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CLEAN-UP ABOSO: CLEAN-UP ABOSO

Agona Swedru, GhanaGomoa Aboso, Ghana

Jennifer Gloria...
Year Founded:
2015
Organization type:
nonprofit/ngo/citizen sector
Project Stage:
Idea
Budget:
$1,000 - $10,000
Website:
http://www.jennifergyasi.wordpress.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/CleanUpAboso

Recycling
Environment
Health education
Sanitation

Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

We aim to educate on the need to maintain a clean and healthy environment, provide garbage collection bins and establish a sanitation club to
check sanitation in the community and beyond, to reduce the morbidity and mortality rate to less than 5% or nil, within the shortest time
possible.

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

What if Aboso were the cleanest town in Ghana, where no one ever fell ill?

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

Indiscriminate disposal of waste. Gomoa Aboso, has no garbage collection bins in the town. This is the root cause making the surroundings a
virtual dumping site for individuals in this community. The environment, then filthy, serves as a breeding place for all sorts of harmful microbes.
About 55% of disease patterns and infant mortality here continues to be malaria and diarrhoea, all related to poor environmental hygiene
(Gomoa District report).

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

To provide education on proper ways of refuse disposal and provide refuse collection bins at vantage points throughout the community. To
establish a sanitation club, which will help check proper sanitation in the community. Composting will be made from some of the waste and
others recycled. Routine clean-up exercises and outreach programs will be organised throughout the community to sensitize others and
government. Target members of Aboso community, schools in and around the community and other nearby communities. We seek to reduce
the 55% statistic to less than 5% in the next two years, this is the social impact we seek. It starts from one part of the community and
gradually spreads throughout the whole town, go national and then global.

Awards

None yet

Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

1
 The project addresses the indiscriminate ways of refuse disposal by providing education on proper ways of refuse disposal, to members of the
community and providing bins for refuse collection at vantage points throughout the community. The vision is not just to make Aboso the neatest
town in Ghana, but also to be a community, free of illnesses and to serve as a model community to other nearby communities. The difference this
project makes is that it is not an effort to collect waste or to share out mosquito nets as is being done, but to tackle the issue from its grassroots -
non availability of garbage collection bins, by providing garbage collection bins, recycling and checking sanitation in the community, through the
sanitation club.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

Social media groups have been created, to hold discussions and to generate ideas on what really the problem is, how best to tackle the issue from
its grassroots and how best the project can make an indelible and life saving impact. A website has also been created for the project, which would
keep the general public updated on the progress of the project, including pictures, videos and other activities undertaken towards the project,
among other updates. It is projected that Aboso should be able to practise proper ways of refuse management leading to a reduction of the 55%
illness rate to less than 5%, in the next two years or even less and Gomoa Aboso, as projected, should be crowned the cleanest and healthiest
town in Central Region, if not Ghana. One enrolls by filling up a membership form free for the start. Members get their environments cleaned up by
the club on an agreed basis.

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

We measure success by being able to reduce the 55% morbidity and mortality rate to less than 5% in the next two years. When the level of
cleanliness projected has been reached and members of the community have come to understand the need for proper refuse disposal and
management, the project would be propagated to other neighbouring towns, to provide dust bins and establish clean up clubs to check proper
sanitation. We plan to reciprocate this model in other communities charging for a fee. in the next 10 years, I foresee a world free of filth and
diseases - CLEAN-UP EARTH:WE'LL GET THERE!!!

Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

I plan to partner with other recycling firms and companies to pick up recyclables at a fee and this fee will be used to sustain the finances of the
project. Sponsorships and grants would also be sought from NGOs, benevolent individuals and organizations, both in Ghana and abroad, to help
maintain the course of the CLEAN-UP ABOSO project. Implementation of the project in other neighboring communities will also come with a fee for
sustainability.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these
approaches?

To the best of my knowledge, no such project has ever been initiated in the community of target. Hence, the idea of such a project and the actual
initiation of the project is in itself a difference. The most important aspect of the project is the fact that it's not just about collecting the waste after
its production, but to educate the members of the community on proper ways of waste disposal and the need to keep a clean and healthy
environment. Other projects in place only share out insecticides and bednets to prevent the diseases, whereas this one tackles the filth causing
the diseases.

Team

Founding Story

... so anytime it rained, members of the community, including myself, could barely go anywhere outside their homes. The surrounding was always
that filthy and produced a chocking smell and I always looked forward to an opportunity to make a positive impact, by addressing this issue in the
best way possible. So when this opportunity presented itself, I could not think of any issue more pressing than the issue of filth that has almost
engulfed my community. The roads were barely passable anytime it rained as the filth had blocked the drainages, flooding the roads with dirty
water and filth - an eyesore.

Team

The team has a current composition of 5 members, 2 being full-time members and 3 other part-time members, championing the course of the
project. The Team Leader, oversees the entire operations of the team. Another member, who is also full-time, also takes care of finances. He
holds a degree in Banking and Finance. Two other members, an environmental science background, help with environmental education and
checking sanitation and the other team member is the Assembly man of the community, who is a representative of the municipal assembly. The
team has a two -year succession plan, whereby, new board members would be enrolled based on their expertise. We seek to establish also an
advisory board that would help with future plans and projections into the future, as well as how best to sustain the project to achieve its envisioned
full potential impact, amongst other responsibilities.

Source URL: https://www.changemakers.com/uconn-susi-student-leaders-social-entrepreneurship-2015/entries/clean-aboso