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Development impact of advocacy initiatives in solid waste management in Nigeria

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Abstract

Solid waste management (SWM) in many low- and middle-income countries is sometimes driven by the informal sector. Unfortunately, contributions of the sector to SWM are not acknowledged in many developing countries. This situation often arises from inadequate awareness and lack of advocacy for these development contributions. This article reports on the impact of a study conducted by final-year geography undergraduates on the informal waste management sector in Nsukka urban area, Nigeria. The purposes of this exercise were to stimulate development intervention on behalf of the sector to improve perceptions, attitudes and performance, to impart a range of development research skills and to expose the students to the business opportunities provided by SWM and recycling. Informal waste sector workers and government officials responsible for SWM were interviewed, and some commercial data on recycling operations were collected. Findings of this study indicate that such advocacy initiatives were effective in increasing students’ awareness of opportunities and interest in working in the informal waste sector to promote better SWM and development in Nigeria. Lessons from this university case study are also drawn for other developing countries struggling to achieve the poverty reduction and job creation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

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Notes

  1. Advocacy has been defined as the pursuit of influencing outcomes—including public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions—that directly affect people’s current lives (Cohen et al. 2001). It is about influencing people, policies, practices, structures and systems in order to bring about change (Wikipedia 2009). Advocacy work includes many different activities such as lobbying, mobilisation, education, research, prayer and networking. It can be undertaken alone, with a group of people or as part of a network and can be spontaneous or carefully planned, a one-off intervention or an ongoing process.

  2. Information on registration of these courses was conveyed to the students via a circular from CEDR dated 23 March 2009. Registration is done online through the University’s web portal.

  3. The 7-point Agenda is an articulation of policy priorities of the government and includes education, infrastructural development, poverty reduction and wealth creation, power and energy, food security and agriculture, land reform, and security; while Vision 20-2020 is a development blueprint which aims to make Nigeria one of the world’s top 20 economies by year 2020.

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Acknowledgments

This article benefitted immensely from comments and discussions made on the paper Introducing Nigerian undergraduates to the formal and informal sectors presented at the CWG-WASH International Workshop, held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (1–5 December 2008).The authors are particularly indebted to the four anonymous reviewers whose insightful and critical comments greatly improved the quality of the paper. Grateful thanks are also due to Seth A. Hart of University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria for useful discussions and suggestions on the manuscript. Finally, the enthusiastic participation in the research project by final-year students of the Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka during the 2007/2008 academic session is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Waste Management and Recycling Research Unit, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, 410001, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Thaddeus Chidi Nzeadibe

  2. Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, 410001, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero

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  1. Thaddeus Chidi Nzeadibe
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  2. Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero
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Correspondence to Thaddeus Chidi Nzeadibe.

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Nzeadibe, T.C., Ajaero, C.K. Development impact of advocacy initiatives in solid waste management in Nigeria. Environ Dev Sustain 13, 163–177 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-010-9254-8

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