Recycling in Johannesburg has become compulsory as of last year due to persisting landfill issues. However, the new separation at the source initiative is threatening the livelihoods of thousands of informal waste pickers, whose contribution has gone unrecognised.
Listen to John Maytham’s discussion below on the impact this is having on the income of waste pickers.
Informal waste pickers in South Africa have been committed to improving the environment as well as their livelihoods. Waste pickers make an income by combing through waste and selling recyclables from cardboard and plastic bottles to metal, providing a useful service for thier communities.
Fin 24 reports that ‘now they are fighting, not only for recognition, but also for assistance to end their dependence on a series of “middlemen” companies that buy salvaged material to sell on to large corporations.’
Read Fin 24’s report on the waste pickers’ struggle for recognition here.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s segment documents the impact of privatisation of recycling on the waste picker community in South Africa and provides an illuminating discussion on how the waste picker community are treated in society.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) women continue to face challenges to participate in electoral processes, including voting and running for elections. A survey conducted by Aware Girls during a previous Commonwealth Foundation funded project ‘Strengthening women’s participation in governance in Pakistan’ revealed some of the challenges that hinder women’s participation in electoral processes, such as difficulties in accessing polling stations, lack of permission from families to take part in civic, political and electoral processes and having to vote according to male relatives’ political decisions.
Peace Direct and Aware Girls are strengthening the capacity of a network of women to engage with policy makers, state institutions and political parties to advocate for increased protection of women’s political rights. This is being achieved by organising and building the capacity of a Women’s Advocacy Network of 20 young women and supporting existing Citizens’ Committees to advocate for women’s political rights in order to seek ways to contribute to a better, more conducive environment for women’s political participation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The project is also raising awareness and mobilising young women and wider communities to increase public support for women’s political participation; this will include radio programmes and peer-to-peer education activities by young women to promote women’s participation in the general elections of 2018. By promoting dialogue and engagement between the network and Citizens’ Committees and decision makers, like the Electoral Commission of Pakistan. The project will seek solutions to accessibility issues for women at polling stations, and advocate for the collection of gender segregated data on elections. They will also approach representatives of political parties, including senior party leadership to advocate for changes to parties’ manifestos and practices to reflect support for women’s political rights.
By the end of the project, greater awareness of women’s political rights would have been generated among young women and communities. The network of women is expected to have secured relevant skills and experience to continue to promote women’s political rights after the project ends. It is hoped that advocacy initiatives by the network and the Citizens’ Committees will contribute to a more conducive environment for women’s participation in electoral processes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thus resulting in greater participation of women in the general elections of 2018.
Aware Girls is young women led organisation from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa working for women empowerment, gender equality and peace in Pakistan. Its mission is to advocate for equal rights of women and to strengthen women’s capacity to enable them to act as agents of social change and women empowerment in their communities. The organisation has received international recognition for its work to promote young women’s rights, including awards by the Stars Foundation and by the Commonwealth.
Significant legislation has been passed in Pakistan that protects the rights of women to participate in political and electoral processes: 33 per cent of seats are reserved for women in local government and 17 per cent in provincial assemblies, national assemblies and the senate. Despite this progress, there are still 11.7 million more men on the electoral role than women. In 2017, the federal cabinet reformed electoral laws making it mandatory for political parties to allot five percent of their tickets to women candidates to boost women’s representation in political decision-making and law-making.
To support these reforms, Health and Rural Development (HARD) is seeking to improve the participation of women in politics and local governance in the Balochistan province by creating informal district assemblies to discuss the sociocultural, religious and structural impediments to women’s participation in politics in tandem with building the capacity of young women and their groups to engage in participatory governance and civic leadership. The young women are being encouraged to come forward and engage with the wider civic landscape including other civil society organisations and government. To support participation from the general public, a political resource centre for women to access information on civic and political rights, is being established. The resource centre provides guidance on registering for voting and obtaining the national identity card.
At the end of the project, it is expected that there will be increased participation of women in democratic processes at the local level; more women will be able to vote and contest elections; and there will be improved governance through the participation of more women.
HARD Balochistan is a 80% young women led organisation and registered in 1961 and 1860 Act as a non-governmental organisation in Pakistan, which is working on a broad range of issues from health, education, human rights, democratic governance to girls and women rights and advocacy. HARD has experience of working within the province of Balochistan for the empowerment of women and marginalised communities .
The indigenous peoples of India known as Adivasi constitute 8.6 per cent of India’s population, equivalent to 104 million people. Although the Indian government has introduced a number of laws and policies that are specifically designed to promote the rights of tribal communities, more needs to be done to monitor the implementation of legislation and policy at the central and state levels of government. A network of Tribal Rights Fora (TRF) was established by Find Your Feet to do just this, but they need to be strengthened so they can effectively engage policy makers and make recommendations to the institutions responsible for implementing legislative changes.
Find Your Feet is designing and implementing a tailored programme of capacity development for TRF members in leadership, advocacy skills and engagement with governance and the media. The project is also forging strategic partnerships between TRF members and other alliances and networks so they can campaign on issues of mutual concern and engage with the government’s implementing bodies, particularly the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). The TRF will document incidences of rights violations, hold regular meetings with NHRI representatives, and contribute to NHRI procedures such as formal complaints, expert inquiries and fact-finding missions.
By the end of the project, it is expected that the TRF will be able to independently engage in policy dialogue and decision-making alongside government institutions. It is also anticipated that there will be improved monitoring of legislation and tribal policies by NHRIs as a result of interaction and information sharing with the TRF.
Find Your Feet, established in 1960, works in South Asia and Southern Africa to mobilise local knowledge, skills and resources, so poor, rural families can find sustainable solutions to poverty, exclusion and discrimination. Find Your Feet works with small family farmers who depend on plots of land for their livelihood; tribal people who are often denied access to the land and forest on which they depend for their survival; women who seldom have an equal voice in their communities; and young people who are seeking an opportunity to break the ongoing cycle of poverty for their families. www.find-your-feet.org
Badlao Foundation based in Jharkhand is committed to working with tribal communities for their transformation. For more than three decades, it has been working in the areas of women’s empowerment, gender justice and livelihood development. Lokshakti Samaj Sevi Sanstha, is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1986. It is involved in women’s empowerment, livelihood promotion and rights based advocacy with community based organisations and self-help groups in Chhattisgarh. www.badlao.org.in
In November 2016, the Indian government announced the immediate demonetization of large currency notes, whereby these would no longer be legal tender. The objective was for India to transform into a cashless economy where every individual has a bank account, thus achieving complete financial inclusion. This necessarily excludes those who do not have access to the formal banking system, such as refugees. Their lack of legal status and access to government documentation had already rendered them extremely marginalized, vulnerable, and at risk. With the overnight change in policy and no access to banking services, refugees had no means of acquiring the new currency. They have thus been left completely destitute and excluded from the economy. This has particularly impacted women and children who constitute nearly 70% of the refugee population and are most vulnerable to economic and other forms of exploitation.
The Ara Trust is studying the new financial policy so it can identify the appropriate avenues to help the 40,000 affected refugees, registered with United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) India, to access financial services. Further, it will engage with the relevant authorities to create awareness about the specific needs of this population, advocate for their financial inclusion, and seek clarifications on the implementation of current financial policies. It will share the findings with UNHCR and other interlocutors to inform appropriate interventions. The project will also use these findings to implement a targeted financial education programme for the refugee community and train service providers so as to create a referral pathway between the community and service providers.
At the end of the project, it is expected that government and other relevant authorities will be better able to respond to the needs of refugees, enabling them to access financial services, thus paving the way for their inclusion into the mainstream economy.
The Ara Trust was established in 2013 as a centre for the study of refugee law and forced migration. The Ara Trust is a woman-led organisation with an all-woman staff. It seeks to use innovative methods to expand the protection space available for forced migrants and refugees in India. The Ara Trust works closely on refugee issues with UNCHR, India. It receives funding from several institutional donors including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Clifford Chance Foundation, University of York and AmplifyChange.
The Ara Trust was established in 2013 as a centre for the study of refugee law and forced migration. The Ara Trust is a woman-led organisation with an all-woman staff. It seeks to use innovative methods to expand the protection space available for forced migrants and refugees in India. The Ara Trust works closely on refugee issues with UNCHR, India. It receives funding from several institutional donors including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Clifford Chance Foundation, University of York and AmplifyChange. www.aratrust.in
Equal rights for children and young people with disabilities, although recognised in Kenya, need to be strengthened through engagement between policy makers and civil society.
AbleChildAfrica is working with disabled peoples’ organisations and civil society organisations to improve the rights of Children with Disabilities (CWDs) in Kenya.
In partnership with Action Network for Disabled (ANDY), AbleChildAfrica is forming a coalition of child focused civil society organisations (CSOs) and disabled peoples’ organisations (DPOs) to work with government officials, and to deliver a public campaign that will enhance government and the public awareness of child focused disability rights. AbleChildAfrica is developing the coalition’s ability to advocate for the rights of children with disabilities, facilitating meetings between coalition members and government officials, and developing evidence based reports of policy recommendations for policy makers.
By the end of the project, it is expected that effective public campaigns and engagement between policy makers and the coalition will lead to the implementation of policies that strengthen the rights of children with disabilities.
AbleChildAfrica is a UK based charity working with and alongside partner organisations in Africa to achieve equal rights for children and young people with disabilities. AbleChildAfrica works in partnership to provide direct services such as education and health, and engages in advocacy and influencing working in the UK and internationally. www.ablechildafrica.org
Action Network for Disabled (ANDY) works to promote the equality, inclusion and empowerment of young people with disabilities in Kenya. ANDY supports young people with disabilities to become involved in development and decision-making processes. It facilitates their socio-economic empowerment by involving them in small scale self-sustainable projects. www.ablechildafrica.org/our-partners/kenya-partner
Four months ago, WIEGO’s project with the Commonwealth Foundation Waste integration South Africa (WISA) took an unplanned turn as Johannesburg’s waste-pickers were faced with a major challenge to their livelihood.
The city’s official waste management service provider, Pikitup, signed contracts with private recycling companies to expand Pikitup’s Separation at Source programme. Separation at Source diverts recyclable waste away from landfills and encourages residents to separate their waste at home. In this way, according to Pikitup, recyclables remain clean and can be resold more easily. Effectively, however, this would exclude waste-pickers from the recycling service they have provided for decades at no cost to the city and negatively affect the income that they earn from selling recyclable material.
WIEGO has been working with the waste-pickers of Johannesburg who collect, sort, separate and recycle the City’s waste from the main landfills as well as from the street sides. There are 6,000 to 10,000 people in Johannesburg who depend on waste-picking work. Unemployment in South Africa has reached a record 27.7 percent, so excluding wastepickers will create additional hardship. By giving recycling contracts to private companies, the city is opting for a private system, when a less costly, more socially responsible and environmentally–friendly solid waste management programme, including waste-pickers, is possible.
Listen to a radio interview with waste picker representatives, Eva Mokoena and Steven Leeuw from Johannesburg about the impact of this troubling development.
Aware of the potential introduction of the Separation at Source programme, WIEGO and waste-pickers have been asking Pikitup and the City to disclose and discuss the contracts since September last year, but to no avail. As a result, an Interim Johannesburg Reclaimers Committee (IJRC) was set up and in July waste pickers from seven regions of the City marched to protest outside Pikitup’s offices. Eva Mokoena from the IJRC presented a Memorandum of Demands to the Managing Director of Pikitup on behalf of the Committee. See a video of the protest on Facebook.
As a result of the campaign, Pikitup put a halt to signing any new contracts and acknowledged wastepickers as principle stakeholders in Johannesburg’s waste economy. Pikitup says that it is requiring the companies to include reclaimers, but it is leaving it up to companies that have no experience in integrating them to figure out how to do this and have not consulted with wastepickers on how they should be included. However, dialogue has now been opened up between Pikitup, the City of Joburg and the wastepickers, which is very much welcomed.
For waste pickers, the four key pillars of integration are: recognition as workers providing public and environmental services for which they should be paid; inclusion in the current and future solid waste management system; consultation on all decisions affecting their livelihoods; and, all of the above to begin with the registration of all waste pickers in a centralised database to ensure that the integration process is well planned, fair, transparent and able to be properly monitored.
Negotiations to develop a framework of how the integration process will be implemented have been underway for the past three months.
See the WIEGO site for further information.
Vanessa Pillay is the WIEGO Organisation and Representation Programme Officer, Johannesburg
I have been working as a community organiser with Citizens UK for 4 years in one of the most diverse boroughs in London – Tower Hamlets, where over 55 languages are spoken.
My colleague, Emmanuel Gotora and I were the main facilitators for the recent Learning Exchange between Citizens UK and SAAYE. I came to South Africa eager to learn from the young leaders of SAAYE and what I ended up finding out had a huge impact on me. I saw politically engaged young people and individuals working together to create social change in the world. They had hope despite the huge challenge of youth unemployment and the slow progress or seeming in-action of their governments to address it. I also saw young people rooted in their history and culture, who readily shared their different identities.
Social change has been a part of their day-to-day lives. It has shaped who they are and made them proud of their country. Music and dance were a regular feature of our workshop energisers. This was a stark difference from the leaders that I work with in the UK. I attribute this difference to the heightened political awareness of the participants and a strong identity shaped by recent history, that of the liberation struggle. Social change has been a part of their day-to-day lives. It has shaped who they are and made them proud of their country.
What was even more remarkable was the speed at which SAAYE members grasped, challenged and understood the concepts, teachings and universals that we were delivering. Their ability to challenge and question what was being presented showed us that they were reflecting upon it within their own contexts. They were definitely the right people for the task. I could see light bulb moments within each one of them.
We adapted the trainings based on the needs and experiences of the participants, but the training proved to me that the universals that we teach in community organising are truly universal. SAAYE members were able to grasp the concept of understanding power and how to build relational power as if it was natural to them. I saw this from the first day, during our Athenian-Melian role play. Irene, who had assumed a lead role, refused to leave the negotiation table when Emmanuel asked her to leave[1]. Instead, she stayed throughout the negotiations acknowledging that what mattered at this moment was the deal on the table because it concerned her future.
As a facilitator, we are trained not only to teach the content of our training but to adapt it according to the context of the room. This can be challenging at times but because SAAYE members were clear on adapting Citizens UK’s experiences to their own, it became natural and easy. One of the main case studies that we shared was Citizens UK’s Good Jobs Campaign that focuses on creating employment opportunities for young people. Based on participant’s reflections and drawing on the experience of Good Jobs Campaign, I introduced an issue based organising model – an adaptation of the broad based organsing model, which also brings together principle partners from the state, market and civil society to meet the needs of people at grassroots levels.
The Learning Exchange with SAAYE provided me with a lot of learning about Southern Africa and for myself as a community organiser. It taught me the value of understanding the context in the room and it made me realise that I need to do more at Citizens UK to celebrate people’s identities, stories and history.
[1] During the Athenian-Melian role play, in order to change the dynamics of the negotiations and get the actors to think on their feet, the facilitators often create an intervening scenario. In Irene’s case, she was called to an important meeting, but then refused to go.
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