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ASA NGO global: Tackling Waste Management in Berlin and Techiman

Linda, Merle, Tim and three other ASA participants are supporting the Ghana Permaculture Institute, SONED Friedrichshain e.V. and SFE school in finding ideas on how to improve waste management in Germany and in Ghana. As an international team, they are not only overcoming challenges, but also gaining new friendships and insights into new perspectives.

Group picture of six ASA participants.
The team of the ASA project "Promoting sustainable waste management: Developing research and practical approaches in waste management". Photo: SONED e.V.

Tell me about you. Who are you and what is your project about?

Linda: My name is Linda and I am participating in the ASA-programme with the Ghana Permaculture Institute (GPI). Together with the Southern Networks for Environment and Development Berlin-Friedrichshain e.V. (SONED) we are working on improved waste management systems in Techiman, Ghana. The project is divided in two phases: In a first step (in Berlin, Germany), we are preparing our ideas and stages of the project. In a second phase, in Techiman, we are going to implement first measures to tackle waste management problems: We are planning to create education material on waste management and build measures to manage degradable waste at school. Our focus lays on plastic waste, since it is one of the main obstacles for the environment in Ghana. For me, ASA is a great opportunity to connect with people from all over the world.

Merle: I am Merle, one of the team members in Germany. In total, we are three people from Germany and three people from Ghana, participating in the ASA project. I study biology and got to know about the ASA programme from a former teacher at SFE school , which is the third partner of our project. I enjoy working with SONED and SFE, seeing that they help us in developing our ideas and are very well connected. That makes it easy for us to get to know people that are working on the same issues.

Three ASA-participants Merle, Linda und Tim in the garden.
The three ASA participants Linda, Tim and Merle are committed to sustainable waste management. Photo: ASA-Programm

Tim: My name is Tim and I am studying political science and economy. I heard from ASA through my internship at AWI Freiburg. Since the project itself has limited funding, I think, an interesting part is to learn about fundraising.  We participated at a workshop at Nord-Süd-Brücke last week to learn about project management and fundraising methods. The workshop was great and we surely can implement some tools to further develop our project.

As a partner institution: What are the values in working with ASA?

SONED e.V.: The programme is interesting for partner organisation as well as participating students. We have the opportunity to gain insights in a new field; and the students get to know new tasks and inputs from different working environments. Even though we have financial and time limits, we can build up on the participant´s work and carry on working with the partners in Ghana afterwards.

SONED e.V. is situated in the vivid Berlin-Friedrichshain. Photo: ASA-Programm

How did you experience working in an international team? What challenges did you face?

Merle: (laughing) “My Berlin” and my Spotify playlist changed in a very good way. I am discovering new places and new music. There were definitely some communication issues in the beginning. But overall it is a nice learning experience.

Tim: It is always challenging to come together as a team with people you don´t know. In our first week, we took a short trip to Brandenburg to learn about permaculture and composting methods. That helped us a lot in growing as a community.

Linda: For me, it was difficult to adapt to the cold at first, but with the time, I felt well connected to the project and the people. I would like to share one very special moment with you: When participating in the ASA seminar, my business was robbed in Ghana. I was very shocked. My seminar group supported me a lot; they collected money to help me. They really made me feel like having a second family.

Overall, I like to experience new things, new exposures and really enjoyed discovering Berlin as well. We are now all looking forward to the project implantation in Ghana with GPI.