Monrovia–The Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP), in partnership with the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) and the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC), and with support from Cities Alliance Liberia Office has concluded a series of community forums for 250 community leaders.
The forums ended last Thursday, June 24, 2021in ten Greater Monrovia communities on Climate Resilient Solid Waste Management Services and Practices, a CEMESP press release says.
Each of the ten community forums brought together twenty-five (25) community leaders to discuss various problems confronting their communities relative to solid waste disposal within those communities and what can be done to properly manage solid waste so as to avoid environmental hazard.
The forums were intended to raise the consciousness of community dwellers on proper waste management practices and to emphasize and reinforce the important role of Community Based Enterprises (CBE) in the management of solid waste within the communities. The ten community forums were facilitated by Solid Waste and Environmental Expert Foley Pusah on three key topics including Environmental and Health Effects of Non-Climate Resilient Disposal of Solid Waste; The 4Rs of waste management and their importance and; Proper Solid Waste Management Procedures in Monrovia – from primary to secondary and onto the landfill.
The Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding successfully conducted the ten forums in close partnership with authorities from the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) and the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC). The role of MCC and PCC in the planning and execution of the events, coupled with supervision from Cities Alliance was very critical towards the overall success of the forums.
Several key issues came out of the forums, some unique to specific communities while other issues were cross cutting. One major issue that came out of the discussions was the need for communities to work through their various leaderships to strengthen and support the work of Community Based Enterprises (CBE) in the waste management process.
It became clear that most communities are experiencing improper disposal of waste mostly because of the absence of CBEs or the lack of cooperation of community dwellers with CBEs. Another major factor that facilitates improper waste disposal within the communities is the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the city corporations (both MCC and PCC) to regularly collect wastes from the designated disposal points within the communities.
Meanwhile, CEMESP is planning community cleanup and awareness exercises within these ten communities as part of its intervention under the Cities Alliance project. These cleanup exercises will target five communities under the jurisdiction of MCC and five communities within the PCC belt. CEMESP will work in close consultation and collaboration with authorities of the two city corporations in the planning and execution of the community cleanup exercises.
On Feb 2, 2021, CEMESP was awarded a six months Contract Award titled, “Consultancy Assignment to Provide Advocacy, Awareness and Journalist Training Services to Cities Alliance Liberia Country Program.” Under this contract, CEMESP is expected to carry out six key activities including the following:
- Cleanup campaign and awareness in the Greater Monrovia areas (MCC & PCC)
- Community forums in 10 communities in the municipalities in Greater Monrovia
- Journalism training
- Peer to Peer sensitization campaign
- Design and launch a competition targeting schools and youth in communities in GM
- Joint action earth day and world environment day