AMA holds validation workshop for informal waste sector

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in collaboration with C40 Cities, the Mayors Migration Council and the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors have organized a validation workshop for baseline enumeration and political settlement analysis for the informal waste sector workers including migrants in Accra.

The workshop sought to provide demographics and socio-economic profiles for the informal waste workers particularly migrants to serve as a database for the informal waste workers to facilitate targeting of Migrant Informal Waste Workers (MIWW) in the city’s urban planning and service delivery.

The enumeration and listing were done in four project zones including the Central Business District (CBD) comprising (Kantamanto, Okaishie and Agbogbloshie), Old Fadama and Timber Market, Odawna corridor from the pedestrian market to the Graphic Road, Cable and Wireless close to Darkuman.

The Mayor of Accra, Hon Elizabeth Sackey in an address delivered on her behalf by the Coordinating Director of the AMA, Douglas N.K Annoful at the Accra City Hall, said the project which was in line with tradition and formal processes would mandate stakeholders especially at the Assembly discuss and critique the contents of the reports.

In this regard, she appealed to relevant stakeholders to contribute and give key inputs that would shape and ensure the success of the project.

The Coordinator of the Clean Project, Evans Adjei highlighted a series of events that led to the validation and enumeration of the informal waste sector.

“We had an email from C40 cities as a follow-up opportunity to the Inclusive Climate Action Plan program to integrate and include the informal waste sector, specifically waste management into the city's ways of doing things and waste management activities. As part of the gaps and needs assessment that was conducted during the program it became necessary that there were gaps that we needed to fill and so through C40, the city was connected to the Mayors Migration Council which was mediating and coordinating activities for the Rockefeller foundation on climate and migration”

“The city made an application with the Peoples' Dialogue and was awarded a $200,000 grant to implement some interventions. As part of the interventions, we were supposed to bring to the fore for discussion the emergence of migrants within the informal waste sector. This had been mentioned earlier in the needs assessment for the ICA program. As a pilot, it was for five communities. We are also supposed to look at how to support women who are engaging within the informal waste sector.”

“We identified an intervention that will put together a safe haven, more like a mini day-care centre to keep some of the identified kids of this informal waste, active waste workers operating within the project pilot space and give them some level of training as a way of reducing risk of other related health and social activities. We are supposed to do capacity building. As part of the milestones, we are supposed to conduct baseline enumeration studies to understand where these migrants are, whether international or national focusing on where they operate and issues that affect their activities.”

At the end of the presentation, a representative of the Peoples’ Dialogue (PD Consult) Farouk Brimah, said the informal waste sector was exposed to stigmatization, hazards and risk to their well-being as a result of lack of proper safety equipment, training and regulations to protect them and foster a positive and inclusive work environment.

He therefore advocated for access to resources and infrastructure, capacity building and skills development, training and waste sorting techniques, entrepreneurship, occupational health and safety and financial literacy.