Large Scale Ending - Post-AWAREE TV Conference 5
On 25 May, CITYNET hosted its largest TV conference to date with close to 50 participants representing eight city governments and organizations. Although Post-AWAREE was officially completed in March of 2010, participating cities, and even some new partners have continued to come together regularly to share their continued progress. Participants included the member cities of Colombo, Dhaka, and Makati; CITYNET National Chapters in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka; NGO/community partners DSK, PWEDO, and the Ayala Foundation; and hosts JICA, Yokohama, and the CITYNET Secretariat.
Colombo reported its continued success and effort with its ongoing solid waste management awareness campaign and promotion of home composting. So far 3725 compost bins have been distributed and the eco-park project has seen the transformation of landfills into new community parks. Dhaka has continued to use biogas, solar panels, rainwater harvesting and compactors to help meet the cities energy while helping to manage its waste problem. Rooftop gardening was also highlighted as a way individuals have been reusing their organic waste in a way that also supplies them with additional benefits. Makati emphasized its ongoing waste management awareness campaign and reported some success with an estimated 46,348 lights being turned off due to conservation campaigns in 2011.
First time participants DSK (Dushtha Shasthya Kendra), PWEDO and the Ayala Foundation brought new perspectives and insights as they shared their own experience. DSK, an active NGO member of CITYNET in Bangladesh, has been in the water supply and sanitation business for slum areas in the country since 1992. The DSK Water Point Model which included the installation of more than 2000 water collection points was replicated by other NGOs, donor agencies and the governments. Through DSK's advocacy efforts slum dwellers are now entitled to be legal customers of DWASA (Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority). PWEDO, which operates in Kathmandu, Nepal, presented on its waste management community programme, which aims to capture up to 80T/day of Kathmandu’s organic waste within three years time. They hope to achieve this goal through the use of awareness raising. The Ayala Foundation, operating in the Philippines, focuses on promoting CSR (Corperate Social Responsibility) and partnership building between community and business. The Ayala Foundation presented its case study on integrating solid waste reduction into business operations and practice in which they are able to collected the increased amount of recyclable waste over the past 10 years.
While all participants reported different levels of success they all acknowledged the need to continue awareness building and best practices transfer within their cities. CITYNET Secretariat intends to continue facilitating this growth.
