Programs & Events

WASTE-INTO-VALUE AND ZERO WASTE AWARENESS   (July 1st  to July 31st, 2021)

The #NatakaTaka Campaign, which runs from July 1 to July 31, 2021, aims to positively influence the public’s perceptions on consumption and waste disposal by encouraging individual responsibility regarding waste, especially plastics, as well as sound domestic waste management. ‘Nataka Taka’ means ‘I want trash’ in Kiswahili.

The campaign is an initiative of Amusha Youth Organization, Mukuru Youth Initiative (MuYI), Anno’s One Fine Day, Dandora HipHop City (DHC), The FlipFlopi, and Portsmouth University. Through a series of activities, the partners in collaboration with Jiji Ni Ya Who? Initiative are sharing stories of Nairobi City, knowledge and raising awareness on consumer behavior of city dwellers and sensitizing communities along the Nairobi River banks settlements to appreciate and protect the environment promoting the REBIRTH of Ngong River - Nairobi River and its memorable tales to re-imagine better.

“I Grew up in Dandora near the dump site. I had a very different angle of looking at waste. When people saw UCHAFU (filth), I saw business and I believe waste picking can be professionalized to support families.”

Says Juliani, one of Kenya’s Hip Hop Icon and CEO Customer Bora initiative/TakaBank.

The flagship activity of the campaign is a clean-up at Mukuru – Ngong River stream this Saturday 10^th July from 9am followed by a webinar scheduled for Thursday, 15th July on Tweet Space. Hosted and moderated by Juliani (Hip Hop Artist and TakaBank Innovation CEO) and Dave Ojay (Founder, NAAM Festival), the webinar will host panelists to discuss ways of perceiving waste as a resource and demonstrate local & Global transitions to solutions. This comes after the clean up to unblock a section of Ngong River and begin conversations of reclaiming the river bank spaces, regeneration, proper waste management and restoring our landscapes while leading a plastic revolution from the home level.

“Human beings are destructive. If we improve through shifting our business in this Planet from PROFIT to PROSPERITY we can revolutionize the Waste/Taka economy through sound manufacturing that protects rather than destroy the ecosystem and reduce pollution choking Earth Organs.” Dave Ojay, Co-Hosting webinar with Juliani and Founder of NAAM Festival observed.

Another highlight of the campaign will be an interactive environmental workshop on sustainable collection of waste during clean ups. It will train participants on how to segregate waste and establish collection stations in Mukuru, as part of the TakaBank initiative. Throughout July, the campaign will also activate communal cleanups and art-from-waste projects in the Nairobi’s Ngara area.

Juliani will lead the #NatakaTaka challenge. As part of this, he will conduct various activities online to reveal how he manages and segregates his own waste at home. Everyone who can join him is invited to share their knowledge and tips on reducing and segregating outbound waste in their lives from the home level.

Each weekend, the campaign will digitally showcase all of its activities from the preceding week. The final showcase, on Sat. July 31st, 2021, will feature exhibition art created from waste and conservation innovation sessions with performing and visual artists.

Long term, the campaign aims to contribute to local ownership, appreciation, conservation, and awareness of the importance of the environment, as well as a total ban of single-use plastics throughout the East African region and attempting to revive Nairobi River from the source in Ngong.

 

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

Portsmouth University, through the STEPP Project (Sustainable Transitions to End Plastic Pollution) supported this pilot edition which we believe should be sustained through other possible local collaborations.  The aim of the STEPP project is to identify opportunities to tackle the problem of urban plastic pollution, focusing on two case study sites in low-income countries — Nairobi, Kenya and Sylhet, Bangladesh and it is an interdisciplinary and international collaboration drawing contributions from a wide range of stakeholders, including community activists, local governments, businesses and academia. Follow link to read more about STEPP - https://www.port.ac.uk/research/research-projects/plastic-pollution-in-the-global-south

FlipiFlopi: (www.theflipflopi.com/)

FlipiFlopi is a circular economy movement based in East Africa, whose vision is a world without single-use plastic. They showcase alternate uses of waste plastic and the viability of a circular economy in Africa through their education programmes, innovation hubs and advocacy and governance programmes.

 

Amusha Youth Organisation: (@amushayouth) - Amusha is a youth-led community based in Mukuru kwa Njenga.

Mukuru Youth Initiative (MuYI): (www.mukuruyi.org/muyi) - MuYi is an innovative initiative set up to sensitize the community on the issues about plastics and plastic pollution through various forms of art such as music, murals and via the digital space.

Anno’s One Fine Day: (www.annosafrica.org.uk/anno) - Anno’s offers creative opportunities through their Children Arts center in Kibera.

Taka Bank & Dandora Hip Hop City (DHC): (@DandoraHHC) - DHC is a community-based-organization whose aim is to create and enhance transformational spaces for young talented residents of Dandora to hone their artistic and entrepreneurial skills. Taka Bank is also affiliated to DHC founded by Artist Juliani providing income opportunities from sound waste collection targeting homes to return waste and redeem points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Flip Flopi Naam Lolwe Festival is a campaign that launched its Clean up and environmental knowledge sessions on 6th February, 2021. The pre-activities culminate into a community gathering of purpose, innovation, and culture during the climax exhibitions, boat races, and showcases from 4th to 7th March. In Kisumu County. There is a message they yearn to take upstream with efforts to educate people on going green.

The Flip Flopi and Naam Festival team believes in a future that will not affect the coming generation. This is why Flipflopi, in partnership with Naam Festival and the County Government of Kisumu, are joining hands to beat pollution to awaken the plastic revolution. More so, they will fight for justice for Lake Victoria and celebrate Lake Victoria's innovators for coughing out the ingenious ways of boosting the circular economy.

Flip Flopi and Naam Festival seek to gear up the campaign to ensure knowledge is shared, create awareness and encourage the community to appreciate Lake Victoria's natural environment. With this project, the long-term goal is to achieve local ownership, appreciation, conservation, and vast awareness of the importance of Lake Victoria's ecosystem and a ban on single-use plastics in the East African region.

The project will see the communities living along and etching their livelihoods from the lake experience behavioral and attitude changes towards the lakeside ecosystem. Their daily routine doesn't endanger Lake Victoria and its rivers.

The project also touches on the proper waste segregation and management across the counties bordering Lake Victoria in Kenya and to see systematic investment by the government and private investors in waste processing to provide more employment opportunities to the lakeside communities.

However, there is an ongoing workshop in different villages in Kisumu in preparation for the Flip Flopi Naam Lolwe Festival.