Final Project Report

INTRODUCTION

Project Title: Learning through Recycling

Project Manager: Allan Kakinda

Project Summary:

Learning through Recycling is a school based environmental project that  provides students with meaningful education; equipping them with 21st Century skills and global competence as they improve their school and local environment through putting up trash cans for plastics/plastic bags at the schools and also having community outreach plastics/plastic bags collection and sensitization activities and share these experiences with other students around the world interested in improving their environment.

Background Information:

Plastics and plastic bags are used in various forms and formats in Uganda. Plastic bottles are used for packing mineral water and other beverages for consumption especially in the dry/sunny season in the country. Most of these bottles are for use once and then dumped-off. Plastic or polythene bags are also used for packing of goods bought at several stores and malls. All these uses are well explained and understandable as they make it easier for customers to carry around their just bought products however these plastics and plastic bags are poor disposed-off either with all the other forms of waste in trash cans or just by the roadsides. [1] 3000 tons of plastic bags are damped into the soil annually leading. This leads to declines in soil and agricultural productivity; the backbone of the national economy.

  

[1] Over 60% of stray cattle death is caused by plastic bag consumption. This poor plastic bag also leads to clogging of waterways and drainage channels resulting into floods in low land areas, roads in slums being impassable and thus creating breeding sites for disease vectors especially mosquitoes leading an increase in malaria prevalence.

    

Both government and private sectors have come up me with a number of efforts to avert this situation. These efforts include setting up of 8 recycling companies and offering of tax holidays to several set up organizations trying to address this issue. There are several ways this issue could be addressed and these include:

-          Encouraging of the development of biodegradable plastics.

-          Public education on plastic waste management.

-          Forming partnerships with already existing recycling plants to have combined efforts as the issue is being addressed.

-          Distribution of separate trash cans for collection of plastics at several public outlets and encouraging of people to make use of these trash cans.

-          Skills development with the community on how to turn plastics waste into other useful products.

Learning through recycling seeks to address this environmental problem right from the grassroots through active engagement of students at their schools and the local environment around the schools.

Implementation pattern

Who: 3 start up high schools.
What:  empower the students with knowledge, motivation and trash cans so they take the lead in proper plastics management in Uganda.
Where: at 3 high schools in Uganda and also in their local communities.
How: through talks at assemblies from environmental specialists, provision of trash cans, community plastics clean up outreaches and connecting with other youth through iEARN forums.
Why: to improve plastics management habits in the schools and local communities around the schools.

When: starting June, 2011.

Aim of project

To develop 21^st century skills and global competency among project students as they work with other students around the world while recycling and properly manage plastics in their schools and local communities.

Objectives of the project

1. To empower young people in 3 start up schools so they can be at the forefront of the reuse and recycling of the plastics and plastic bags while in schools by giving talks at the school assemblies.
2. To provide 5-8 trash cans at each of the 3 schools (depending on the number of canteens at each school) so that students can safely dispose-off the plastics in an environmentally friendly manner.
3. Provide students with an opportunity of collaborating with other students carrying out similar activities (recycling and other environmental conservation related activities) in other parts of the world through the iEARN YouthCaN project forum.
4. To establish partnerships with recycling centers around the 3 schools so that students can sell off the collected plastics to these centers.

 Principles and guidelines for managing resources

People: The project will be managed by a team of people. 4 project staff members (project manager, project assistant manager, finance manager, activities manager), lead contact teachers at each of the schools and students of the schools. Before being hired the project staff and volunteers will have a clear job description so that they’ll know what they are expected  to do. People will be hired basing on their skills and level of interest in creating change in this particular area. Together with all the project staff members we will sit down and agree on a code of conduct that works for all of us. Staff members will hold weekly meetings or when need arises to discuss project progress or sort out any issues that would have arose. All the different people taking part in the project will be awarded with certificates at the end of the year. Project staff and lead contact teachers will be paid a stipend per month.

Money: All the project money will be kept on a bank account. Issues relating to money will be handled by the finance manager under my close supervision. There will be a double signatory policy for all withdrawals from the account. The two signatures will be for the finance and project manager. All transactions and purchases will be justified by receipts or signed agreements of payment. The lead contact teacher will be responsible for collecting the money each school would have collected from the sale of the used plastics each week and at the end of each month they will give this money to the finance manager.

Time: The project will kick in June, 2011. The project timeline will always be followed so as project activities are carried as planned.

Work Plan or Project Activities

Methodology: The project will be implemented in partnership with 3 startup schools, iEARN Uganda, Project staff, Nature Uganda and recycling centers around the 3 schools. All project activities will be implemented within the schools. Trash cans will be provided to the schools by the project staff and all the used plastics collected from the schools will be sold to the recycling centers. Through iEARN Uganda, we will have access to iEARN International forums so students can get share their experiences on the iEARN YouthCaN forums. Nature Uganda will help conduct trainings at the students to inform students of the dangers of carelessly disposing-off plastics and how they can better conserve their environment.

Project Timeline:

Activity	Period/Duration	Expected Duration	Indicators of Achievement	Partners or stakeholders involved	Cost in US Dollars	Responsible
Team meetings	Once every week	1 hour	What the team members share, No. of attendees	None	----	Meeting facilitator (One of the Project team staff)
Sharing experiences on the online forums	After each project activity	2 hours per week	No. of postings on the online forum	iEARN YouthCaN Project	-------	Lead contact teacher and student leader.
Community Outreaches	One per term	3 hours	Actual carrying out of activity, plastics collected.	Local community leaders and members	------	Project team staff, Lead contact teacher and student leader.
Purchase and distribution of trash cans	3 -5 trash cans per school	---------	Purchase and distribution of the trash cans	-------------	$450	Finance Manager
Talks at School Assemblies	Once at the beginning of each term	15 mins	Response of students to talk	Project team staff and Nature Uganda.	-------	Project team staff and Representative from Nature Uganda.
Mid-term review meeting and training	In the middle of the term	2 hours	Responses from training participants	Nature Uganda	$500	Project team staff and Representative from Nature Uganda.
Pickup of collected used plastics from schools	Every weekend	-----	Sale of the plastics to recycling companies	Recycling companies and schools	See budget	Project team staff

Monitoring and Evaluation

Indicators of achievement:

            Objective 1:

To empower young people in 3 start up schools so they can be at the forefront of the reuse and recycling of the plastics and plastic bags while in schools by giving talks at the school assemblies 

Indicator:

§  Conducting of the training at the first assembly at each of the schools

§  Number of students who express interest in being part of the project at the end of the assembly.

Evidence required	How often/ When	Obtained from
Statements from students after the assembly	At the end of each assembly	Sandra Najuna
Written report about the training session conduct at the training	At the end of all the assemblies of the 3 schools	Allan Kakinda
Photographs  of the participants and the trainer during the training session at the assembly	At the end of all the assemblies of the 3 schools	Sandra Najuna
Number of students who express interest in being part of the project	At the end of each assembly	Lead contact teacher at each of the schools.

Objective 2:

To provide 5-8 trash cans at each of the 3 schools (depending on the number of canteens at each school) so that students can safely dispose-off the plastics in an environmentally friendly manner.

Indicators:

§  Number of trash cans provided at each of the delivered at each of the schools

§  Students making use of the trash cans at the canteens.

Evidence required	How often/ When	Obtained from
Photographs of the truck delivering the trash cans at each of the schools	On delivery of the trash cans	Hansa Phillpa Nabateregga
Number of trash cans delivered at each of the schools	On delivery of the trash cans	Hansa Phillpa Nabateregga and lead contact teachers at each of the schools
The amount of plastic waste collected from the different schools	At the end of each week when collecting the plastic waste from the schools	Najuna Sandra and lead contact teachers at the schools.

Objective 3:

Provide students with an opportunity of collaborating with other students carrying out similar activities (recycling and other environmental conservation related activities) in other parts of the world through the iEARN YouthCaN project forum.

Indicators:

§  Students posts in the forums.

§  Students receiving responses from other students around the one and learning about what is happening elsewhere.

Evidence required	How often/ When	Obtained from
Students posts in the forums	every after a project activity	Allan Kakinda and lead contact teachers
Responses to students posts by students from other countries	After making postings in the forum	Allan Kakinda, lead contact teachers and student leaders
Responses from students to other posts by other students	Whenever other students in other parts of the world make posting	Allan Kakinda, lead contact teachers and student leaders

                        Objective 4:

To establish partnerships with recycling centres around the 3 schools so that students can sell off the collected plastics to these centres.

Indicators:

§  The amount of used plastics and plastic bags sold off to the recycling centres.

Evidence required	How often/ When	Obtained from
Amount of money raised from sold off plastics	After selling off plastic waste to recycling centres	Hansa Nabateregga Phillpa

Methods of Evaluation

We will get feed from the students on what they have learnt from each of the project activities at the end of each of these project activities. We also plan to conduct interviews with the students and school administration at the end of the project year to see if there are changes in plastics management habits. We will also conduct video interviews to document the effectiveness of how project activities have conducted by the different stakeholders of the project such as partners and project team staff. We will also hold stakeholder and project team staff meetings at the end of each school term to see what has been achieved and how more sustainable the project can be made. Photographs of the activities as they take place will also be taken as evidence of that the activities took place.

Methods of analyzing information

All the data from the interviews and various evaluations that will be carried out will analyzed by me and Sandra Najuna since we are statisticians by profession. An evaluation report will be produced and summary results of the evaluation will also be added to the end of year project report.

Reporting of project outcomes

At the end of the project year, the annual project report will be prepared by the project manager indicating the project outcomes and learning points for the project management staff and recommendations on how the project could be expanded or could sustainably continue being implemented in the schools. Summary evaluation results will also be added to this report.

Finances

Budget

Activity/Item	Unit/quantity	Unit cost (US Dollars)	Total (US Dollars)
Purchase of trash cans	5 trash cans for each of 3 schools	25*5 = 125	375
Project truck	1 truck	4,000	4,000
Fuel for truck for distribution of trash cans	To 3 schools	30	90
		Subtotal	4465
Mid-term review meeting and training	Once per term
Training facilitators	2 trainers	500	1000
Stationary	48 books and pens	1 dozen of books - 15 1 dozen of pens - 8	82
Food and drinks	Per school	350	350*3 =1050
			2132
	For the (3 terms) whole year	Sub total	2132 * 3 = 6396
Staff member stipends	Per term
Project Manager	1	200	200
Project Assistant	1	150	150
Financial Manager	1	100	100
Lead contact teacher	1 per school	80	160
Transport and accommodation allowances for each project team staff member			300
			1010
	For the (3 terms) whole year	Sub total	1010 * 3 = 3030
		TOTAL	13,891

References

[1] System perspectives and lessons in plastic waste management by David Kabasa.