Support women in Benin to generate income by selling upcycled accessories

Support us in setting up the first small plastic recycling center in Abomey-Calavi (Benin) that will be managed and run by womens' associations!

Who are we? 

Greening Africa Together (GATo) is a network of African and international: NGOs, universities (from Benin and other African countries and TU Berlin) and communities which work together to encourage sustainable development. 

NGO EDUC’ECO,  a non-profit organization that was set up to promote and ensure the social, environmental and economic development of vulnerable populations in strict compliance with the principles of sustainable development in Benin. 

Our community partners 

We work with four different womens’ associations: The Association of GAMESSOU, Pénielle Women Association, Vision feminine and Amazone Women Association. The associations are based in Cotonou, Tankpe, and Glo-Djigbe. The womens’ associations were founded to promote the socio-economic empowerment of women.

What is our goal? 

Women are often bound to traditional societal roles and are economically disadvantaged in Benin. The situation is especially difficult for widowed women and many women strive to earn an own income for greater independence and to afford a good education for their children. Plastic waste is not managed well in the communities. Therefore a lot of plastic waste ends up in the environment and lakes or the ocean where it harms plants and animals or is burned, generating high greenhouse gas emissions and toxic fumes. We want to tackle both problems at the same time!
The aim of our project is to contribute to the social and economic empowerment of women while simultaneously cleaning the environment from plastic waste and protecting the climate by giving this precious resource a second life.
 
In the past year we opened the first small plastic-recycling center in Abomey-Calavi. The center is managed and run by the women and all profits go directly to them. In the center women collect, sort and shred the plastic waste and produce new products that can be sold on the market. For this we need to purchase a shredder and an injection machine. The next steps are to develop a marketing strategy to build a customer base in order to establish a business for the women.

Women with expertise from the North of Benin/Burkina Faso have agreed to train the women of our partner associations over several days on how to crochet with plastic bags. The technique of making plarn (yarn from plastic bags) and using it to crochet bags, wallets, baskets and many more things has gained huge popularity in the crafting community as it transforms unused plastic bags into stylish environment-friendly items. The women will be able to sell their crocheted goods and the buyers replace one-way plastic bags with reusable and sturdy bags. Scroll through the pictures on top to get an idea of what the bags look like. 

Thank you for your support!