Health & wellbeing

18 03 2024

Increasing Access to Waste Management Services in Informal Settlements in Lilongwe City, Malawi

In this blog from Zilire Luka, Bernard Kondowe, Jiban Karki and Hayley Stewart we learn more about the project to increase access to waste management services in informal settlements in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. This work is being undertaken by our partners in Malawi, the Centre for Community Organisation and Development (CCODE) and its alliance partner, the Federation of the Rural and Urban Poor (the Federation), part of SDI. It is funded by the ARISE Responsive Fund.

The problem

The local authority, Lilongwe City Council (LCC), faces several constraints, some of which are related to availability of resources, which makes it difficult to collect all solid waste. As a result, the local authorities tend to concentrate their waste collection activities in so-called ‘formal’ areas, neglecting informal settlements. Currently the council lack sufficient data on how much it costs to collect and properly dispose of a ton of solid waste, though they estimate collection and delivery to the dumpsite costs between MK 3,000 and MK 5,300 per ton.

High urbanisation rates continue to contribute to the growth of informal settlements, with annual growth levels at 5.2% is very high compared to the national growth rate of 2.8% per year. As such, the national urbanisation level of 15.3% is expected to rise to 30% by 2030 and 50% by 2050. The LCC collects 30% of waste per day, in markets and low-density areas, however there are no waste collection services in informal settlements. The wanton disposal of household solid waste exposes peri-urban dwellers to an unhealthy environment, causing groundwater and air pollution, flooding through clogging water drainage systems and water borne disease, for example, cholera. The waste for wealth (W4W) concept is also not fully utilised by informal settlements. The W4W approach mobilises and trains community waste entrepreneurs to process waste into various products i.e., compost manure. These community waste entrepreneurs collect garbage from households and markets, sorting it and process it at the established community waste transfer centres.

ARISE outcomes

The work carried out in Malawi addresses a number of ARISE outcomes. Through this project local urban marginalised people will be better able to come together to identify their priorities around health and wellbeing and develop action to achieve their goals. It will lead to increased accountability and responsiveness from local government and other actors to meet the priorities of urban marginalised people, as well as helping urban marginalised people, government departments, other (development/community) organisations and researchers better understand what might improve the health and wellbeing of urban marginalised people.

The project will address the complexities in the waste management value chain (includes all aspects of the waste chain – from before a resource becomes ‘waste’ until the resource is brought back into a new life cycle) in informal settlements, while improving waste management in the targeted informal settlements through the adoption of the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Through the interventions we will create a critical mass of organised informal settlements working together to improve their wellbeing through improved waste management, while increasing local accountability and responsiveness to meet the priorities of organised informal settlements in the city. In order to undertake this action, the Malawi team identified study sites in Kaliyeka, Mgona, Mtandire.

Activities to date

So far, the project has collected, organised and disseminated data on waste generation and management for three informal settlements, the highlight of which being the waste audit process. The project has also supported the establishment of waste collection services in two informal settlements – Kaliyeka and Mtandire, which in turn created employment among young people. With the help of local communities, the project has produced different learning and knowledge management materials (including pamphlets, brochures, and short video clips to disseminate information on proper waste management practices in an informal settlement setting), promoting easy access to information, fostering collaboration between community members and Lilongwe City Council and enhancing decision making efficiency. The team also facilitated the capacity development of 130 community informal waste entrepreneurs in waste handling and processing (collection, sorting, composting and recycling).

Lessons learnt

Involving the community in the waste management process is crucial – community participation ensures better understanding of local needs, customs, and challenges.
There is a real need to take advantage of the informal economy within the settlement. i.e., informal waste pickers often play a significant role in recycling efforts.
Lack of information (awareness) about proper waste disposal and its impact on health and the environment is a common challenge in informal settlements.
Limited infrastructure is hindering waste collection and disposal efforts.
Collaboration of various stakeholders i.e., local authorities, NGOs, and communities, is crucial for the success and sustainability of waste management projects.
The promotion of recycling and re-use of waste products (waste-to resource approach) is turning challenges (waste accumulation) into opportunities (source of income) in informal settlements.

We used a number of strategies in addressing crosscutting issues that include;

Promoting inclusivity by ensuring that all community members, including vulnerable or marginalised groups (i.e., women and youth groups) were involved in all the project processes.
Integrating technology where applicable to streamline data collection, communication, and knowledge dissemination processes.
Encouraging a culture of continuous learning and improvement by regularly reviewing and updating M&E processes, coordination mechanisms, and educational materials based on feedback and the evolving needs of communities.

27 05 2022

Bloody inconvenience: Menstrual health in waste worker communities

Menstruation presents several challenges in the areas of physical and mental health, comfort, social ease, and productivity for many women. Women with socioeconomic capital, financial resources, employment benefits and security, agency, and autonomy are able to navigate menstruation using acute and longer-term strategies of safe and discreet menstrual hygiene management, exercise of appropriate social arrangements, prevention and screening of gynaecological ailments, promotion of general health, and utilisation of facilities for time off work if necessary. In contrast, women from socioeconomically disadvantaged communities face multiple hardships and have little or no recourse to solutions, taking menstruation from the normal physiological process that it should be to a recurring impediment to women’s physical, social, and economic health. On World Menstrual Hygiene Day 2022, we reflect on the impact that menstruation, and the social stigma around menstruation, have on the lives of women waste workers in India.

The challenges of menstruation for waste workers

Daily wage earners and ‘own account’ workers among waste workers have limited job security, with no option but to undertake their demanding waste picking and sorting activity every day. This involves walking long distances to work, with many forgoing public transport to save the fare. The work necessitates walking, carrying loads of collected waste, and repetitive bending and stretching. For those in difficult terrain, such as in hilly areas, everyday routes to work involve walking on uneven and steep paths, and narrow and steep stairways without railings, while carrying 10-30 kg of waste. Waste workers typically set out for work very early in the day and miss meals until they finish work late in the afternoon.

Women waste workers also have limited or no access to toilets, an amenity that is essential during menstruation. Those who have heavy bleeding prepare for these hard days by using two or three menstrual pads at once, or menstrual pads along with old cotton cloth, resigning themselves to unalleviated physical discomfort to overcome the lack of civic amenities.

Through it all, the overpowering embarrassment associated with mentioning, let alone discussing, menstruation impedes their menstrual hygiene management practices, including procuring or preparing menstrual absorbents, changing, washing, and drying used cloth, or wrapping and disposing of used pads. Over the long term, poverty and cultural norms that deprioritise women lead to suboptimal nutrition and unhealthy behaviours that place girls and women at higher risk for gynaecological disorders, and communicable and non-communicable diseases, while healthcare remains difficult to access.

Many women in the waste worker communities use old cotton cloth that they tear into rags and discard after a single use by open burning, shallow burying, or dumping with municipal garbage. Even these modes of post-use disposal are fraught with embarrassment and the need to wait for dark, and find a relatively deserted spot to discard used menstrual absorbents. Reusable menstrual hygiene products are not preferred, as there are no facilities to support their use, such as toilets, water supply, soap, and clotheslines to dry the washed cloth thoroughly and discreetly.

In areas where women in the waste worker communities have friendships and informal social relations centred around employment, and relatively better access to resources, the usage of commercially available disposable menstrual pads is common. But even these women lament the additional out-of-pocket expenditure for menstrual products, and hope for free or low-cost alternatives.

Menstruation and waste work: a two-fold challenge

Women in waste worker communities are also the ones who pick the discarded menstrual absorbents from municipal waste. When these are poorly disposed of, waste workers bear the brunt of it, often having to come into direct skin contact with used menstrual absorbents. Sometimes, street animals, while scavenging for food, tear apart waste bags containing used menstrual absorbents and lay them out in the open. For the waste workers, it is then not just a matter of shame, but also an increased risk of contracting infections that their occupation poses.

In addition, women from economically weak sections of society have always had to bear the double burden of responsibilities both inside and outside the home. This includes unrelieved sociocultural responsibilities in the family and community (such as care for children and the sick and infirm, as well as the duty to preserve modesty by not discussing or displaying menstrual hygiene products or practices), without the benefits of facilities for rest, recuperation, and recreation.

Menstruation leave: only for some

Affluent women with resources can claim menstrual leave or sick leave (in places where menstrual leave is not formally accepted). But such systems are not available for women in waste worker communities. They are apprehensive about seeking leave as missing work would mean that it would pile up for them to undertake on their return, or other workers would have to shoulder the burden of their work.

Improving menstrual hygiene management, and ending the stigma

Promoting safe and acceptable menstrual hygiene management for women in this complex context of sociocultural expectations and deprivation requires both adaptive and mitigating measures. This includes, for example:

safe, affordable disposable menstrual absorbents, as well as convenient facilities for disposal that have minimal adverse impact on the environment and on women’s health;
prompt and comprehensive provision of basic civic amenities, such as access to safe and affordable water and sanitation facilities;
community engagement to disrupt the silences, and eliminate the embarrassment and stigma associated with menstruation; and
accommodative workplace policies and legal safeguards that cater to the specific circumstances of women’s varied life experiences.

ARISE endeavours to promote safe and sustainable menstrual hygiene management

The ARISE team at The George Institute is embarking on a menstrual hygiene management intervention among women in waste worker communities in three action sites. The intervention, planned to be conducted over four months, will involve:

group and individual discussions to understand menstrual practices and norms;
distribution of sustainable menstrual hygiene management kits (including menstrual cups, reusable cloth pads, and period underwear, as well as amenities for post-use treatment); and
the filling in of a menstrual health log complemented with discussions to understand women’s experiences of using the kits over the duration of the project.

This work will provide us with findings on current practices, barriers and enablers of safe, healthy, and sustainable menstrual hygiene management, and acceptability and ease of use of various menstrual hygiene products. We anticipate that these findings will inform the development of future programmes by local governments, workers’ collectives, and NGOs in these sites as well as in other communities, particularly those facing socioeconomic disadvantages.

Image credit: Sowjanya B., DBRC, Guntur, India