Epfania Lepaleni

Encourage People's Participation in Waste Management,eenhana-namibia Epfania Lepaleni

With increasing population and development, Eenhana town is growing fast and is soon to face waste challenges if no improvement is made. Beside technical development, community participation plays a role in ensuring effective local waste management systems. Motivational measures need to be identified and intensified. Methods include interviews, community workshops, experiment and observations. Results indicate that Eenhana Town has put in place waste management measures e.g provision of bins, waste collection and disposal, cleaning campaigns and drafted the waste management policy. Several challenges exist e.g. lack of knowledge, limited staff members and equipment, littering, dumpsite vandalism and poor community participation. Measures to encourage people to participate include: providing access to information, intensifying awareness and capacity building programs, provide incentives, supply enough equipment, job creation, assign tasks to individuals, competition campaigns, engage all members, establish and maintain a good cooperation. Appropriate management requires an integrated and collaborative approach, provided the community is sensitized and motivated to change behaviors.