People are the main moving force of projects. What else could it be?
- to reduce the plastic wasted in Njombe town
- to raise awareness in the local community about the problems and opportunities around plastic.
The figure above maps Njombe Beyond´s current network. It includes people working on the ground as well as those located somewhere else and helping remotely. It also distinguishes among key stakeholders, partners with a long-term commitment and advisors that help in certain moments.
Core team
For you to know Njombe Beyond´s core team, we have interviewed some of them.
Nadia, 29 years old Italian, is the Programme Coordinator of Environmental Projects for CEFA in Tanzania. She is an industrial product designer working in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania since 2016, where she has started the environmental sector for CEFA in Tanzania. Her expertise is in design for sustainability and circular economy.
When I arrived in Tanzania I noticed that no solid waste management was there and that really impressed my environmental spirit. I decided that I wished to stop smelling smoke of burnt waste, mainly plastics. Then researches, networking, ideas: I suggested Leire and Unai to start a crowdfunding for this project we both wanted to start, involving all the community, transforming waste and it’s toxicity in something useful, nice and valuable.
Nadia
As a Product Designer I’ll try to help Njombe Beyond to find out the best products we can realize with Precious Plastic machineries, according to local needs of schools, industries and, people.
Samora (26) is the Environmental Officer for CEFA Environment. He graduated in Environmental Science and management and has been working with CEFA since 2018 as responsible for different activities in the Environmental Sector in the Njombe Region, mainly sensitization campaigns and community awareness.
The project will treat plastic waste that would otherwise be burnt or thrown away on the environment, through the stimulation of business opportunities for entrepreneurs by circular economy of products. I would like to participate on campaigns, inputs of project, office work and all related project activities.
Samora
Plastic shredders
James (36) started working at Kisangani welding workshop in Njombe in 1998. In 2004-2005 he learnt about the Rope Pump and since then he has produced more than 1,000 of them at Kisangani and at his workshop. He has been a trainer for Rope Pumps in Zambia, Uganda and Mozambique. In 2013 he started shredding plastic. He has always transported it to Dar es Salaam.
I like Njombe Beyond. It is a great opportunity to learn and I am willing to be part of its value chain.
James
Vincent (35) started working as a carpenter in 2004 in Njombe, his hometown. In 2015 he started working with metal and has been doing so since then. In 2017 he built a platic shredding machine by himself and has been shredding since then. He started sending shredded plastic in Mbeya 2 years ago. He likes football and he is a big Yanga fan.
I am happy to see the project running and I am looking forward to see the new machines and participate.
Viny
Bahati (23) is the “boss” at Njombe Beyond workshop since late 2019. He completed his education on metal working at Chuo cha Maendeleo in Njombe and this is his first “real” working experience.
He likes Njombe Beyond because it generates an income for him while we make the environment clean.
I would like to try if it is possible to recycle other kinds of plastic that we didn’t yet, like PET bottles. And I am also looking forward for other machines.
Bahati
Since Leire (27) was a child she has been concerned about the environment and as a way to contribute to its conservation, she decided to become an environmental engineer. She discovered solid waste management during her master’s, a topic she have become passionate about.
For the past year and a half, she has been working with SMARTechs for water and sanitation and learning how small scale solutions make sense in some contexts.
She believe that sustainability can only be reached when people feel connected to nature and are aware of the impacts of our lifestyles, and that is why she believes environmental education is the key.
I expect Njombe Beyond to bring part of the solution to the solid waste challenge here in Njombe and to make the community more aware of the impacts of plastics. Together with my team, I will be piloting this project, establishing the workshop, discovering stakeholders and expanding the project throughout Njombe town.
Leire
Unai (27) is an intern at SHIPO SMART Centre. His education background is on Environmental engineering and he is also interested in areas such as design processes, team work and governance and he is curious about learning and discovering the unknown. Njombe Beyond is a perfect opportunity for him to put in practice many skills and learn new ones.
Njombe Beyond motivates me because it allows me to put into practice knowledge and ideas that I learnt theoretically, while living and immersing myself into a culture that has nothing to do with what I am used to; thus, learning about my culture and myself and these new culture and people. I hope we can do our small bit towards a circular economy in Njombe and avoid some of the mistakes I see in my home country.
Unai
As you can imagine, the network is dynamic; thus, we expect this post to change over time.