#Waste2Cash - Unlocking Green Jobs for Youth through circular waste economies in Africa

Green Jobs for Youth Pact

The Green Jobs for Youth Pact was established as a collaborative mechanism between the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as a legacy initiative of the International Meeting of Stockholm+50 in June 2022.

The ILO, UNEP, and UNICEF collaborate with their member states, employers, workers' organisations, and educators to address the youth and green jobs deficits in order to facilitate the transition to low-carbon, circular, and nature-positive economies along three tracks:

1. Employment and entrepreneurship
2. Education and green skills
3. Empowerment and youth partnerships.

The Waste Sector

The waste sector contributes significantly to the triple planetary crisis of climate change,biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution. Humanity generates an estimated 2.2 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually, of which only 55 per cent is managed in controlled facilities.

Of this waste, around 931 million tons is made up of food loss/food waste and more than 430 million tonnes is plastic waste - two-thirds of which are single use products.

Worse still, upwards of 14 million tons of plastic waste enters aquatic ecosystems. The packaging sector is the largest generator of single-use plastic waste in the world.

The African Waste Sector

The African waste sector has major economic, social, and environmental impacts:

• Over 90% of waste generated is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landfills, often associated with open burning.
• 19 of the world’s 50 biggest dumpsites are located in Africa, all in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• On average, 13% of municipal solid waste generated in Africa is plastic and 57% is organic waste, the bulk of which is currently dumped but could provide significant socio-economic opportunities for countries.
• An estimated 70–80% of the waste generated in Africa is recyclable, yet only 4% is currently recycled.
• In Africa, plastic consumption demand is predicted to increase by 375% from 2015 to 2060 if “business as usual” continues.

Zero Waste Initiatives

Zero-waste initiatives can foster sound waste management and minimize and prevent waste, helping to address the triple planetary crisis, protect the environment, enhance food security and improve human health and well-being. There is a need to transition to circular economies in Africa that drastically reduce waste generation (and pollution thereof), circulate products and materials, and regenerate nature. Circularity will yield Africa major opportunities for green job creation, decreasing the environmental impact of enterprises, enhancing resource efficiency, and thereby rendering business operations more sustainable and competitive - diverting waste away from dumpsites towards reuse, recycling and recovery, could inject an additional US$8 billion annually into the African economy, and create significant socio-economic opportunities for the continent.

Transitioning to a circular economy and implementing sustainable waste reduction and waste management systems will require reskilling of Africa’s labor force, with particular focus on the youth, and instituting the relevant framework to support enterprises make the transition.

The event will bring together key stakeholders  from the following fields:

• National and Regional Private sector Associations/Networks
• Multi-stakeholder platforms in the plastics sector
• Plastic industry associations/networks
• Waste management pickers associations and recyclers
• Informal Waste collection sector (Individual waste pickers)
• Fast-moving consumer goods companies
• Circular innovation hubs and labs
• Civil society, community-based organizations
• Research Institutes
• Youth engagement networks

1. Alice Tuoho - Bcorp Program Manager at footprints Africa

Footprints Africa supports SMEs to adopt future-friendly practices, address the challenges of growth and create jobs, using supply chains as a tool for development. It focuses on 2 sectors: Catering and Commercial Waste Management.

Alice is a social entrepreneur by passion and practice. She has over a decade of experience in enterprise development, business advisory services and programme management. She has contributed significantly to numerous development initiatives in Ghana.She is a B Leader and currently promoting the B Corp tenets in Ghana. She is committed to helping companies use their work to make a positive impact. She believes that circularity is essential for creating resilient companies and preserving a sustainable environment.

2. Anne Lawi - Managing Director, Africa for Impacc

Catalyzing innovation through social businesses that stimulate economy in Africa by creating enabling environment to harness skills, provide technical expertise and capital, to spur and accelerate social-economic transformation, increased job creation and improved quality of life at the base of the pyramid.   She has over fifteen years of experience in Business modelling & strategy, startup investment, working with various entrepreneurship organization across Africa.

Anne also serves as Vice Chair Person at The Association for Start Up and SME Enablers of Kenya (ASSEK)

Has extensive expertise on:

• Startup investment
• Innovation ecosystem building
• Organization Development, Business Strategy Development and Implementation,
• Leadership Development, Entrepreneurship Development
  • Facilitated investment of 100 African impact-driven startups
  • Facilitated investment readiness program for women-led startups that jointly raised $8.2M

3. Betty Osei Bonsu - Country Manager, Green Africa Youth Organization, Uganda

Betty Osei Bonsu is a Ghanaian circular economy enthusiast and climate activist serving as the Uganda Country Manager for the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO). She has over 5 years’ experience leading the implementation of sustainable community projects and youth engagements in climate policies. This is providing green jobs for rural communities, diverting waste from landfills and amplifying the voices of young people in climate change actions. Betty is currently pursuing her master's at the United Nations University studying Environmental Risk and Human Security. Following her passion for public speaking and advocacy, she founded the platform B.ISA (B. Inspired with Stories from Africa)where she is bringing stories on community values, passion and environment to life.

4. Desmond Alugnoa - Africa Climate and Zero Waste program manager for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternative.

Desmond is also the co-founder of the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) and the former youth advisor to the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA). 

He is currently managing a cluster of Zero Waste Cities projects across Africa while also supporting communities to develop and implement climate and circular economy models in Ghana, including Water for Adaptation, Ghana’s Zero Waste Strategy and the Sustainable Community Project.

Desmond Alugnoa is a strategic campaigner who has authored many publications on crucial topics like Period Poverty and Climate Adaptation

5. Dr. Mao Amis - Co-founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for a Green Economy

The African Centre for a Green Economy is a leading non-profit think tank based in South Africa. The Centre’s mission is to champion an inclusive and just transition in Africa, through undertaking research and providing thought leadership.

Dr. Amis has more than 15 years’ experience in the green economy sector in Africa and globally, as a researcher and thought leader. He advises on a range of issues, including climate finance, low-carbon development, inclusive business models, corporate sustainability strategies, water stewardship etc.

He began his career as a conservation biologist, working for WWF-South Africa as a freshwater programme manager, where he worked with leading companies to help them understand their water-related business risks and develop mitigation strategies.

Between 2016- 2019, Dr. Amis was an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town and he currently serves as an external examiner for the MBA programme at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. He also serves on various Boards, including the South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator (SAREBI), the Freshwater Research Centre, and the Table Mountain Fund (TMF) as a non-Executive Director.

Dr. Amis holds an MSc and PhD in Conservation Biology from the University of Cape Town.

​​​​​​​6. Fred Opio -  Green Finance Specialist and the Accelerator Master Business Advisor at the Uganda Green Enterprise Finance Accelerator (UGEFA)

UGEFA is A Four-year Programme that is funded by the European Union delegation to the Republic of Uganda that is Improving Access to Finance for Green Businesses. He is a Master trainer for Circular Economy and Social Impact initiatives in Uganda. He has over 8 years’ experience in Providing Business Development Support to SMEs.Fred has Provided Capacity building to Commercial banks and other Micro Finance institutions in Uganda on Green Finance, including innovative approaches to finance green businesses, development of green finance instruments and incorporation of the environmental & social aspects into the banking policies for long-term sustainability.

​​​​​​​7. John Chweya- President of the Kenya National Waste Pickers Welfare Association.

John is a waste picker based in Kisumu, Kenya. He started waste picking at the age of 13 years. Through his work as a waste picker, he noticed all the inequalities and injustices that affect the waste pickers in his community despite the integral role that they play in providing livelihoods and improving the environmental conditions in their cities. At the age of 18 years, he started organizing waste pickers to defend and protect their interests and rights in Kisumu. In 2021, he got elected as the president of the National Association of waste pickers in Kenya.

He is as well a member of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​8. Ntobeko Boyana - Chief Executive Officer of Ben Peta Holdings, ACEN South Africa Chapter Lead and a Council Member of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Ben Peta diverts hazardous waste from landfill and recycles wastewater to produce non-portable. He has worked in the fields of manufacturing, process engineering, research; development in the tyre, paper, and waste management industries.

He co-authored a working paper for the transition to Circular Economy, “Embedding Circularity Principles into the South African Economy”. He presented Circular Economy Masterclasses for various programmes. Currently working on Just2CE, CSA – circular economy platform and the STI Led Circular Economy Strategy for Abating GHG Emissions in South Africa.

He has a BSc (Chemistry, Maths, and Applied Maths) from the University of Port Elizabeth and a Business Focused Project Management from Khumalo Green.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​9. Phyllis Wakiaga -  Senior Advisor and Global Lead for Commerce and Industry at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Phyllis Wakiaga is an accomplished professional with over 18 years of experience in Private Sector Development, Public Policy Formulation, Stakeholder and Government Relations, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Investment, Strategy Formulation and Execution, Human Capital Management, Resource Mobilization, Financial Oversight Corporate Governance and Sustainability.

She is currently the Senior Advisor and Global Lead for Commerce and Industry at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change where she supports the work on the design and implementation of industrial strategies, bringing her depth of expertise and experience to 17 African countries much in need of industrialization and economic transformation. She also drives, continental public-private dialogue initiatives and the development of global investment programmes across several sectors which are important for the economic transformation of the continent.

Phyllis is the immediate former Chief Executive of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) and worked at the Association for 9 years from June 2013 to June 2022. She was the Head of Policy, Research and Advocacy and in 2015 took over at the CEO at the Association. During her tenure she drove the prioritisation of Manufacturing as a strategic productive sector in Kenya, influenced the adoption of sustainability and inclusivity in the sector and positioned the Kenyan Manufacturing Sector Regionally and globally.

Ms. Wakiaga was also the Chair of the United Nations Global Compact Network, Kenya Chapter, from 2017-2022. She drove the growth of the Network to the largest Corporate Sustainability Network in Africa. Before joining the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, she was the Manager for Government and Industry at Kenya Airways, and, prior to that, worked at Otieno Omuga and Ouma Advocates as a Pupil and Legal Assistant.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​10. Prof Suzan Oelofse  - Principal Researcher in the Sustainability, Economics and Waste Research Group

Prof Suzan Oelofse obtained a PhD in 1994.

After spending 10 years in government, she made a career change back to research joining the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research as a waste expert.

She currently holds the position of Principal Researcher in the Sustainability, Economics and Waste Research Group, is an appointed Extra-ordinary Professor in the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at the North-West University, South Africa, and served as elected President of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa from 2013 to 2016.

Her expertise includes the institutional and legal framework within which waste is managed in South Africa; waste information and data; reducing the environmental impacts of waste, circular economy, and sustainable consumption and production. Her research outputs include several book chapters, papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presentations at national and international conferences.