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Solution Library

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Cultural
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Coaching Supporting someone to become more effective in their own unique way

  • Date:
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Social
  • Cultural

Using processes drawn from the world of sport, we can coach people into finding their own way forward. A common coaching method is the GROW process which involves: establishing Goals for a session, exploring the Reality of the current experience, generating Options, and finally arriving at action plans of what the person Will do as a result of the session. Using a coaching style helps somebody own their own solutions and is much more likely to lead to them doing the things that they say they … Read more

Making a Sofa Stool from Used Plastic Bottles

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological
  • Economic

What you need: About 40 used bottles of same height and size (probably 1.5litres each). Sand can be added in a few bottles the give it some weight, duct tape, two circular plywood of desired circumference, enough sit foam to go around and on the bottles, and a material with any preferable design all depending on your preference. What to do: Join the bottles adjacently in your desired circular size and hold them together with the duct tape. Place the two circular boards on both ends of … Read more

Making a Toilet Tissue Holder with Plastic Bottle

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
  • Impact: Community
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological

What you need: an empty transparent plastic 5-liter container, a 6 to 8-inch nail or metal rod What to do: step1: cut out the top of the bottle ¾ way and keep on the cover Step2: Make a hole in the middle of the bottle from right to left Step3: Pass the metal rod through the hole and the tissue and hang to your toilet wall where it is accessible Your tissue holder is good for use and is water proof. The toilet tissue holder suspends the tissue, covers it, prevents water from … Read more

Making Table Mats out of Plastic Bottle Covers

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological

A tablemat made of plastic bottle covers safes the soil from pollution. Littering in any home is reduced and up cycling the plastic covers is fare better than burring them and safes the user the cost of buying more plastic mats that would be more waste in the near future. What you need: plastic bottle covers, plastic glue Making your table mat: they could be very beautiful Just get creative step1: glue the plastic covers in any desired design and color pattern adjacently and let it … Read more

Flavoured Water Reduce waste and save the planet by making your own flavoured water

  • Date:
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological

Getting rid of soda, juice, and bottled water by taking the time to learn how to make easy, low-cost, nutritious and refreshing flavoured water; by using any fresh fruit (Bananas excluded). Water is so important because our bodies constitute about 70% of it. Water plays a key role in transporting nutrients and oxygen to every cell in our bodies and it keeps every cell hydrated in order to keep our bodies fit. This process particularly affects the skin, as skin is the largest organ, thus when you … Read more

Palm Kernel Oil Alternatives which make use of local resources and save income

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological

An appropriate counter measure which can greatly serve as an alternative to most of these cosmetics such as body lotion is Palm Kernel oil. It is the oil extracted from the nut of the palm plant and is yellow-white in colour. One of the good qualities of palm kernel oil is that because this oil solidifies at room temperature, it can be used to substitute numerous body lotions and can equally serve as cooking oil. In many rural communities of Cameroon (Bafut), it was customary in the past for … Read more

Upcycled Oil Candle

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological

Aluminium cans waste is a free resource. Kids, women or even disabled people can create some decorative candles with them through upcycling. During a workshop we can discuss with the participants about the environmental and social problems caused by bauxite (aluminium) mining, industrial palm oil production and waste. To this effect, it can be used with (old cooking) vegetable oil thus showing that we care about nature. For a more potent effect, adding essential oil can also help against … Read more

Calabash Storage Culture

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Ecological

To ensure that food security is maintained and food sovereignty is ensured, it is necessary for communities and local farmers to improve their seed preserving methods. One such way is by making use of a long standing tradition in the Bafut community of Cameroon, where farmers use a Calabash to store seeds for future planting seasons. This method has proven very efficient, as historical records show that seeds preserved in calabashes could easily be stored for many years and were safe from … Read more

Baby Food Maize, Soy and Moringa baby food

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Cultural
  • Ecological

These ingredients are largely available to a wide range of people in many regions of the world. A combination of cornmeal (ground dried maize), dried ground soy and moringa oleifera leaves provide a huge and cheap source of healthy baby food; Rich in nutrients of all the food groups. The nutritional benefits of Moringa oleifera are so elevated that the inclusion of its powdered leaves in infants’ food could combat malnutrition, ensure food and nutrition security. The organic cultivation and … Read more

Bottle Gardening

  • Date:
  • Region: GEN Africa
  • Impact: Personal
Dimensions of sustainability:
  • Ecological

Ecology: It restores the food chain, encourages organic cultivation, and reduces land and air pollution. Culture/World View: locally consumed vegetables can still be grown. Social: Improves family and community health; food security, efficient time management, a tool to develop individuals, strengthen families and build communities, its sustainable. Economy: It is less expensive, job creation, no land is required. Challenge: Most Cameroonians especially youths and women will complain … Read more