Community participation in waste management (through PRA) in Deolali Pravara
Deolali Pravara is a small municipality in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. In January 2023, “Social Lab Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd.” was appointed as an IEC (Information, Education and Communication) Consultancy Agency. Since then, various BCC (Behavior Change Communication) based awareness activities have been implemented in the city to address waste management issues. Among these, one of the most popular methods of community participation namely ‘Participatory Rural Appraisal’ (PRA) was undertaken in which the Social Lab team engaged with the residents of Deolali Pravara to address the problems in the solid waste system.
Accordingly, PRA method was implemented at 3 places in the city with a participation of 75 citizens.
Under PRA, the following activities were implemented sequentially -
- Baseline survey
To start with, a baseline survey of the 3 locations was carried out to assess the existing situation and gaps in terms of waste collection, segregation, dark spots (GVP), and capacity building of sanitation workers etc. This was done through IT-based monitoring, direct observation and data analysis.
2. Forming community groups
Thereafter, community groups of residents, waste pickers and other involved stakeholders were formed to create awareness about the problems and address them.
3. Mapping and Profiling of Area
With the help of community groups, residents were asked to assemble at an open space. Then, through public deliberation, locality was mapped in terms of infrastructure, problems and potential causes.
4. Identification of local problems
By following the above step, local problems such as improper collection vehicle timing, places of waste disposal and waste burning, lack of street sweeping and toilet cleaning etc. were identified.
5. Addressing problems through Public Participation
To address the identified problems at these locations, community-based interventions were taken up as mentioned below:
a). Registering Complaints on Swachhta App: 08
b). Elimination of Garbage Vulnerable Points (GVPs): 06
c). Key Awareness Activities -
- Source segregation Demos: 05
- Sticker distribution (Waste segregation & Home Composting): 349
- E-Pledge Certificate Download: 735
Contributed By: Kunal Thakur (Manager) & Aniruddha Pandav (Manager) at Social Lab Environmental Solutions Private Limited
Social Lab Environmental Solutions is a waste management consultancy company providing end-to-end consultancy services to the ULBs on solid waste management and plastic waste management. Our core expertise includes capacity building, waste assessment, IEC campaign design & implementation, scheme compliance documentation, GPS collection route designing, and monitoring, and providing technical advisory and market linkages for efficient wet and dry waste management.
To know more about us and the sector updates, please visit our website (www.social-lab.in) and follow us on social media (https://linktr.ee/Social_Lab).
