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Cultivating co-existence through sustainable waste management in Zimbabwe

Do you think humans and monkeys can co-exist in the same place without harming each other?

For Marymount Teachers College, a teachers training college located in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, the answer would be “yes”. That is because Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) workshops and training sessions have allowed members of the community to learn how to preserve and respect their environment.

One of Marymount Teachers College’s most pressing challenges is its production of excessive waste. Given that the College is located in a mountainous area with a significant population of baboons and monkeys, these primates have frequently visited the campus in search of leftover food.

Meanwhile, urban expansion continues to cause environmental issues. Human settlement has been increasing over the years in parallel with additional waste and littering, disrupting local ecosystems. Coexistence with primates has therefore become strained. While efforts have been made to promote animal rights, the community decided to explore alternative solutions to foster meaningful co-habitation with wildlife and nature.

In order to promote sustainable management of waste, Gilbert Nyabadza and Vimbayi Matsongoni, two lecturers at Marymount College wrote a paper entitled “Contradictions, dilemmas and compromises - Reflections on human-primate existence in Eastern Zimbabwe”. These two lecturers established that there was a danger of primates and humans spreading diseases to each other, as well as unfettered urban expansion which exposes animals to poisonous foods and other waste materials. They concluded that solutions must be implemented to restore balance to the ecosystem.

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Along with the other 15 Change Projects implemented in Zimbabwe focused on curriculum transformation to support SDG 4 on Education, Marymount Teachers College decided to integrate ESD competences - such as recycling, reusing, and reducing waste - into teacher education curriculum. Change Projects are institutional change initiatives that support the integration of ESD into teacher education. They are driven by ESD, which seeks to provide learners of all ages with the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, and power to address interconnected global challenges such a climate change, biodiversity loss, unsustainable resource use and inequalities.

[The Change Project] is going to change the face of my institution towards zero-litter and change attitudes towards environmental issues.

Vimbai MatsongoniLecturer at Marymount Teachers College

The main aim of the initiative is to promote sustainable management of waste in the community. A whole-institution approach was adopted; all departments of the college committed to adapting their curriculum so that the entire Marymount community could empower students and staff to collaboratively solve these environmental issues.

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Awareness campaigns were organized among educational staff and students. Students were able to design and implement projects on ESD, such as learning how to separate waste as well as how to reuse and recycle excess materials, cans, and plastic bottles. An ESD club was even founded at the school to allow learners to debate contemporary environmental issues and incubate new initiatives. Concretely, the College is now managing waste by composting, gardening, and reusing plastic containers to plant trees. The Change Project has also guided the community in adopting sustainable lifestyles based on solidarity, creative thinking, environmental protection, and ESD skills and values.

These whole-of-community interventions in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe have not gone in vain. Not too long ago, humans were encroaching on the habitats of primates; now, they are the ones cultivating coexistence with primates and other animals.

I was a member of Education for Sustainable Development club. I participated in various projects, and I was equipped with various skills. With these skills, on completion of my course, I decided to start a project of growing seedlings.

Simbarashe GowaniFormer student at Marymount Teachers College

Marymount Teachers College is now networking with other organizations, such as the Environmental Management Agency, Wildlife Management and Forestry Commission to alert around the need to care for and protect trees in the area. The community is committed to continuing to learn how to understand, protect, and preserve their environment, as well as co-exist with nature and wildlife.