Afri-Plastics Challenge awards funds to behavior change innovations
The three winning projects will be awarded 250,000 pounds each in March 2023.
Posted by Alex KamczycAfri-Plastics Challenge, Johannesburg, South Africa, has named 15 teams of inventors across Sub-Saharan Africa as finalists for the Promoting Change. The teams have been selected for their effots to develop solutions that could change the behavior of individuals and communities around plastic scrap in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Afri-Plastics Challenge aims to support efforts to reduce plastic pollution in a way that empowers all. This is done by promoting greater gender inclusiveness and social justice in national policies on plastic scrap.
Afri-Plastics says the finalists, located in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda will receive a 50,000-pound (approximately $59,000) grant toward developing their solutions.
Tackling plastic pollution through three prize strands, the finalists in the third strand, Promoting Change, will develop engagement strategies such as gamification, incentives and storytelling to promote behavior change and educate communities. The finalists also provide insights into the roles women play across the value chain.
The finalists will be supported through a capacity-building portfolio of subject matter experts over the next several months to further develop their solutions.
“The issue of marine plastic pollution has grown rapidly in recent years,” says Constance Agyeman, director of international development for Challenge Works. “It is crucial that awareness translates into action and long-term behavior change, at individual and collective levels alike.”
Agyeman says the 15 finalists will be supported over the course of the next seven months to develop their communications campaigns and projects. The 50,000-pound grants will support teams to generate evidence of change around reducing littering, segregation of plastic scrap, choosing reusable options or refusing single-use plastic altogether.
Having made their way through the semifinal round, each finalist has received grants of 5,000 pounds to develop their ideas. Three winning projects will be awarded 250,000 pounds (roughly $297,000) each in March 2023.
Projects that made it to the finals include “Change at the till,” a solution developed by Botswana’s Meeticks Africa. The initiative runs a 30-day challenge that aims to get users to understand how their use of single-use plastics, especially when shopping, negatively affects the environment and contributes heavily to marine plastic scrap. It also helps them practice what they learn. It is a multiday gamified experience conducted over an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot and backend app.
Another finalist is a Training-Empowerment-Promotion (TEP) model developed by Catharina Natang, a Cameroonian organization. The TEP model aims to provide training on sustainable fashion and resource mobilization to fashion designers. It also seeks to help local designers to understand the subtle but massive presence of plastic-based fabrics in the fashion industry and how this contributes to the global plastic scrap problem.
Students will learn about nonplastic alternatives, how to access them, how to recycle, properly dispose of and select nonplastic alternatives. The project will organize annual sustainable fashion events to widen public awareness of sustainable fashion to reduce plastic ending up in oceans.
Also in the running is Kenya’s Homeless of Kisumu’s M-taka solution, which aims to train and empower women economically to become recycling agents who build communities of recyclers. The program leverages technology and induces behavioral change through social connections and incentives. Through an app, the masses will be targeted to increase recycling culture and link them with agents in their areas to collect the plastic and transport it to recyclers.
“Plastic pollution is threatening our ecosystems and food systems,” says Harjit Sajjan, minister of international development of Canada. “I strongly believe that we must empower communities across the world to make sustainable choices. Choices that result in a better, more environmentally friendly future for all. I look forward to seeing the hard work and innovation of these amazing finalists and can't wait to contribute our expertise and efforts in supporting Africa in becoming a plastic scrap-free continent.”
No comments :
Post a Comment