Can Collective Intelligence contribute to sustainable waste management? Insights from Lilanda township, Lusaka.
By Roselyne Mwila, Head of Exploration; Salome Nakazwe, Head of Solutions Mapping and Nampaka Nkumbula, Head of Experimentation
The Accelerator Lab (AccLab) team in Zambia embarked on the waste management challenge with enthusiasm. Even before attending the Nesta led Collective Intelligence Design Studio, the team was already using different Collective intelligence methods. As acknowledged in the collective design playbook, the idea of Collective Intelligence (CI) is not new since it is underpinned by the theory that groups of diverse people are collectively smarter than any single individual on their own.
Based on what has now become clear to have been a collective intelligence journey, the team engaged in discussions s with stakeholders drawn from different sectors, conducted explorative visits, worked with official data, solutions mapping, snowballing and citizen science, to identify the key challenges critical in the Zambian context.
It was during one of the journeys of discovery for solutions that the team came across a community response to waste. The simplicity of the community-led model stood out as an ideal solution in the backdrop of the resource challenges — financial, technical and human — affecting the smooth running of the Council.
This blog, focuses on how Collective intelligence was used to bring people to work together with the help of technology, to mobilise a wider range of information, ideas and insights to address a social challenge was applied during the AccLab’s engagement with the community situated in Lilanda, one of the low cost and highly populated townships in the city of Lusaka.
Know Your Neighbour Community Initiative in Lilanda, Lusaka
Lilanda (link to the map)is located on the north-eastern part of the city is zoned into 12 areas namely, Lilanda estates, Desai A and B, Chikolokosho, Twikatane , Lilanda West, Paradise, Namando, Lilanda A and B, Chilanga A and B. The population is more than 100,000 people covering an area approximately 15km2. The area produces an estimated 450 tonnes of waste per month (based on estimated from the Community based Enterprise working in the area and Lusaka City Council records at the dumpsite). However, based on reports from the Waste Management Unit (WMU) of the Council only 36% of total waste generated in the city is actually collected (Lusaka City Council-WMU 2014 Report), it is safe to assume that the recorded tonnage represents only a small fraction of actual waste being generated in the township.
Led by a vibrant local Council leader, the community has been mobilized to take collective action to social issues affecting their community. Inspired by the efficient separation of waste at source practice witnessed during an exchange visit to Sweden, Councillor Patrick Mwamba Salubusa initiated the campaign to increase community action on waste management. The model that the community in Lilanda have developed is called as Know Your Neighbour (KYN) initiative. The KYN initiative has successfully been used to deal with challenges including crime, water shortages, disease control and waste management. The initiative has an inherent peer to peer accountability mechanism that ensures sustained community activism.
As part of the CI Design Studio, the AccLab team, in collaboration with the Lusaka City Council and following the Collective Intelligence principles joined the community of Lilanda to pilot initiatives on separation of waste at source using the KYN model in response to the waste challenge. The process suffered drawback as the world faced an immediate global health challenge that changed life as we know it. The COVID-19 outbreak and its steady spread across the globe brought new health guidelines, posing difficulties for continued physical interactions with the community. Fortunately, prior interactions with the community had already resulted in the identification of the issue to be addressed, that is, to reduce waste going to the landfill by separating waste at source and learn what works and motivate people to separate their waste. Thanks to the CI training, the team had various tools at their disposal to continue with the process. The help of technology to mobilise a whole range of information and knowledge required was demonstrated. The first was a virtual online micro survey followed by a validation virtual workshop using Zoom with all actors in the waste management sector. The only missing voice in these two processes were community members, which had the team exploring around the different resources available to ensure community voices were on board.
Citizen Science and the insights from Lilanda
The upside was that most of the information was gathered using face to face meetings with community members and other waste stakeholders before COVID-19 disrupted all spheres of our lives. Therefore, it was easier to continue the engagement with Community members through a WhatsApp group created for purposes to continue collecting citizen generated data. Further, in our context, public meetings were allowed within strict adherence to health guidelines. The face to face community meeting proved crucial and was successfully accomplished using the ORID Framework with the result that the community was able to come up with action points requires to plan for the training, data collection and sensitization programme.
From the meetings and interactions with the Know Your Neighbour committee members, CBEs and Waste Collectors, the main problems in waste management and the proposed solutions in Lilanda are highlighted in Table 1 below.
Key lessons from the KYN project thus far
The KYN initiative has been a vehicle through which new resources for research and experimentation has involved volunteers and professionals to collect or process scientific data or observations. We are bringing data, technology and people together and helping the community design innovative solutions for their societal problems. Key lessons so far are as follows;
1. A shared vision coming from the incorporation of diverse views is important in understanding and finding solutions to issues. The community in Lilanda is invested and proactive in managing their waste and addressing other societal issues through the KYN because they share the vision of having a Clean and Green township. The people in Lilanda also have an objective of adding value to waste by encouraging recycling of all recyclable waste.
2. When solutions are sourced from communities, they can respond to actual problems faced in the area and have a big potential to create impact and change.
3. There is need for goodwill from Leaders in the community to push the agenda forward. The Councillor in the area, Mr. Salubusa has been able to galvanise people to rally behind the initiative and he is actively involved in the implementation of the activities.
Working with the community members in Lilanda and Lusaka City Council we are conducting experiments that include a peer to peer sensitization programme to promote the separation of waste, the impacts of this behavioural change programme will be observed through surveys that will be administered through the KYN community focal points. We will continue to explore opportunities to work with the community on an incentive programme and finding solutions to cater for the vulnerable households in an effort of leaving no one behind. Look out for Part 2 of this blog that will focus on the results of the experiments.
This blog is the first part of a 2-blog series that will be looking at the AccLab Zambia’s use of Collective Intelligence in Waste management. The second blog will focus on the results of the experiments being conducted in Lilanda Township. For further information on this topic, contact us using the following email address acclab.zm@undp.org
