Social Impact Project for Environmental Sustainability - Coach

Project Description and Impact

Background: Waste Management and Recycling Programme in Kumba

Kumba is the administrative head quarter of Meme Division having five Sub-Divisions and this make it the largest city in the South West Region of Cameroon. It is a major economic and transportation hub, particularly known for its agricultural trade, especially cocoa but also for other crops like oil palms, rubber, tea, bananas and plantains. It is the largest city in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. Kumba is a major transportation hub with roads leading to Buea, Mamfe, Bafang, and Douala, and it is also connected by railway to Douala and to neighbouring Nigeria by road. The population of Kumba spans up to 144,268. The town of Kumba in Cameroon has a surface area of approximately 800 km² (Source: Kumba Urban Council records).

Problem Statement:

Just like most cities in the less developed countries in Africa, the Kumba municipality is greatly overwhelmed with the challenges in managing the growing waste due to the increase economic and population growth. The collection and disposal of waste has been and is still a major problem in the Kumba municipality before the Kumba municipality partnered with HYSACAM; the Kumba municipality could not still handle the volume of waste generated daily.

Due to insufficient funds, urban cities including Kumba are struggling to deal with the proliferation of municipal solid waste. The global production of municipal solid waste has greatly doubled over the past ten years and it is expected to reach 2.5 billion tons per year in 2025, as a result of the urban development, commercialization and change in consumption patterns (Baboucar, 2015). The set back or problems of waste management in urban areas of developing countries like Kumba is often attributed to low financial and human resources, mismanagement, corruption and lack of transparency and accountability. The above mentioned problems coupled with the rapid urban growth which often leads to the generation of waste in most cities in developing countries have overweighed the ability of the municipalities to provide appropriate waste management services (Bate, 2001).

Our organisation need funds to tackle this urgent enviromental challenges in order to prevent additional suffering in our community.