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2.1 Topic j: Public education

Until the late 1980s, solid waste management policies and programs in most African cities were formulated and implemented by government agencies without significant public participation. Political and social changes across the continent, including the rise of NGOs, have fostered an increased awareness of environmental issues among the public. Urban populations have become more involved in the issues surrounding MSW. Resistance to MSW incinerators in countries like CÔte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and South Africa reflects an emerging involvement of the public in the debate and policy formation process of MSWM.

The key to changing MSWM practice at the consumer level is to make the distinction between public awareness and public education. An informed public can do much to improve the effectiveness of municipal waste management programs. Public agencies engage in this education primarily through initiatives based in the departments of health and education. School children are given instruction in sanitation, which includes reference to the safe handling of human and household wastes. Community service organizations, in collaboration with the health department and international health organizations such as the World Health Organization, conduct training seminars on sanitation for women. Included in these seminars are segments on waste handling.

These efforts reach small segments of the urban population. Their impact is too small to produce the widespread change in attitudes needed to increase public participation in MSWM. Broad-based education campaigns would require the initiative of the appropriate MSWM authorities. They could work with the health, education, media and other related services, as well as with professional organizations, to educate the public about the MSWM system, its programs and their role in it.

Such initiatives are only feasible in an enabling institutional setting. This requires the assignment of an appropriate priority to MSWM, the presence of an administrative strategy to meet set management goals, and the marshaling of financial and human resources to implement all phases of the program. As examples, successful public education campaigns of some note have been carried out in Bamako, Cairo, Cotonou, Dakar, and Johannesburg. In Nigeria, a nationwide public education campaign was conducted under the banner of sanitation. Some of these programs began in the mid-1980s and continue in operation to the present time. In most cases they were undertaken by the district governate for the municipal area in collaboration with community service organizations, the health department, the education department, and the media. The results of these programs ranged from drastic reductions in indiscriminate dumping to community-based MSW pre-collection and street cleaning.

In short, there are ongoing public education efforts that address MSW issues in the schools and through health extension services. Broad-based initiatives by the agencies responsible for MSWM are sporadic across the continent but have met success in those cities where they have been conducted. An educated public implies an MSWM system that is accountable to its constituents. This is likely to improve the service and performance of the system.

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• International Year of Forests
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• World Environment Day
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