Gul bahao
Launched in 1994 .The concept of Gul Bahao stems from two incidents in Ms
Nargis Latif’s life. Following the birth of her third child, Nargis suffered
immense trauma and illness and she vowed that if God relieved her of her
misery, she would take a keener interest in social work. A few years later,
when Ms Nargis had fully recovered and resumed normal life, she got into an
argument with a garbage cleaner beneath her apartment who insisted on burning
trash in a dumpsite outside her flat. Livid at why the trash had to be burned
instead of disposed off in a more appropriate manner, Nargis was determined to
find alternate solutions for the pestilent problem. Learning that the cost of
clearing up a single garbage site was pretty steep (Rs 4,000 back then), the
young Nargis took to scouring libraries for better options and eventually came
to the realization that facilitating garbage disposal was not just a day’s
work; it entailed a lifetime of commitment. According to Ms. Nargis : “ I
realised I would have to sacrifice a cosy, comfortable family life for it “Who is Nargis Latif ?
Born and raised in a lower middle class family,
Nargis initially pursued a career in journalism. During ten years of work in that field, however, she became increasingly
convinced that waste disposal problems in Karachi were assuming critical proportions
and not receiving the attention that they deserved. Accordingly, in spite of
resistance from her family, she decided to abandon her journalistic pursuits and
devote her full energies to the search for creative and effective ways of
addressing waste disposal needs. Now in her mid-forties and married with three
children, Nargis has pursued her work in the waste disposal and environmental
awareness fields with very limited financial support. Apart from the proceeds
of commercial advertising banners in her dry trash stalls, she has developed
the ventures described above as a labor of love. She regards herself, in fact,
as an independent researcher engaged in a continuing search for new and better
ways to convert waste and garbage into useful economic commodities. And Now She is the head of Karachi based NGO
Gul Bahao for over a decade now Nargis Latif has developed a campaign to help
solve the staggering waste disposal problems of the city of Karachi and to
encourage broad adoption of environmentally and socially responsible waste
disposal practices. The core of her initiative is an imaginative recycling
program that is carefully attuned to the city's economic and social conditions.The New Idea :
Nargis Latif is convinced that the accumulation of solid waste and garbage in the streets and public areas of Karachi poses serious threats to public health and the quality of urban life. She is also persuaded that the relevant public authorities lack the resources and know-how required for an effective solution to the problem. Motivated by those twin convictions, she is engaged in tireless efforts to develop alternative, economically viable methods of waste disposal and to encourage private individuals and businesses to adopt environmentally "friendly" waste generating and waste disposal practices. Much of Nargis' work is focused on the discovery and refinement of simple and efficient procedures for converting trash and garbage into products of sufficient economic value to prevent its accumulation in public spaces and to provide significant sources of income to stimulate the engagement of private individuals in the waste removal process. In the Karachi setting, she has found that setting up stalls for the purchase of recyclable dry trash (i.e., glass, paper, plastic, and metal) in market areas is a particularly effective technique, especially when coupled with efforts to reach out to large numbers of people through community groups, religious organizations, and street cleaners' associations. She is also developing similarly promising approaches for the conversion of wet garbage (i.e., kitchen and food market refuse) into economically viable products.The other major strand of Nargis' work is a closely related public awareness and environmental education campaign. In addition to promoting broad participation in recycling initiatives, she is experimenting with various approaches for instilling a sense of responsibility for environmental protection in school-age children. As part of her environmental awareness campaign, she is also focusing public attention on the plight of street sweepers, who generally belong to lower castes and have traditionally taken up no other occupations. In that connection, she points out that many of the children of today's street sweepers will find other economic pursuits, and that more of the burden of trash and waste disposal must therefore be assumed by the general public.
What is Nargis Latif's cause?
Providing low-cost
urban waste management solutions for Karachi. In a city of over 13m people
(expected to reach nearly 20m by 2025) an estimated 9000 tonnes of solid waste
is generated every day, presenting huge challenges for effective solid waste
management. This challenge is compounded by the fact that at most 80% solid
waste is collected for disposal and recycling; the severely restricted capacity
of the municipal agencies--by their own admission they are only able to collect
50% of solid waste generated in their geographic jurisdictions--means that the
for-profit and non-profit sectors involved in solid waste management are
signficant market players. Enter NGOs such as Gul Bahao.
The Problem
In
Karachi, as in other large cities in low-income countries all over the world, the
disposal of solid waste is a problem of staggering proportions and grave public
health implications. The amount of solid waste produced by city residents,
markets, and business firms far outstrips the capacities of municipal
authorities to cope with waste disposal burdens. As a result, garbage is left
to accumulate on public thoroughfares and in markets and other public areas,
with predictably dire consequences for the spread of communicable diseases, the
contamination of water and food supplies, and overall quality of urban life.The
sheer magnitude of the problem in Karachi and other huge urban agglomerations
in Asia, Africa, and Latin America suggests that imaginative action will be
required on two parallel fronts to bring it under control. One critically
important line of action is to supplement the work of public waste disposal
authorities with creative private schemes that convert trash and garbage into
useful economic goods and generate income for those involved in the process.
The other is to heighten public awareness of the problem and change habits and
practices that account for large portions of the waste disposal problem.
In
Karachi, as in other large cities in low-income countries all over the world, the
disposal of solid waste is a problem of staggering proportions and grave public
health implications. The amount of solid waste produced by city residents,
markets, and business firms far outstrips the capacities of municipal
authorities to cope with waste disposal burdens. As a result, garbage is left
to accumulate on public thoroughfares and in markets and other public areas,
with predictably dire consequences for the spread of communicable diseases, the
contamination of water and food supplies, and overall quality of urban life.The
sheer magnitude of the problem in Karachi and other huge urban agglomerations
in Asia, Africa, and Latin America suggests that imaginative action will be
required on two parallel fronts to bring it under control. One critically
important line of action is to supplement the work of public waste disposal
authorities with creative private schemes that convert trash and garbage into
useful economic goods and generate income for those involved in the process.
The other is to heighten public awareness of the problem and change habits and
practices that account for large portions of the waste disposal problem.
The Strategy
As the focal point of her "Safai mein Kamai" (profit in cleaning) campaign, Nargis has established stalls in the busy bazaars of Karachi where residents can sell their dry trash. To encourage widespread participation in that program, she has developed close ties with key figures in several religious groups (Shias, Bohris, and Ismailis) who have organized the collection of large amounts of dry trash as donations from members of their communities for sale through her market stall network. She has also initiated similar arrangements with residents' associations of multi-storied buildings and with various welfare organizations for the collection and sale of dry trash.Nargis' campaign also urges city residents and sweepers to dispose of wet garbage by burying it in gardens or other open spaces and turning it into compost that can be sold to producers of agricultural products. In her unceasing efforts to find more efficient methods of trash and garbage recycling, she is now experimenting with a new technique for wet garbage composting on a 200-square-meter plot of land that has been lent to her by the Karachi municipal government.Nargis' educational campaign with young children focuses in part on waste generation and management issues, but it also includes tree planting schemes that are aimed at instilling a fondness and sense of custodianship for the natural environment.
As the focal point of her "Safai mein Kamai" (profit in cleaning) campaign, Nargis has established stalls in the busy bazaars of Karachi where residents can sell their dry trash. To encourage widespread participation in that program, she has developed close ties with key figures in several religious groups (Shias, Bohris, and Ismailis) who have organized the collection of large amounts of dry trash as donations from members of their communities for sale through her market stall network. She has also initiated similar arrangements with residents' associations of multi-storied buildings and with various welfare organizations for the collection and sale of dry trash.Nargis' campaign also urges city residents and sweepers to dispose of wet garbage by burying it in gardens or other open spaces and turning it into compost that can be sold to producers of agricultural products. In her unceasing efforts to find more efficient methods of trash and garbage recycling, she is now experimenting with a new technique for wet garbage composting on a 200-square-meter plot of land that has been lent to her by the Karachi municipal government.Nargis' educational campaign with young children focuses in part on waste generation and management issues, but it also includes tree planting schemes that are aimed at instilling a fondness and sense of custodianship for the natural environment.
Developments
Houses for flood affectees:
Gul Bahao has discovered a
novel way of providing houses for flood affectees. For the last several months
it has been collecting recyclable waste from schools, universities and
factories. The waste has two components, one that is sold to fetch hard cash
and the other used in making Chandi Ghar for as little as Rupees 25,000. Tons of
aluminum foils are coming out from factories in the form of clean waste which
are being used to make Wastic blocks (size 6 x 17 x 21) a major component of
the Chandi Ghar.
Specifications :
Chandi Ghar (10’x12’)
a) Consists of 10 columns of was-tic
blocks 7 foot high.
Rates:
1) 100 was-tic blocks at the rate of
Rs. 40 per block — Rs. 4,000
Total cost of Chandi Ghar — Rs.
8,500 (panels made from aluminum foil)
Total cost of Chandi Ghar — Rs.
11,000 (panels made from panaflex)
Additional cost of windows and doors
50% hence coast of Chandi Ghar including doors and windows will be Rs. 12750,
Rs.16500 respectively.
Cost of sending skilled worker would
be Rs .400 per day for two people
Gul Bahao’s Feul pack :
In
a press statement Gul Bahao has said that the “Fuel Pack” that it has made from
waste material could help to solve the acute problem of electricity, the city
is facing. According to Gul Bahao it is an environmentally friendly alternate
fuel, a good substitute for oil; because it does not give out any toxic fumes,
at the same time is cheap and easily available. It can be easily used as fuel
for thermal power stations.
Other development
Water filtering (Paaki pani)
Swimming pool
They
have lots and lots of contributions for our city Karachi and still they are
doing these works. They are the social workers , environmental cleaner , poor
helper. They always work for the betterment of the city.
Other development
Water filtering (Paaki pani)
Swimming pool
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