MONROVIA — Cities Alliance has embarked on the provision of “Capacity Building Training Workshop” for Governmental officials in financial management and Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Solid Waste Management in Greater Monrovia
The workshop which runs from 21 February includes an intensive 5-day financial training for the CBE/SME Micro Loan Technical Committee (MLTC) and an 8-day Capacity-Building Training Workshop in the area of waste management for Community-based Enterprises (CBEs) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Monrovia and Paynesville.
The training will strengthen the capacity of Government officials to manage and provide overall oversight to the micro loan facility to serve the solid waste sector as well as empowering CBEs and SMEs to venture in recycling and composting of plastic and organic waste respectively.
Solid waste management in urban centers in Liberia, particularly in Greater Monrovia, has posed a huge challenge for authorities due to increasing urbanization that comes with high rates of waste generation.
The situation is compounded with the lack of appropriate and credible waste recycling and composting centers to take care of the Cities’ waste generation problems.
Through funding support from the European Union, Cities Alliance is running the last phase of its 4-year programs of activities, which seeks to further enhance the technical capacity and knowhow of CBEs and SMEs in the SWM sector in Greater Monrovia.
The project, according to Cities Alliance, has focused on “Delivering Climate Resilient Solid Waste Management Services in Greater Monrovia, Liberia through Community Based Enterprises.
Speaking at the official Launch of the workshop at a local hotel in Monrovia, the Country Program Manager of Cities Alliance Liberia, Mr. Francisco Juarez Lopez stated that the overall aim of the training is to enable the private sector in Greater Monrovia to start developing enterprises that are specialized in composting and recycling activities, most especially those at community level such as the Community Based Enterprises providing solid waste collection services and empower knowledge base around loan management by the technical committee team.
Against this backdrop, Cities Alliance has contracted two consulting firms, FORBIS Institute Ghana to deliver a training workshop on Composting and Recycling for the CBEs and SMEs and Liberia Urban Management Solution for training on Loan Management for the Technical Management committee.
Cities Alliance maintained that the objective of the training is to help participants explore innovative ways of improving and adopting the best practices of the 3Rs (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle) and also the business opportunities as part of the Solid Waste Management supply chain and empower technical skills on loan management towards Delivering Climate Resilient Solid Waste Management Services in Greater Monrovia through Community Based Enterprises (CBEs).
He expressed satisfaction in the implementation of the project by his entity, which is being funded by the European Union.
The Cities Alliance Country Program Manager cited the important role CBEs and SMEs play in the value chain of the solid waste management system, particularly as the primary actors or agents.
He stressed the critical need for a close working collaboration between the Monrovia City Corporation, Paynesville City Corporation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Association of Community-Base Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, with support from National and international institutions to work together for an enabling environment for growth in the sector.
“I encourage you all to put your best effort towards this training for the betterment of this city”, Lopez said, and extended the appreciation of Cities Alliance to the participants of the workshop, as well as to the collaborating institutions and the European Union.
For his part, Mr. Harold Assou-Dodji, the lead training consultant and Executive Director of FORBIS Institute Ghana, said that he was grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Cities Alliance to support the technical knowhow and knowledge transfer from his consultancy.
Adding “This training is an opportunity to further highlight the critical importance and social recognition needed by the CBEs and SMEs as primary agents in enhancing the circular economy in the waste management stream by way of adding value.”
Also, Mr. Es-Samir Bropleh, CEO and lead consultant of Liberian Urban Management Solution on his part, emphasized that access to finance was one of the major challenges that CBEs in the solid waste management encounter mainly because Liberia’s banking sector does not understand the cash flow potential of that sector.
Bropleh thanked the EU and Cities Alliance for the facility and encouraged members of the MLTC to manage the facility properly to support the sector.
Speaking on behalf of Hon. Paulita C.C. Wie, who is the Deputy Minister for Urban Affairs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and also chair on the CBEs and SMEs Micro Loan Technical Committee, Mr. Isaac Wilson, urged participants of the workshop to take the training seriously and called on them to implement the knowledge gained from the training in their day-to-day activities in order to improve the solid waste management sector of the city and the country at large.
“Education and new training are one aspect, but the application of the lessons learned is what matters most. So, on behalf of Minister Wie, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Cities Alliance and our facilitators and assure them that whatever is learned here today will be used for its intended purpose” Wilson concluded.
Meanwhile, the President of NACOBE, Mr. Saah Kendemah II extolled Cities Alliance, Government Ministries, Agencies and all other supporting institutions as well as national and international partners for initiating the project.
He urged Cities Alliance and partners to continue on their good path in providing continuous capacity building coupled with financial empowerment of participants, with the aim of improving the solid waste management in the city.
However, Kendemah II appealed to Cities Alliance and partners to consider providing a mini transfer station for CBEs and SMEs for the purpose of conducting exclusive composting and recycling.
Kendemah emphasized that the two transfer stations currently in Monrovia cannot contain the composting and recycling of garbage while generated waste is being disposed of in the same area.
“So, we are making this passionate appeal to the Cities Alliance and partners to construct a special transfer station for composting and recycling only”, the NACOBE top official appealed.
The training is expected to be adapted to enhance awareness and behavior change and participation in composting and recycling among the CBEs/SME community,- strengthen the capacity of the CBE/SME on How to produce Compost and best practices in recycling, and- improve institutional financial management and empowerment CBEs and SMEs Micro Loan Technical Committee on loan management.
The capacity-building workshop, on financial management training on loan management, runs for 5days while the composting and recycling training runs for 8-day classroom-based training including a one-day field visit for practical demonstration in composting and recycling with a focus on local situations.
Participants will be awarded certificates at the end of the workshop which is funded by the European Union and implemented by Cities Alliance.