BRAC Urban Development programme in partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation has arranged a seminar to share learnings on the wellbeing of waste workers.
The seminar highlighted the findings of the project titled “Bandhan”, aimed at developing a model for safe life and livelihood of waste workers in Dhaka city.
The seminar was held at the BRAC Centre Inn with Md Selim Reza, Chief Executive Officer, Dhaka North City Corporation,attending as chief guest. Razinara Begum, Director, Department of Environment, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dewan Abdul Mannan, Ward Councilor, Dhaka North City Corporation, Dr Tariq Bin Yousuf, Additional Chief Engineer, Dhaka North City Corporation, and Ta Duy Tung, Managing Director, Coca-Cola Bangladesh Limited, attended the programme as special guests.
Speakers at the seminar discussed the existing informal nature of waste management and the findings from the experiences of running the ‘Bandhan’ project in 13 low-income informal settlements in the capital.
Key findings from the project suggest that people involved in the waste management process are extremely marginalized. They are also devalued by other groups living in similar marginalized situation in the same locality. Joint efforts are needed to improve their livelihoods. Besides, Long-term interventions are required to resolve the problems including earning, living conditions, access to basic services, social status, safety, and financial inclusion.
Without stronger policy advocacy and interventions to overhaul the entire waste management ecosystem, sustainable change would not be possible, the findings pointed out.
Md Selim Reza, Chief Executive Officer, Dhaka North City Corporation, said” We want to develop a participatory and caring societywhere will work together to improve the lives of the people who are working hard to keep our cities clean. We will try our best to review the suggestions from this seminar findings to improve the lives of the waste workers.”
Asif Saleh, Executive Director, BRAC, said, ““The people who keep our cities functioning are the most neglected ones. Waste pickers are no exception. We are looking for ways and means to support various groups in the urban areas with all-inclusive support for their wellbeing. Bandhan project is a step towards that end and we need scale this up to cover waste pickers in all other cities”
A spokesperson from The Coca-Cola Foundation, said, “Anessential part of our global sustainability objective aims at creating a world without waste. So we realize the vital role of the waste workers who plays significant role in keeping the environment clean. We want that their work must be appreciated and so we are delighted to be engaged in the Project ‘Bandhan’ to see the positive results.”
