Before any long-term project is implemented, its effectiveness and viability must first be proven. It is therefore necessary to carry out a field test phase and observe the results after several months. Studying the results makes it possible to validate the project and submit it to donors with supporting evidence.
This is what we have done for our Ecolo-Cultural solution since October 2022 in Cap Skirring, in Casamance (region of southern Senegal).
The Terangagée association has been working for almost 3 years on the development of a major environmental and cultural project at the scale of a municipality. In November 2021, this project took the name “Ecolo-Cultural Solution”: culture at the service of the environment for sustainable behavior change. In their search for financing, the two innovators of this solution, Ismael MANE and Sarah ZABOUT, had the chance to be selected among the semi-finalists then finalists of the AFRI-PLASTICS CHALLENGE competition (Nesta ChallengeWorks, a Canadian structure) to enable them to carry out the test phase.
In October 2022, the TERANGAGÉE association arrived at Cap Skirring, warmly welcomed by the town hall, the authorities, the village chief and the entire community, to set up the test of the solution in part of the village. We started by organizing meetings with all the local authorities as well as talks in all the districts of Cap Skirring to present our solution, to discuss in order to understand the difficulties encountered and to listen to the feedback and advice given by the residents. Following this first approach, we organized 5 waste collection weekends in the neighborhoods from November to December, led by awareness workshops for children and adults on the use of trash cans and the household sorting that we have established.
Music, games and dancing took turns punctuating the neighborhoods of Cap Skirring. Locally made trash cans were placed and decorated by the children as they cleaned up the neighborhoods. Sorting bags in 3 colors: green, yellow and red, were sold at 200 FCFA per bag to join the collection service within the neighborhoods by our tricycle, twice a week.
CAP 1 and CAP 2, the two main schools of Cap Skirring, also opened their doors for our awareness workshops. We placed 11 bins at CAP 2 and offered our service free of charge to help them make their school clean and eliminate littering in the playgrounds. The transformation of these spaces formerly reserved for dumping classroom trash has begun. They will soon become pretty gardens, vegetable gardens and relaxation and play areas for young and old.
In January 2023 we began our action on the beach of Cap Randoulène by organizing an eco-event weekend on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 in partnership with 3 local associations: Casamasanté, Nio Far and Corps Africa. The cleaning of the beach and its entrances, a sporting event, awareness workshops, the inauguration of the trash cans and an open stage on the theme of the environment characterized this event to launch a clean beach that stays clean.
In fact, since February we have set up a regular beach cleaning service, maintaining the cleanliness of entrances and collecting trash from restaurants 3 times a week. On the awareness side, we have also started an initiation program on waste pollution with young leading girls in the region and we are planning artistic workshops for young people so that they learn to express themselves through art and they can carry messages on environmental protection.
In parallel with our actions in the village, we have created a small temporary sorting center at Boucotte in which we sort waste and store recoverable raw materials.
All of our activities are tracked and updated as we see possible improvements. Our local team, currently made up of 9 members, is motivated to ensure that this test phase is a success and that it can be extended by the official implementation of the Ecolo-Cultural solution over a long period of 3 years.
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