how to effectively communicate to funders, potential partners, and policymakers the added value of these solutions, as well as their potential for scaling up and replicability.


Youth Action 2: Turning invasive weeds into paper, Kenya


The fishermen plying their trade at Lake Victoria in the western part of Kenya are a frustrated lot. This is because the lake, which is Africa’s largest freshwater body at 68,800 km2


(UNEP 2010), is being choked by water hyacinth, an invasive


weed that has not only hampered their fishing efforts, but also navigation and irrigation efforts along the lake (Wawire 2004).


“My fishing boat has been anchored to the beach for three days now. It is too dangerous to venture into the lake as the boat might get stuck far from the shore. I just have to wait until the wind washes the hyacinth to another part of the lake,” says Victor Omondi, a fisherman at Kisumu City’s Dunga Beach.


To Michael Otieno, however, the hyacinth weed is an opportunity disguised as a menace. Michael is the founder and chair of Takawiri Craft Enterprises, a youth group that helps earn its livelihoods by processing the water hyacinth into paper products.


As dawn breaks over the city by the lake, Otieno cycles towards the shore to harvest raw materials for his paper-processing plant. In addition to helping solve the hyacinth problem, Otieno is also making the city cleaner. As he is harvesting the hyacinth from the lake, two members of his youth group are busy collecting waste paper from the streets of Kisumu so that they can recycle it alongside the hyacinth.


At Otieno’s rental house later that day, he mixes slightly decomposed hyacinth leaves with pieces of waste paper cut into small pieces. He then dips these in water and stirs them to make thick pulp which is heated, mixed with wood glue, and left to form wet paper on top of a wooden platform. After a few hours, the paper dries and he inserts it into a calendaring machine in his backyard to flatten the paper and make it easily foldable. Otieno, who dropped out of high school due to financial difficulties, reveals that he designed and assembled the machine during a stint at a local technical training institute.


After a long day, the members of Takawiri youth group retire, ready for the next day when they will craft the paper produced into greeting cards, shopping bags, and envelopes for sale. “We get enough money to sustain every youth in the group,” Otieno says.


Youth Action 3: Kenyan youth and the recycling economy


Youth entrepreneurs are creating a thriving recycling economy in Kenya. From paper and electronic waste, enterprising Kenyan youth are crafting innovative products.


In Kenya’s capital, Job Ogenche, 25, and his business partner, Miriam Muthui, 23, are making money recycling waste paper in their home-based enterprise, MJ Kreatives. The two university students have converted the living room of their one-bedroom apartment in Nairobi’s Kahawa Sukari estate into a jewellery factory.


“We have an understanding with a local supermarket whereby instead of handing over their trash to garbage collectors who would then dump it into open landfills, the supermarket hands their trash to us. We then use the waste paper, together with varnish and glue, to make jewellery such as necklaces and bracelets,” says Muthui.


As he dips a bead made from polythene paper into varnish to give it a polished look, Ogenche explains that he understands the harmful effects of plastics to the environment and is glad to be playing a part in mitigating the effects. He says, “When we try to [get] rid of plastics by burning them, we only end up with poisonous gases capable of causing respiratory illnesses. By turning them into jewellery, we ensure the plastic does not end up harming humans and other living beings.”


In Kikuyu, Kenya, the small warehouse might be mistaken from the outside for an old computer repair facility, with heaps of old computers and television sets reaching the ceiling. However, the sight of classic-style furniture made from electronic waste on the front porch will leave you in astonishment, and more importantly, in admiration of Ciiru Waweru’s sheer creativity and Midas touch.


While studying Interior Design at the University of Glasgow, UK, Ciiru never imagined that she would end up repurposing what other people consider waste into decent products. She started out by founding an interior design consultancy that provided services for individuals, hotels, and multinationals. Her passion for design and manufacturing then led her into founding Funkidz Limited to manufacture children’s furniture and toys.


As her business was extremely reliant on the availability of wood for furniture production, the onset of a ban on tree logging in Kenya hit her business badly. However, her creativity, and desire for sustainability, led her to experimenting with different waste products as her raw material. With her newfound green mentality, her business has grown by leaps and bounds and seen her also use second-hand clothes to reinforce furniture. However, it is her use of electronic waste to make furniture that keeps curious onlookers gazing, and satisfied eco- conscious customers flocking.


Youth Action 4: Somalia’s youth efforts in landscape restoration Books made from water hyacinth


When the phrase ‘The nation of Somalia’ is mentioned, a few words automatically come to mind. Sadly, they are likely words such as drought, hunger, malnutrition, instability, and civil war. It is forgivable that this would be the case since this nation is only just recovering from the aftermath of a protracted and devastating civil war that impoverished many of its citizens and incapacitated most of its institutions.


9


Youth-led Green Solutions


Michael Otieno


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