Gnaman ni Sôrô ani Kènèya

A local, circular, zero-waste model for mitigating climate and environmental health threats, improving waste management, and creating sustainable livelihoods for women and youth.

THE CHALLENGE

Environmental health hazards contribute to the deaths of children

In Sabalibougou, most waste ends up in the street - creating environmental health threats from flooding and standing water exacerbated by the lack of infrastructure.

According to the WHO, environmental risks contribute to 1 in 4 child deaths.

In peri-urban communities, a lack of waste management practices and sanitation services, air pollution, and standing water can lead to respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, and malaria – three of the four top killers of children. These communities are also on the frontlines of climate change.

To better understand community attitudes and social norms about environmental health and waste management, the Mali Health team spent a year talking to community members and collecting data.

We surveyed over 550 residents in peri-urban communities, and here are some of their thoughts:

72% believe plastic waste should be recycled
87% view plastic waste management as a major challenge
54% view soil and water pollution, and biodiversity degradation as a problem
48% view community waste is a disease source
96% affirmed income-generating sanitation jobs would improve environment and unemployment rates

In peri-urban communities, there is also a lack of reliable, sustainable livelihoods, with over 90% of families making their livings in informal sector work and living in poverty.

THE COMMUNITY-LED SOLUTION

In partnership with three peri-urban communities – Sikoro, Sabalibougou, and Kalabambougou – we’re working to adapt a circular, zero-waste model to address environmental health and climate threats by creating local, sustainable livelihoods for women and youth every step of the way, through:

- Waste management through reduction and sorting
- Composting of organic waste
- Recycling plastic waste
- Collection and removal of other waste
- Urban gardening
- Creative reuse of plastics

The Gnaman ni Sôrô ani Kènèya project is rolling out in three phases:

Phase 1 (2022)

We conducted five studies with community members, partners, and stakeholders that are informing how the project will take shape, including a waste composition analysis, a stakeholder analysis, a waste brand audit, a social norms analysis, and a plastic value chain analysis.

Phase 2 (2023- present)

Phase 2 involves deep community engagement, discussions, and listening about waste management, plastic pollution, livelihoods, and the themes of the GSK project in Sikoro, Kalabambougou, and Sabalibougou.

Phase 3 (beginning 2024)

Will begin the launch of the circular economy activities that make up the core of the model. We’ll begin with the gardening and composting cooperatives, then add the plastic recycling and reuse components through partnership with local organizations.

A West African collaboration

Gnaman ni Sôrô ani Kènèya is an adaptation of the Sustainable Community Project, a model developed by Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO).

Our work began in 2021 as a learning exchange between our two organizations, when members of our team went to visit their sites in Ghana, and we welcomed a delegation of GAYO’s team to Bamako. Together, our teams collaborated to form a plan for adapting the SCP to Bamako.

Women interact with the Keneya Blon app at a community demonstration in Sotuba

IMPACT

We have been working closely with dozens of partners throughout the design and development of the GSK project to assess not only its feasibility, but its potential impact.

Partners in the project include:

La Direction Nationale de l’Assainissement et du Contrôle des Pollutions et des Nuisances (DNACPN)
La Direction Régionale de l’Assainissement et du Contrôle des Pollutions et des Nuisances (DRACPN) de Bamako
Local goverments of Communes I, IV, V
Neighborhood Development Committees
Women’s associations and groups
Youth associations and groups
Trade associations
Families and households

Working together, we estimate that the GSK project will have the following results:

150 tons

of waste will now be collected, per community, per year

80 %

of that waste has value and will be used in composting, recycling, and reuse activities

166,376

residents of peri-urban communities directly affected by improved waste management

36

full-time waste management jobs created by 3 new businesses

UPDATES

Improving livelihoods and food security by reducing organic waste

The Gnaman ni Sôrô ani Kènèya project has entered its third phase. Women and youth in three peri-urban communities are building a local, circular economy designed to create sustainable livelihoods and address environmental health and climate threats. After extensive...

Collecting data and waste for Gnaman ni Sôrô ni Kènèya

The following are excerpts written by Adam Aicha Hanne, an MPH – PharmD student who spent her summer practicum working with the Mali Health team in Bamako. She worked on the Gnaman ni Sôrô ni Kènèya project with the Community Capacity Building department. The goals of...