Nairobi, Kenya, 5 April 2022 – UN-Habitat has launched an online, self-paced French course on municipal solid waste management system assessment methodology.

The course Des données à un impact tangible: réaliser les ODD relatifs aux déchets is the French adaptation of the From Data to Tangible Impact: Achieving Waste SDGs by 2030 which complements the Waste Wise Cities Tool (WaCT), a municipal solid waste management system assessment methodology, based on the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 11.6.1.

UN-Habitat’s Waste Wise Cities and Africa Clean Cities Platform made the English course available last October. Interested persons should register after creating an account on UN-Habitat “Learn Urban Agenda” platform or simply click here.

“Capacity building is a key pillar of the Waste Wise Cities programme. The online course was developed to widely share knowledge on the first steps for cities or waste practitioners, to set up strategies and action plans for a sound solid waste management system, through data collection based on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator, 11.6.1,” said Francesca Calisesi, the project manager.

“The course is free of charge and accessible to anyone: users with limited access to the Internet can download the course materials and access them offline. So far, the course was available in English only, but today we have the pleasure to launch the French version with the hope that more waste professionals can benefit from it and work with us to become Waste Wise!” she added.

In a combination of videos and PowerPoint presentations organised in six modules, participants will learn how to use data to make informed decision about municipal solid waste management interventions while engaging local waste stakeholders throughout the planning process.

Additionally, they will learn how to apply the WaCT to collect municipal solid waste data on waste, how to analyse them, identify infrastructure and policy gaps, and measure plastic leakage in the environment.

Finally, this course will help to develop a strategy and action plan based on the data collected, offering a comprehensive assessment of a city’s the overall performance in solid waste management. Participants can then use the analysis to plan a sustainable system that takes into account the stakeholders’ needs and priorities and help achieve waste SDG by 2030. 

From a more detailed perspective, participants will learn skills to quantify waste generation, characterise waste, calculate the collection and recovery rates, identify and meaningfully involve stakeholders and local actors, strategise waste management, build action plans, and localise waste SDGs, such as 11.6, 12.5, 12.3.

Each module provides quizzes to test a participant’s knowledge and grasp of the details. Participants will be awarded a certificate of completion at the end.