The Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mrs Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey, has called for stronger collaboration between the assemblies and informal waste collectors to address the sanitation challenges in the country.
She said the informal waste collectors, which include waste traders involved in sorting, sale and purchase of recyclable materials, should be seen as major stakeholders in sanitation policies and programmes.
Mrs Sackey said this yesterday at the opening of a 4-day Inclusive Climate Action Academy in Accra, themed 'Strengthening collaboration with the informal waste sector and delivering a just transition that leaves no one behind'.
Participants include the Union of Informal Workers Association (UNIWA), International Organisations for Migration (IOM), Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCAM), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), members of the civil societies and researchers.
Mrs Sackey said the informal waste collectors provide critical waste service delivery that creates meaningful opportunities to ensure their active participation in city waste policies and its implementation.
She said with the support from C40 Cities, the AMA was also advancing campaigns and public advocacy through some billboards which had been mounted in the city to engender positive public perception about the operations of the informal waste sector.
She added that the Assembly had conducted a needs assessment which ensured the informal waste sector perspectives were documented, build their capacity and develop a policy framework to guide their operations.
The C40 Cities Regional Director for Africa, Mr Hastings Chikoko, said discussion at the session would focus on exploring commitments from member countries in relation to green transition, not only in the context of Africa but more broadly in Latin America.
He was hopeful that the actions and insights shared among participants would influence positively in policies and programmes in other cities, and encourage participants to actively share their thoughts.
"This event builds upon the collaborative work between the cities of Accra, Rio deJaneiro and Lagos over the year of 2021 and 2022.
It involves the active participation in regular knowledge sharing sessions between the three cities. The themes covered during these knowledge sharing sessions included exploring the link between gender, informal workers, migrants and solid waste management" Mr Chikoko said.
