Zimbabwe: Municipality of Chinhoyi – Climate Change (Waste Management Project)

A committee was set up in Chinhoyi to manage waste as a result of the many illegal dumping sites which posed numerous health hazards to the residents. Some stakeholders namely both Primary and Secondary schools, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS), Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Delta Zimbabwe, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) were involved. The local authority realised that because of the many illegal dumps in the area people’s lives were at risk.

The project sought to achieve the objective of good health protection, proper well-being of the residents and the proper care of the environment.

The above was to be scored through the promotion and effective delivery of waste materials. Some awareness measures on the impacts of illegal dumping were to be highlighted to the residents. A culture of compliance on proper waste materials disposal has to be within the residents. Awareness campaigns had to be all inclusive from school children to the elderly regardless of their social or professional status. The motto of “General Cleanliness of the Town and its’ Environs” had to be upheld.

The training of sub committees chosen by the community on waste management issues should be regularly done at ward level. Encouragement of women and youth in communal activities to establish everyone’s participation would be of great value. The women and youth should be given leadership roles in the community. That would lead to the sustainability of the project once all societal groups were involved. A tour was done around the residential, Central Business District (CBD), industrial area as well as the public areas such as bus termini. Some willing residents and all councillors were present during the tour. A consultative forum on the way forward was held at council premises. All views were taken into consideration.

4 000 (67%) women benefitted directly from the project. 2 000 (33%) men also directly benefitted from the Waste Management Project. A total of 6 000 direct beneficiaries were realised. There were neither indirect nor online beneficiaries.  In terms of resource allocation, Chinhoyi had a gender specific budget allocation of $3 000. Gender in mainstream projects had nothing. The other partners poured in $2 000 in either cash or kind. The main contribution came from the Municipality of Chinhoyi. EMA provided transport during the tours to illegal dump sites. It also provided the trainers on how best to maintain the environment. A total of $5 000 was allocated towards the project.

All residents including youths were engaged in the project irrespective of their social or professional status. That encouraged a lot of community members to be involved in the project as they felt as the real owners of the project. Such involvement led to the project’s success. A clean environment could be witnessed in Chinhoyi. Some observations were first done before anything else in the above mentioned areas. Workshops and seminars then followed with brainstorming on what was to be done as corrective measures. All ideas were taken aboard by the chosen leadership. Sub committees responsible for various areas such as transport were established and they all reported to the Municipality’s Department of Housing. All councillors were taken on board for their respective wards and they would in turn give feedback during council meetings. EMA officials were always offering advice and technical support to the community. The project had a strong monitoring and evaluation framework. There were baseline studies in place to measure changes in the areas considered as health hazards to the residents’ livelihoods. The community’s attitudes and behaviours were also constantly being checked by the subcommittee leaderships.
The project design allowed regular formal and informal feedback platforms and would remain in place throughout the life of the project and beyond.

The main challenge was transport. The municipal vehicles were old and usually broke down with loads of waste materials on their way to legal dumpsites. Acquisition of spare parts took long thus the council resolved to using trailer drawn tractors to remove the waste materials in Chinhoyi. Stakeholder mobilisation was not easy at first. People were reluctant to leave their work places for the meetings. Initially very low turnouts took place and postponement the meetings were frequently made. However, the community later got engaged through awareness campaigns and would attend the meetings in huge numbers. The current hard economic environment did not spare the project during its’ early stages. Most council activities were failing to succeed because the residents were not paying their rentals and other bills on time.

Councillor Emason Kahute for Ward 8 said, “Ndiri kufara nekuuya kwamaita kuti tishande tese kuchengetedza musha wedu”. (I am humbled that you have decided to work with us in keeping our area clean). The practice led to rapid positive attitude changes among the communities. That could be evidenced by the encouragement that the community got of owning the project. Men came in large numbers on the Clean-up campaigning and awareness days. The steering committees for waste management project had men, women and youths who were very supportive and worked tirelessly for the project to succeed.