The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ghana is contributing to seeding the development of a dynamic platform for waste recovery and exchange in 2018 and 2019 - within the context of its new country programme which gives priority to waste management.
It is an initiative in which UNDP desires to partner key stakeholders to address solid waste management challenges in line with Ghana's national development agenda.
The proposed initiative is comprised of two components - a multi-stakeholder platform and a business project pitch competition.
The digitally-enabled one-stop shop solutions multi-stakeholder platform will connect all stakeholders along the waste management line with data and technological solutions to develop and implement innovative solutions towards using waste in a productive manner.
On the other hand, under the business project pitch competition, five innovative projects will be awarded seed capital to kick-start a positive-business-case resource recovery businesses and/or project to take waste recovery forward.
Speaking at the inception workshop to launch the initiative in Accra, last Thursday, July 12, 2018,Ms Gita Honwana Welch, UNDP Country Director, said the initiative which was being funded by the new country programme-- Country Investment Facility --set up by Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),would provide UNDP Country Offices with the opportunity to promote innovation and the use of technology as one of the most efficient and sustainable ways to expand the capabilities of people and communities.
Ms Welch disclosed that Ghana's proposal was among the first-twelve proposals to be selected and funded by the Administrator through the Country Investment Facility.
Ms Welch explained that the objective of the workshop was to inform participants about the new initiative and to call on them to partner with UNDP to co-design tools and solutions to waste management challenges, adding that waste should not be regarded only as an environmental or sanitation problem, but also as a resource that presented opportunities for economic development, job creation and technological innovation.
She said the successful implementation of the initiative would require the development of a waste resource map for Ghana;building of local capacity for improved sanitation; creation of a market for innovative solutions; creation of awareness on segregation of waste at generating points; and the promotion of academic research for improved and efficient waste management.
The workshop brought together over a hundred stakeholders in waste management in Ghana.
These included representations from government--Ministries of Sanitation and Water Resources, Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Employment and Labour Relations; and Local Government and Rural Development; the private sector--recyclers, plastic manufacturers, waste collection associations and companies; Development Banks; Development Partners; Investors; academia, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the media.
In a statement, Mr Oliver Boachie, Special Advisor to the Minister for the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, pledged the Ministry's full commitment to ensuring the success of the initiative which, she said, was in line with the Ministry's policies and plans, such as the National Plastics Management Policy which was currently being developed.
Ms Kate Opoku, Country Leader of the NGO "Let's Do it Ghana", expressed gratitude to UNDP for coming up with a great initiative to connect all stakeholders in the waste sector to share ideas to enhance synergy for the proper management of waste.
Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney, Esq.)
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