ABOUT BWEYOGERERE VILLAGE
Like many other small towns at the periphery of Kampala, Bweyogerere Township is fast transforming to resonate with Kampala city and its demands:
• It is located on a major communication route (the great north road that links Kampala with Eastern Uganda and Kenya) and is 30-45 minute drive to the city making it attractive as a prime residential area to the working class population.
• The national stadium is located within the village and linked to it is a chain of hotels
• A central market, a series of shops and supermarkets, small scale industries, a mushroom of hotels and restaurants offer an excellent opportunity for a transient population influx
• A planned industrial park in the neighborhood of the village seems to be an attractor for rapid population settlements in search of employment
• Piped water supply is accessible in most parts of the township providing an opportunity for continuous recharge of groundwater aquifers due to waste water.
Recently, government announced that Bweyogerere will be among those periphery areas that will form part of Greater Kampala city. This means it will no longer be part of Wakiso, a rural district bordering Kampala.
It is not therefore surprising that a working population of all classes (low, medium and high income) is quickly settling here with settlement patterns changing rapidly to match this development trend. The high income class stay in bungalows that are well fenced with all required service utilities (water supply, electricity, and on plot sanitation in the form of septic tanks). The medium class population stay in flats that also have essential utilities but share security walls and parking spaces.

ISSUES OF CONCERN IN BWEYOGERERE
On the contrary, the low income class seem to have no option but to move into low lying areas, in non self contained (either single or often two roomed) housing units and share essential needs (either yard taps, pit latrines or communal waste dumps). As the majority of the low income group can not afford to pay for water, they rely on local wells (springs) either protected or unprotected for their water needs. With the growing urbanization trend in the area, most of these water supplies are getting contaminated with waste flow from bathrooms and toilets constructed in the neighborhoods or waste dumps in close proximity. Unaware of this phenomenon, the low income communities are continuously exposed to and suffer water borne diseases.

The management of solid waste is another issue of concern in this community. The majority of the inhabitants are migrants, often from rural areas, seeking for employment in Kampala city. The characteristics of waste generated and the corresponding management practices in the rural areas (usually the waste is thrown into the gardens) is totally different from the one they encounter in Bweyogerere where a significant proportion of the waste consists of non-biodegradable (plastics, bottles and sharps) and the biodegradable kitchen waste.

Current management practices in Bweyogerere can be grouped into the following:
• The high income class will package their unsorted waste into bags and dispose it off at the nearest waste dumping site
• The medium income class also collect their unsorted waste within the compound of the flats and burn it at regular intervals.
• Low income communities will identify a communal waste dumping area in the neighborhood, use it dispose off their waste and manage it by burning.
• The central market has a waste dumping unit adjacent to it that is near a manmade lake created during construction of the national stadium. The waste generated here is dumped on the banks of the manmade lake and flows by gravity into the lake. To reduce the bulk of these wastes, fires are lit regularly. Other communities and local hotels and shops operating around the market also dump their waste here.
• Little is presently known of how the hotels and health units also manage their wastes

Kira town Council in which Bweyogerere Township is located has a gazetted waste damping ground in Namanve but its management is perceived as a problem and the town council authorities seem overwhelmed in such a fast growing urban area.

OUR PROPOSED RESPONSE
NICRAD is a community based organization whose office is newly located in Bweyogerere and wishes to engage community members to address the problem of waste management. In particular, we will promote the following concepts
• Zero waste management initiatives among all classes of inhabitants at bungalows, flats and other squatter units,
• The use of biodegradable waste for backyard farming,
• Landscaping to create demand for organic manure,
• Advocating for recycling of plastics at parent factories and industries,
• Regular monitoring of ground water to be in position to identify contaminated wells for replacement with yard taps (connected to a piped water system).
• Promotion of a loan recovery system for provision of piped water at a subsidy to low income communities likely to use contaminated water.
• Promotion of a mechanism for turning waste into income for the youth out of school and for the low income communities
• Launching of a zero waste management campaign in Bweyogerere township that will target all key actors (Town planners, Politicians, development actors, Waste Generators and inhabitants).

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
We have identified groups of youths that play football in several locations within the township on daily basis and we would like to train them as change agents for the zero waste management initiative. Most of these youths are drop-outs or have never gone to school and look to sports as their livelihoods. We will use sports as an entry point for the zero waste management initiative. We will be asking the youths to spare a day in a week to implement a zero waste management strategy in their nieghbourhood.

Some youths carry out daily singing practice sessions at Kiyanja valley (the scene of a manmade lake) on daily basis. This valley is now a habitat for weaver birds and fish. Unfortunately, the valley is being used as a dumping ground for waste generated from markets, shops and restaurants in the twon. We will work with these "upcoming local artists" to ensure their songs have messages advocating for zero waste and sustainable ecosystem management.

We will in addition work with youths in schools (both primary and secondary) to complement the efforts of the out of school youth groups. In schools we will promote competitions through drama, poems and songs using "The in-school green clubs". Target groups will include parents and communities in the neighborhoods.

Communities using unsafe springs will also be used as agents of change. At each spring a water committee will be established and trained in proper maintenance of their spring. Activities for water quality monitoring will be done jointly with the committees and conversion of springs into yard taps with water kiosks will be implemented through the committees.

We are seeking for ways of turning waste into income generation opportunities for the jobless especially youths out of school. Featured activities will include waste recycling, back yard farming and creating community green parks. This will be a competetive venture and youth groups and school that offer innovative ideas of turning trash into cash will recieve trophies.

We are a networking organization and believe greatly in sharing best practices to fight poverty. We will partner with other organizations to scale-up this approach in other townships.