About The Placement
Join the fight against plastic to enhance and improve the local environment. Arranging community cleanups and collection points from a rural waste management service struggling to keep up with demand, producing ecobricks to use in school and community projects such as seating, buildings and greenhouses alongside creating and implementing upcycled items using waste plastics. All whilst joining in on the education campaign side of things to demonstrate and explain to local communities and schools just how damaging the current situation is and why it is so important to reuse and recycle.
Why This Placement?
Single use plastics are a major issue in Ghana and across West Africa. With a large part of the population living under the poverty line, companies opt for single use plastics to maintain lower price points. There is also a lack of knowledge and understanding on just how much impact plastics and waste are having on the environment and why it is so important we act now in our fight against plastic waste. The attitudes across the regions are starting to be more environmentally friendly focused with some companies and government schemes highlighting these issues however with everything in Ghana, at it's current pace it will take a long time before the impact is truly felt and understood in our rural areas.
The plastic waste in question also has a huge impact on a choked waste water system, the towns that are lucky to have gutter systems in our areas are often open and these cause the plastic rubbish to collect, cause blockages and therefore the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. This then impacts the most vulnerable in the community who don't have access to mosquito screening etc to the health risks caused by malaria.
Also huge amount of plastic waste building up in the community rubbish dumps along with deforestation is having a massive impact on the health and variety of the local wildlife which then causes in some cases permanent damage to the fragile ecosystems.
After planning with our team and members of the local community we wanted to not only fight this plastic waste but to also produce useful and meaningful items with the waste! With research from partners across the country and Ghana we have setup an ecobrick chain working with local stores to collect the water bottles which in turn we will then use to the items collected in the community cleanups to produce these ecobricks which we will then use for community developement projects such as school buildings, seating and greenhouses to modernise small scale farming.
What Is Included In This Placement?
Support Staff - Accommodation - House Utility Bills - Pre Departure Support
We charge cost price for this project just so we can cover your
stay and employ local support staff to increase loyal employment. This
placement includes accommodation
in a modern style house for the semi rural area of which we are based
with great views and surroundings of the local towns and rainforest. All
house utilities are included for your time, you will have use of the
kitchen,
electricity throughout the house and running water which is a luxury
among the area of Kwahu. You will have a member of our local support
team living in house or close by depending on the volunteer numbers so
there is always someone on hand for any questions or support you may
need.
How Do I Get To The Placement?
Budget an additional 20 - 30 cedis per day for transport costs.
Volunteers will usually take taxis back and forth to their placement site at the plastics workshop and community clearups. It is very easy to take shared taxis in town and
they are very reasonably priced. Most of our project sites will require
volunteers to pay transport between 15 cedis and 40 cedis a day, with the average
being about 18 cedis.
Volunteers are usually able to head off into the town after school
easily to shop for food supplies, grab a cold drink or meet up with
friends before heading home and the ease of taxis offer a really
flexible experience for the volunteers.
What Will I Be Doing?
During your placement you will be scheduling and taking part in community cleanups and litter picks for part of the week. You will then be based in the volunteer accommodation or our workshop space to produce ecobricks and implement these projects where funds allow or help the team create and research items that can be produced and upcycled with the waste material collected. For those of you who also would like to be involved in the community outreach aspect we also arrange assemblies and demonstrations on plastic waste management and how everyone can get involved with the local schools and community groups. The placement is very flexible and the weekly timetable can be adjusted to suit your area of interest and passion along with combining with our other conservational projects across farming and agriculture.
Who Will I Be Working With?
You will usually be working alongside your fellow volunteers, support team or members of the community however for parts of the day you may be required to work independently.
A member of our volunteer support team will also visit you at your placement site periodically after the initial introduction to ensure you are getting on well and making an impact on site.
What Do We Expect From The Volunteers?
All we request is the passion and drive to make a difference with us, one step at a time. Being able to get involved and stuck in will help you much more with this project especially with the community cleanup days which can be tiring in the heat and humidity. The greatest traits
of a volunteer are enthusiasm, empathetic and the ability to adjust
to alternative cultures. You will get the most of our your trip by
opening your mind to new experiences and beliefs whilst also bringing
your own to the table.
We expect volunteers to visit their
placements Monday - Friday, exceptions can be made for long weekends
of travel etc but we hope for the children and yourselves to get the
most of your placement this is kept to a minimum.
What Can You Expect From Us?
We
will be on hand any time of any day to support you in your placement
and trip as a whole. There will always be someone you can speak to or
get a hold of should you want to discuss anything or require any
guidance, from organising and altering your timetable to changing your
placement. Our team living in the volunteer house will also be able
to offer advice regarding travel plans and the local area so you will
soon feel at home.
What Should I Bring?
In terms of your placement make sure you bring at least one strong pair of shoes and full length trousers/tracksuit to use whilst on the community clean up days. For people with a passion with upcycling and creating new items we would also advise bringing plans or documents on ideas for this which we then plan to share to local communities or sell online to fund further projects depending on the items. Professional litter picking tools would also be amazing as they're difficult to source locally.
What Happens During School Holidays?
Other than for the community outreach and education part of this placement the school holidays will not affect this placement and you will still be able to continue as normal.
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