This weekend I was in Mzuzu in the north of Malawi. While there I decided to be sociable and attend a seminar that was being sponsored by a local NGO that is a partner of the project I am here working on. My determination to be social would not even let me be dissuaded by the title of the project - 'Waste Management'.
Needless to say, the presenter droned on for over 2 hours about rubbish - literally and figuratively. This is not a particularly entertaining topic at the best of times, and if you ask me, a bit inappropriate in the context. This project had somehow convinced the local district authority that it needed to invest some of its scarce funds in a trash removal program. A local youth group quickly volunteered their services when they realized that they would likely get some of the donor funds. Needless to say, shortly after the youth received their new overalls, gumboot, helmets and bicycles, as well as their first miserable salaries for arduous and unpleasant labor, they lost interest. A great example of demand driven development.
But wait, it gets worse. The program established a garbage sorting program and the town was now supposed to recycle. The organic material was now to be used for compost to be sold by the youth. The fact that the transport costs tend to outweigh the price people are willing to pay for compost didn't seem to factor into the equation. Then, even better, the guest speaker told us about a program they were doing to recycle paper into burnable brickettes that were to substitute for firewood. He said there was a women’s group that tried it in Mwanza, and it failed because they didn’t have a market, but, “The demand only comes if you promote it.” He actually said that – an even better example of demand driven development.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
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