Introduction
Har Ghar Hara Ghar conducted a three-month long Swachh Gully, Swachh Nagar Campaign in three slum settlements in the ‘L’ Ward areas adjacent to the Mumbai International Airport. The objective of the SGSN campaign which ran from September to December 2022 was to raise awareness about the potential disastrous consequences caused by bird strikes to aircrafts caused by uncollected, unsegregated waste dumped in the open as birds are attracted to food waste.
Campaign Reach
2745
159
800
Campaign Overview
Using a variety of approaches including door to door outreach, informal women’s meetings, presentations in schools, nukkad nataks (street theatre), and sharing educational material, the SGSN campaign sought to bring about behaviour change among all stakeholders.
We worked closely with the three communities – Shastri Nagar, Sandesh Nagar and Kranti Nagar – and our NGO partner SPARC (The Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers). A design company that specializes in waste management helped us with creating our friendly logo, Dustbin Dost! Residents from the communities were trained to become field workers for outreach.
Though three months is too short to see overt change, we know the SGSN campaign broke the ice in our relationship with the communities, reaching approximately 2745 households. We saw increased door-to-door collection of waste and increased frequency of sweeping in the nagar lanes. We brought awareness of the hazards of bird strikes among residents, including children and youth, and awareness of proper waste management methods. Residents now pay more attention to when their area is not cleaned.
The challenges of improper waste collection and disposal are mammoth in such settlements, but we do believe that with thoughtful redesign of existing systems, community empowerment and commitment among all stakeholders, the desired change is possible.
HGHG is grateful for the connections and relationships we developed during this time, and for all the learnings derived to guide future endeavours.
First Steps Towards Change
We created banners that were displayed around the settlements along with Dustbin Dost, our friendly logo.
We organised door-to-door outreach by SGSN field workers.
We organised meetings with ladies’ groups.
We organised Nukkad Naatak activity by college students to spread the message of the risks due to open dumping of waste, proper waste segregation, proper disposal and cleanliness.
We engaged with area schools to conduct awareness-raising programmes for students.
Community leaders engaged with groups of residents.
We arranged for one-time massive clean-ups in the settlements.
