Keeping the Environment Clean, Turning Waste to Wealth

Mogadishu, Somalia – The days in which Nuur Hassan depended on humanitarian aid to make end meets are long gone. The 42 year-old father has now a sustainable source of income to provide food, shelter and other basic needs for his family with ease. He can also afford to send his children to school.

Nuur was unable to do all these immediately after fleeing his village in Lower Shabelle. Previously a farmer, he had to abandon his profession due to a dire drought and the recurrent violence hitting his hometown. He took his family to Iga Dabagey a settlement in Mogadishu’s Daynile District where displaced families like his settle when they have lost everything.

Somalia is currently facing the most severe drought in recent historic, following five consecutive poor rainy seasons that have push millions of people to depend on life-saving assistance. The presence of violent extremist groups and clan tensions are also impacting the lives of millions of people who are seeking refuge in big towns and cities to protect their lives.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is providing alternative livelihoods and jobs for displaced persons that like Nuur have been affected as a result of climate change and conflict in Somalia. Through training in plastic recycling, waste management and solar energy, communities are being empowered to become self-reliant and contributors to climate action.

Nuur enrolled in a three-month waste management training where he learned about waste collection, disposal and recycling as well as entrepreneurship. Armed with the new skills and knowledge, Nuur felt confident to start a business.

He partnered with six of his classmates and together they founded a plastic waste management company called Degan Scraps. To kickstart their business, IOM provided them USD 4,200 as seed capital.

Plastic bottles and waste are often disposed in open places in displacement sites and in the streets of Mogadishu. They are a hazard to the environment because they are not degradable.

The services offered by Degan Scraps are in high demand. Their actions are encouraging communities and enterprises to reuse plastic so they can then turn waste into wealth while keeping the environment clean. The company keeps growing and is also supplying their products to recycling companies such as Africa Solutions in the neighbouring or to Somplastic, both located in neighbouring districts in Mogadishu.

Nuur’s life and hundreds of others have changed for the better through The Joint Programme on Addressing Drivers and Facilitating Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the Context of Disaster and Climate Change in the IGAD Region that is funded by Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF). The project is addressing challenges of migration in the context of climate change and disasters.

For more information, please contact: SMSom-Media@iom.int