Social aspects of the project:Health and safety at work: research work for better management and anticipation of risks.
Partnership with BAUA, a German research centre, has allowed research to be carried out on the subject of health and safety at work on the composting sites of Lomé (Togo), of Parakou (Bénin) and of Madacompost (Mahajanga, Madagascar)
This mission has been conducted by Mrs Daniela Bleck of BAUA who has made visits to the sites of Lomé, Parakou and Mahajanga, where she met the teams of compost makers and their managements. She has organised discussion groups in order to hear the individuals involved expressing their worries regarding their health and to provide them with hygiene information.
The first stage of the study has been to detect and assess the risks to which the composting specialists are exposed in order to be able to propose preventive measures to be taken in order to reduce these risks.
Whilst respecting the hierarchy of the safety actions, the study primarily resulted in proposals focusing on the setting up of a production process reducing risks. For example, the cancellation of certain stages of the composting production chain or of certain working techniques has been presented as solutions for reducing risks. Also, safety measures, such as adopting good practices or installing safety equipment suitable for this work have been suggested.
Social support of ENPRO workers
A project of a social dimension has been set up by the joint teams of ENPRO and of GEVALOR on the composting site of Lomé (Togo).
This consists in offering social, collective and individual support to employees.
In order to coordinate this initiative, a volunteer specialised into social issues has joined.
The project, which is in preparation stage, will be adjusted in order to meet as closely as possible the expectations of employees. Three simple routes have been outlined and can be described as follow:
An access to training and to employment: the social package tends to offer joint and/or individual training to employees. Thus, it aims at promoting the abilities of each individual with the objective of allowing employees to pursue a career in another field.
In this regard, employees will be pointed towards suitable interlocutors in order to achieve a skill assessment.
For employees wishing to create their own company, partnerships can be established in order to guide individuals towards entrepreneurship in the best possible way.
· Access to literacy: a significant proportion of the employees of the composting site have reading and writing difficulties. ENPRO and GEVALOR would like to allow these employees to have access to literacy training courses.
· Questions relating to health often arise in the working environment. They come from everyone, men and women. ENPRO and GEVALOR would like to be able to provide information to employees. A health-related prevention work could be carried out throughout the year based on workshops and training sessions.
It will also be possible for employees, with specific health-related issues to be redirected towards locations that are suitably adapted to them upon request.
This project reflects the desire to improve work conditions and beyond them, the living conditions of ENPRO site employees. It also reflects needs, which have appeared on the platform. This project aims to turn every employee into an actor of his individual training project in order to offer the best possible support.
The workers Association of Madacompost (Madagascar): Mihary
"Mihary ho lovain'ny Tarana" (Build for prosperity)
Mihary was created on the 14th of July 2012. Workers with a Madacompost contract can join and membership is set up at 1000 Ar (or about 0.40€ - and for a monthly salaried employees of 39€), then each month a contribution of 1000 Ar is paid. Membership is obviously optional.
The board has been elected by the workers – The elections have been free, and as nobody ran for election, Mihaja, the RAF (Administration and Finance Manager) of Madacompost, has been named Chairperson. Four workers are « counsellors » and responsible for liaison between the office and the worker’s needs.
Membership gives the right, in the case of a happy event (birth marriage), or of an unfortunate one (hospitalisation of a close relative, death of a close relative) to receive a fixed compensation set in the articles of association.
The Association aims to improve the living conditions of all of workers. For instance, it purchases rice in bulk (half a ton) in order to resell it at cost to employees (including the daily workers), and they are also granted a credit in order to pay for it.
The primary goal of the Association is to get the unschooled children of composting operatives into school - a gift appeal in this respect took place in May.
The creation of a nursery in Madagascar with Mylocalproject
This section is currently being worked on.
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