Completed
WASTE has worked on the L’emploi des jeunes crée des opportunités, ici au Mali (EJOM) project to contribute to the development of economic opportunities and to create jobs for young men and women and for returning migrants in Mali. The waste part of the project took takes place in the four cities (regions) Kayes, Koulikoro, Gao and the District of Bamako, all areas where young Mali people face systemic employment challenges.
WASTE has been part of a consortium with ICCO (now Cordaid) Mali, APEJ and SNV Mali in the lead, in the EJOM project to contribute to the development of economic opportunities and to create jobs for young men and women and for returning migrants in Mali. While the other members of the consortium focussed on agriculture, business and handicraft, WASTE was asked to support the beneficiaries in activities around solid waste management in the main cities of the project areas, the regions: Kayes, Koulikoro and Gao plus the District Bamako. To strengthen the link with agriculture, WASTE worked together with RUAF for the first 2 years, trying to link the solid waste and urban agriculture value chain.
Learn more about our expertise in solid waste management, including plastics.
Our activities
The inception phase entailed 2 sets of assessments in all 4 cities, an overall assessment of the solid waste management and a research on business opportunities in solid waste management in the various cities. Based on the outcomes of the inception reports and the inventory of the beneficiaries, WASTE set up training modules for individuals wanting to start a small scale business in solid waste management, in particular, waste collection, composting, plastic valorisation and as an extra, cleaning services for apartments and institutions.
WASTE continued to support the beneficiaries for the four years. The last activities were around plastic valorisation, and improvement of waste collection tools. The a group of beneficiaries who bought a plastics shredder, received a hands on training on separation of plastics, washing, the actual shredding and selling of the plastics. The waste collectors were offered to try out a CRM app, that simplifies the collection of payment, and tracks the collecting carts, for this we worked together with DALO systems.
Impact realised:
- Local team trained in solid waste, recycling, and urban agriculture.
- 100+ small and medium enterprises (SMEs) created in waste management
- Young people trained in solid waste management and food chains
"I thank WASTE for their great training, we have learnt a lot about plastic recycling and new business opportunities. WASTE brings the right public to the table to really have an impact.”
Sustainability
The EJOM project has contributed to a better insight in what young and starting entrepreneurs want and need to get a good start of their enterprise. While we did not use the Diamond Model in this project, it has been observed that the weak links within the whole valorisation chain, the lack of governance in solid waste management and the lack of financing opportunities seriously hinders the motivated workers in solid waste. The project also gave WASTE ample opportunity to develop training modules, conduct studies around plastic businesses which can be used for and in upcoming projects.
EJOM project was active from 2018-21.
