CB BureauA cleanup drive was undertaken at Worli Koliwada in Mumbai by G5A cityLAB, MCGM, and IDFC FIRST Bank to make the area a ‘sustainable cultural precinct’ and ‘zero-waste neighbourhood’. The campaign marks the launch of Project Swachh Worli Koliwada Mission: Zero Waste Neighborhood. Stree Mukti Sanghathana is the implementation partner on this project.
The drive intends to bring the community together to take ‘collective ownership’ of the neighbourhood, and expects to see the participation of over 300 people, including local community members, navy officers, IDFC FIRST Bank team and volunteers, Stree Mukti Sanghathana team, workers and officers from the MCGM, and the G5A community. Apart from facilitating proper waste segregation at the community level, the project hopes to bring about behaviour change to ensure that residents of the community do not dump waste into the shoreline and the ocean.
Worli Koliwada is a community of Koli (fisherfolk), although currently only 20 per cent of Koli descent remain in a population of 30,000-plus. Over the years, rapid urban development and migration has transformed this urban village into a mixed, lower-middle-income demographic, with diverse livelihoods, a degrading urban landscape, and a neglected shoreline. The shoreline has now become a site for open defecation and unchecked waste disposal, posing severe health and environmental hazards. The 18th century Worli Fort, a former British military outpost and a cultural landmark has also seen better days.
In a press release shared with CB, Anuradha Parikh, founder and artistic director, G5A, said, ‘Art is a wonderful way to dissolve barriers and boundaries. With G5A cityLAB we have found it to be an incredibly powerful tool, as we work closely with communities in our neighborhood. At Koliwada, we are addressing tangible civic issues that affect the community, like waste management, while also building a holistic plan enabling Worli Koliwada to become a vibrant cultural destination.’
Rachana Iyer, head-CSR, IDFC FIRST Bank, said, ‘We look forward to a clean Worli Koliwada for its residents and for our country. We believe that a community-led program is the best way to create public awareness for a cause, and in turn, enrich people’s lives. Through our partnership with G5A, we will be helping close to 10,000 households segregate, recycle, and reduce waste, enabling the 65-acre Worli Koliwada become a zero-waste neighbourhood.’
Responding to CB’s queries on IDFC First Bank’s exact role, the spokesperson says that apart from funding it under their CSR mandate, the company has been providing strategic inputs on the implementation model and community outreach. They claim to have collected baseline data before the commencement of the project and expect to meet its objectives by setting up waste-collection kiosks across the community, conducting door-to-door awareness sessions, and organising street plays that will engage the youth and women from the community. For impact assessment, they are monitoring the weekly waste collection at every kiosk, how much waste is being segregated and how many households are adopting the practices that were communicated in the awareness programmes.