The Afri-Plastics Challenge is now in the home stretch as 15 finalists battle it out for the three prizes in the third strand of the challenge named Promoting Change.
The finalists have come up with innovative solutions that can help tackle the problem of plastic waste through gamification, storytelling, and incentives-based solutions are among the key innovations
With their eyes fixed on the prize, three winning projects will be awarded £250 000 each in March 2023. Finalists were drawn from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda. And how did they make the cut? Their ideas were evaluated by a Judging Panel of experts against criteria such as innovation, empowerment of women and girls, social impact in the community, environmental impact and the applicants’ capability to achieve success.
They did not disappoint. Those to be feted include Botswana’s Meeticks Africa, whose solution “Change at the Till” runs a 30-day challenge that aims to get users to gain knowledge on how their use of single-use plastics, especially when shopping, negatively affects the environment and contributes heavily to marine plastic waste, and to practice what they learn. The solution is a multi-day gamified experience conducted over an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot and backend app.
Also lined up for the accolades is Catharina Natang from Cameroon, whose Training-Empowerment-Promotion (TEP) model aims to provide training on sustainable fashion and resource mobilisation to fashion designers and equip local designers to understand the subtle but massive presence of plastic-based fabrics in the fashion industry, and how this contributes to the global plastic waste problem. Students will learn about innovative non-plastic alternatives that are in existence and how to access them, and also how to recycle, properly dispose of and select non-plastic alternatives. The icing on the cake will be the organisation of annual sustainable fashion events to widen public awareness on sustainable fashion to reduce plastic wastes that end up in oceans.
Tackling plastic pollution through three prize strands, the finalists in the third strand – Promoting Change – announced today are being supported to develop innovative engagement strategies such as gamification, incentives and storytelling to promote behaviour change and educate communities, as well as provide insights into the roles that women and girls play across the value chain. The marine plastic pollution issue is growing and we need to ensure that awareness translates into action and long-term behaviour change, at both individual and collective levels. To help the finalists achieve this, they will be further supported through a capacity-building portfolio of subject matter experts over the next several months to further develop their solution.
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L’Afri-Plastics Challenge dévoile les 15 finalistes du volet 1 et 25 demi-finalistes du volet 2!
Accélérer la croissance: Rencontrez les 15 finalistes!
Les 15 finalistes ont été sélectionnés parmi 30 équipes demi-finalistes annoncées en novembre 2021. Chacune d’entre elles a reçu des subventions de 10 000 £ pour développer ses idées et démontrer leur variabilité d’échelle avant la décision du jury. Les 15 finalistes vont maintenant recevoir 100 000 £ supplémentaires chacun pour faire avancer leurs solutions en matière de gestion des déchets plastiques.
De ces 15 finalistes, trois gagnants seront annoncés en mars 2023 – la première place sera récompensée par un million de livres sterling, la deuxième place par 750 000 livres sterling et la troisième place par 500 000 livres sterling.
Créer des solutions: Rencontrez les 25 demi-finalistes!
En plus des 15 finalistes du premier volet Accélérer la croissance, l’Afri-Plastics Challenge a sélectionné les 25 demi-finalistes du deuxième volet Créer des solutions.
Chaque demi-finaliste bénéficiera d’une subvention de 25 000 £ et d’un soutien supplémentaire d’experts pour développer et valider sa solution. Parmi ces demi-finalistes, 10 finalistes seront sélectionnés en juin 2022.
Les solutions retenues pour la demi-finale du volet 2 proviennent de toute l’Afrique subsaharienne. Nombre d’entre elles développent des alternatives végétales et naturelles au plastique, qu’il s’agisse d’emballages alimentaires ou de matériaux de construction. Un certain nombre de demi-finalistes développent des produits sanitaires durables et sans plastique pour les femmes et d’autres travaillent sur des alternatives d’eau potable qui ne dépendent pas des bouteilles en plastique à usage unique.