As part of its key deliverables is to enhance the private sector involvement in waste management.
In the bid to achieve their goals, Welthungerhilfe and its partner Kenema City Council has over the week engaged on one days ward communities stakeholders engagement in Kenema and its environment.
In his welcome address and overview of the project, the Liaison Officer of WHH Waste Management in Kenema Officer Ahmed Fuad Tejan thanked the participants for their quick respond to the call of WHH/KCC, and said that Waste Management project, under a Non- Governmental Organization Welthungerhilfe in their implementation of SLE 1048 project in improving sustainable waste deliveries services in the stated cities of Bo, Kenema, and Makeni respectively emerged to work with other responsible structures like the City councils of the three cities and the Klin Kenema Youth for door to door waste collection operations that aim at sustainable improvement of the living conditions of the municipal low-income population and the municipal environment in general, which will mainly be active in three areas like the Door to Door Solid Waste Management Collections and Resource Recovery, help develop the sense around better Sanitation, with Hygiene Education and also Liquid Waste Management and Community Based Environmental Improvement. He reiterated that council and its partner WHH has capacitated youth groups that will be doing door to door waste collection for a fee, and that the public is further informed that this youth groups will soon visit homes for waste collections on contract as agreed with residents in Kenema as the project and the Kenema City Council are about releasing them to start their operations come this December and as a way of informing the stakeholders of those communities where the operations would have to be carried out, a one day meeting was summoned at the Kenema City Council Hall on Thursday where Religious leader, Community Chiefs, Ward Committee Members and Councilors including very important dignitaries were all in attendance.
He said Kenema has been divided into five zones for the collections waste and the youth groups will be covering four of those five zones and they are going to be provided with Hino mini trucks and other equipment’s for the collections of waste at household level while the waste management department of Kenema city council will concentrate on the central business areas including parks and markets. Noting that Council and Welthungerhilfe are appealing to residents and stakeholders to cooperate with the youth groups as the visit homes for waste contract negotiations and collections.
Delivering her statement, in following the problems associated with the urban low income group are much complicated than those of rural counterparts and as many factors like neighborhood pollution, overcrowding, household unsanitary condition and poor services affect them to much greater degree. The urban poor remain largely excluded from the benefits of growth and development because they lack productive assets.
The Deputy Chief Administrator of the Kenema city Council who represented the councillor in charge of waste management, thanked Welthungerhilfe and the Kenema City Council for involving young people into their activities adding that gone are those days when young people are been misused by politician and that as leader of young people in the city, he will not seat by and allow politician misused his steward even though he is an administrator working with politicians as that is the main reason they have grouped themselves with the focus of developing themselves and the city, and therefore call on other partner to emulate the good example of Welthungerhilfe .
He reiterated that they have been always involved in the planning of waste management activities and therefore assured that they are always ready to give their support to the project to see that the project achieved its desire goal. He appeal to the chief administrator and the Mayor of the Kenema City Council to find a room where in they will engage more young people who are always in ghettoes to provide them skill trainings.
