Monrovia – The Cities Alliance Liberia Country Programme is to today, 18 October 2018, host a workshop to promote the use of Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) for primary waste collection in Greater Monrovia and address the challenges they face during the rainy season.
Cities Alliance is the global partnership for urban poverty reduction promoting and strengthening the role of cities in sustainable development. Cities Alliance offers support to cities and development partnerships to foster effective local government, promoting an active citizenship and encouraging pro-poor public and private investment. Based in Brussels, Belgium, the Cities Alliance is hosted by The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
Cities Alliance Country Programmes are longer-term programmes tailored to a country’s context and needs, delivered through financing a series of key urban initiatives in a coherent, sustained manner to achieve development impact at scale. They typically include activities at three levels: community, local and national.
Climate change is having a major impact on Liberia, which is facing longer, unpredictable rainy seasons accompanied by hygiene concerns and the potential spread of disease. The situation is especially urgent in Greater Monrovia, already the world’s wettest capital, where flooding and poor primary waste collection pose significant health risks and threaten livelihoods.
To help address these immediate health, social and economic concerns, the Cities Alliance is implementing two primary waste collection and waste-to-energy projects in Greater Monrovia with funding from the European Union (EU), a statement released Wednesday said.
The projects, “Delivering Climate-Resistant Solid Waste Management Services” and “Waste to Energy projects in Greater Monrovia,” are part of the Cities Alliance Liberia Country Programme (LCP), which is designed to promote the country’s economic and social recovery. Its activities centre around enhancing the lives and opportunities of up to 400,000 slum dwellers in Greater Monrovia with interventions at the community, municipal and national levels.
The Cities Alliance LCP, and the waste collection and waste-to-energy projects in
particular, also aim to leverage long-term support and help the Government of Liberia achieve the objectives set out in global agendas, including the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA/GCCA+) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These objectives range from promoting public-private-people-partnerships to building institutional capacities that address urban health and environmental protection, sustainable economic growth through green businesses, generating jobs for the urban poor, and a resilient governance structure based on the principles of partnership and subsidiarity.
Support for Community-based Enterprises
To support these efforts, the Cities Alliance LCP is organising a one-day workshop on today, 18 October 2018 at the Cape Hotel in Monrovia to discuss Community-based Enterprises (CBEs), which can provide a source of income for residents and play a significant role in waste collection with strong support from local government.
The workshop will address the many issues that CBEs face in primary waste collection during the rainy season and how to limit the impact of climate change. It aims to facilitate and create an open forum for a pilot group of CBEs to discuss and identify their needs.
Participants will work together to create a “starter kit” of appropriate garments, tools and vehicles they can use to support a CBE. These kits can be adapted to the varying needs and locations of the CBEs around Greater Monrovia. After the initial pilot phase, the Cities Alliance LCP will support the expansion of the CBE system throughout Greater Monrovia.
