to allow them to help support their families

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Women Initiative Gambia

Country:

Gambia

Area Of Work:

Climate Change Mitigation

Operational Phase:

OP5-Y3 (Jul 13 - Jun 14)

Grant Amount:

US$ 20,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 4,500.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 16,000.00

Project Number:

GMB/SGP/OP5/Y3/ STAR/CC/13/01

Start Date:

8/2013

End Date:

7/2014

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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Project Characteristics and Results

Gender Focus

The NGO implementing this project; Women's Initiative Gambia, is focused on working with women groups in rural areas to give women a voice in their own development and train them on income generating, investment and decision making skills. It is however understood that in this culture, the men must feel they are consulted first before they support such women -led activities. Thus, as an entry point, the project consulted with the community leaders and men in positions of authority and influence and engaged them to seek their support and clarify their misconceptions about women empowerment. This has gone a long way to pave the way for smooth implementation of the project.

Policy Impact

The project is likely to to influence national policies on the control of plastics in the country. Already efforts are underway to restrict the importation of plastics into The Gambia and this project will demonstrate practical ways of transforming plastic waste into useful products.

Capacity - Building Component

The project will build the capacity of the women groups in the 3 project villages in the collection, sorting and transformation of plastics into hand bags, school bags, purses, key holders,scandals etc.

Notable Community Participation

The two beneficiary communities have taken great interest in the project as evidenced by more people showing up at the sensitization workshops than originally targeted. The influential leaders of both communities have embraced the project and pledged their commitment to the success of the project.

Project sustainability

This project will employ online sales and marketing platform to promote and sell the products in the local and oversees market. Hence the raw materials are easily available and the skills impacted on the participants are lifelong, the project should be easily sustained. The economic gains that will be derive from the finis products is projected to be a big motivating factor n keeping the participants engaged and drawing in new participants for the project.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Through sensitization meetings, the dangers of plastic bags and its hazards including pollution of the air we breath when plastics are burnt and the effect on our health were highlighted. the adverse effects of plastics on the soil and how that affects agricultural production was of particular interest to the community members who are mostly agricultural farmers. How these local actions can impact the global environment were elaborated on.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

a major objective of this project is to provide income for the women by making craftwork out of waste plastics. marketing strategies are integrated into the training and partnerships formed with local tourism enterprises so as to get the best market price for the products. Online advertisement strategy will also be employed to tap the overseas market.

Project Results

- A one-day sensitization workshop held for 50 people including women, religious and community leaders in each of the two beneficiary communities of Banjulnding and Somita. At the end of the workshop, all the participants had a clear understanding of the dangers of plastic bags and its adverse effects on land, agricultural production, pollution of the air and water and its effects on human health.

- To initiate the collection and recycling process, the necessary support materials (dust bins, garbage bags, etc) were purchase and distributed to the project sites.

- The training on plastic waste recycling started for the groups in Banjulnding and Somita and on going.

A study tour to Njau to learn best practices was undertaken with participant from both Banjulunding and Sifoe .
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Training of participants in both communities on weaving/transformation of plastic waste into marketable crafts completed.

training of participants on commercialization of recycled plastic waste including components on entrepreneurship, record keeping, marketing, group management and customer services completed

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