A public forum has been held in Kumasi by local Secretariat of the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD) project to educate residents on an integrated waste management system.
The forum, organised on the theme: “Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals – Fostering Community Ownership and Engendering Local Leadership in the Achievement of SDGs indicators,” was meant to localise efforts at sustaining development.
The forum follows the inauguration of Territorial management group and the Technical Working group, as the critical component for the implementation of the €2.5 million European Union HORESD in Kumasi recently.
The two groups would kick start the project to be implemented over 30 months to strengthen efforts of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly(KMA) to cause a paradigm shift to keep Kumasi clean and green.
The composition of the 25-member Technical Working group comprises persons from all spectrum of departments, including Planning, Waste management, Environmental health, Physical planning, Urban roads, Finance administration, Procurement education, Urban transport and Social Welfare and Community Development, and the media, as well as NGOs and Civil Society Organisations.
The Territorial Management Group comprises 21 members and entities, including representatives from Manhyia Palace, academia from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Armed Forces.
Others include Environmental Protection Agency, Christian Council of Churches, Shop Owners Association, Adum Hawkers Association, GPRTU, Judicial Services and the business community, who have the political influence and financial capacity to carry out measures towards effective implementation of the project.
The project aims at improving public service delivery through the capacitating of local authorities and participatory capacities of the citizens in the planning and execution of strategies towards achieving efficient services delivery.
The Local Project Coordinator, Mr. Joshua Nii Noye Tetteh-Nortey, who is also the Project officer of KMA, said about 30 entrepreneurs will be selected to the Sustainable Entrepreneurship School (SES), from which five would be selected to receive a seed capital of €3,000.
He said the project will also train and build the capacity of 10 existing companies currently operating in the waste sector in the circular economy.
Mr. Tetteh-Nortey, said the European Union had provided various interventions for the effective implementation of the project and mentioned some of these as the donation of seven compact trucks to manage waste under the project, as well as 800 containers for house-to-house waste collection and 1,000 litter bins for collection of dry and wet waste, which takes off on pilot basis at the Adum Central Business District.
Participants at the forum included; the International Co-ordinator of the project, Dr. Helder B.C. J. Moreira; a delegation from the European Union, the sponsors of the €2.5 million project, Mancomunitat dela Ribera Alta (MANRA) in Spain, Cape Verde, Civil Society Organisations, religious organisations, market women and assembly members.
