The Municipality of Swakopmund hosted the CircuWasteVETAfrica Stakeholders’ Workshop, a platform uniting local and international partners to promote sustainable waste management and circular economy practices. 

The project, co-funded by the European Commission, is part of the CircuWasteVETAfrica Erasmus+ Programme aimed at equipping young Africans with green skills and fostering innovation in waste management. 

More than 2,200 learners across Africa are already enrolled in the programme. 

A dedicated Train-the-Trainers course is also in progress to enhance technical and teaching skills among vocational educators. 

Swakopmund’s participation aligns with its vision of becoming a green and smart city, investing in education, clean technologies, and job creation. 

Heinrich Hafeni is the municipal councillor for Swakopmund. He explained that “We aim to build capacity, exchange knowledge, and strengthen collaboration in advancing waste management and circular economy practices in areas that are increasingly vital for the sustainable growth of our towns and communities.”

Project Officer at the European Commission, Silvia Homberger, said, “Waste technicians know how to sort out waste, distinguish and identify how to handle waste, and also identify which specific items can be recycled and turned into new products.”

Benedetta Cassarini, an educator at Train-the-Trainers, also spoke at the event. She explained the purpose of the training, which is “to be as inclusive as possible, so the trainers’ backgrounds are diverse; they come from different vocational fields like construction, catering, ICT, plumbing, and electrical administration. And we want to foster collaboration and innovation across different disciplines, so before designing it at the beginning of the programme, we conducted an assessment to understand the level of knowledge of the trainers to better adapt the contents to everyone’s needs.”

Kluivert Mwanangombe said that the Swakopmund Municipality already has an “existing waste management strategy that is making Swakopmund number one in terms of cleaning and strategic alignment.”