Nesta Challenges announces semi-finalists of Strand Three of the Afri-Plastics Challenge

The third and final strand, “Promoting Change” of the Afri-Plastics Challenge seeks to inspire behaviour change around plastic waste.

Semi-finalists are using innovative engagement strategies such as gamification, nudges, incentives, and storytelling Fifteen finalists will be selected in June 2022 to implement their ideas and each will win £50 000

Nesta Challenges has announced the semi-finalists of Promoting Change, the final strand of the Afri-Plastics Challenge in South Africa and made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema by the Africa Communications Group based in South Africa.

The Challenge aims to reduce marine plastics in Sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement.

The third and final strand of the Afri-Plastics Challenge called Promoting Change and delivered by London-based Nesta Challenges, began accepting applications on 8 December 2021. This marks the last leg of the Challenge after Strand 1: Accelerating Growth and Strand 2: Creating Solutions was launched in July and October 2021, respectively.

The semi-finalists are developing campaigns, schemes, tools, and other creative interventions that will change both the behaviour of individuals and communities around plastic waste in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as contribute to the empowerment of women and girls.

Among the semi-finalists is Senegal’s Haskè Conseil, whose project will organize awareness workshops in working-class districts, schools, secondary schools, colleges, and universities.

This will include the parents of the pupils and the mentors of the ‘badienou gokh’ district. Entertaining and creative activities (storytelling, games, stories, and theatre forum) will be facilitated by cultural, social, and environmental associations (including the neighborhood mentors).

Also making it to the semi-finalists’ list is an organization from South Africa known as Soapbox South Africa, whose project Captain Fanplastic, uses storytelling as the core of the education about plastic.

The program is designed for scalability in that the organization can offer an opportunity to use girls and women as leaders, facilitators, and trainers of the much-needed education in the communities.

The programme curriculum also aligns and contributes to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Such as SDGs 4- Quality Education or 12- Responsible Production & Consumption through self-published books, modules, and songs.

Thirty semi-finalists for Strand 3 of the Afri-Plastics Challenge will receive capacity-building support to further develop their engagement strategies, alongside a grant of £5,000 each.

Fifteen finalists will then be selected in June 2022 to implement their ideas with support from additional capacity-building support and a grant of £50 000. Finally, three winners in March 2023 will receive £250,000 each.

Adwoa Coleman, Afri-Plastics Challenge judge and Ghana Country Manager for Dow said: “Africa’s entrepreneurs and innovators are at the forefront of creating the solutions needed to scale plastics recycling and reduce the volumes of plastics entering the value chain – but their efforts will be for nothing without a groundswell of support from communities to make the circular economy for plastics a well-functioning reality.

The semi-finalists announced today are using diverse approaches to engage communities – and particularly women and girls who are so integral to the plastic ecosystem in Africa – to drive the change needed to overcome the unfolding tragedy of unbridled plastic pollution on the continent.”

The challenge could not have come at a better time. At the recently concluded United Nations Environment Programme 5.2, the world’s ministers for the environment agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee with the mandate to forge an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.

This legally binding global agreement on plastic pollution was the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris Accord.

The resolution calls for a treaty that promotes sustainable alternatives to plastics and fosters international collaboration on access to technology, capacity building, and scientific and technical cooperation.

Efforts made by several governments across Sub-Saharan Africa have given these countries a headstart in combating plastic waste.

The projects presented by the semi-finalists have provided an opportunity to promote behavior change and save oceans from pollution, as researchers of a study published in the Journal of Science in 2020 estimated that plastics entering the ocean could triple to nearly 29 million metric tonnes by 2040 if current production and consumption remains unchecked.