14-17 June 2022, In Musanze Secondary City ,Kigali Rwanda the third thematic working group for waste to resource: improving municipal solid waste and hazardous waste management in Rwanda was convened in Musanze from 14 to 17 June 2022 at Fatima Hotel. This is a recurrent quarterly activity under the project where members of the technical working group are gathered to orient project activities and it is the space where waste to resources project team provide implementation progress to key technical government counterparts. The thematic working group started with opening remarks from both Ministry of Environment (MoE) and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). The representative from the Ministry of Environment, Mr. Dismas KARURANGA, thanked all the members of the technical working group for their participation and hinted the importance of the project as it is contributing to the implementation of Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) especially for the mitigation of Greenhouse Gases Emissions (GHG) of waste sector.

In his remarks, Juvenal Mukurarinda, on behalf of the Country Representative, thanked everyone to have come to the third thematic working group. Juvenal highlighted again that waste management sector is a public service with no business viability that needs government attention to ensure its sustainability. With increase of urbanization and population growth especially in urban settings, various enablers must be introduced to achieve short-, medium- and long-term national development agenda. The waste to resource to project will bridge the gaps in terms of waste management data at disposal sites (Nduba) and pilot activities will open for future bankable project. Juvenal ended his remarks by wishing everyone a fruitful thematic working group.
The third thematic working group aimed at reviewing three reports, e-waste, gender, and capacity need assessment and ultimately to present the project implementation progress. Members who attended a third thematic working group are: Ministry of Environment (MoE), Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT), Rwanda Utilities and Regulatory Authority (RURA), Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Rwanda Development Board (RDB), City of Kigali (CoK), National Industrial Development Agency (NIRDA) and Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC).

The thematic working group was conducted for three days where on day one and two, members were given ample time to review, make inputs, and recommendations to three tabled reports namely e-waste situation assessment, gender situation assessment and action plan for MSW and e-waste, and capacity need assessment for both private and public sector for sustainable MSW.

Also, the project team created different respective topics for member’s debate (discussion) for e-waste, gender and capacity building to bring attention of the government priorities on the above-mentioned topics. This will help consultants to align their write ups with ongoing and planned governments priorities. On day three, the project team presented the current project implementation progress and lesson learned in year one for the project implementation.

Day 1 & 2: Revision of three inception reports
During the studies revision, two groups were created for thorough review and discussion around reports, to come out with clear inputs, comments and recommendations that will guide consultants to produce sound the reports.
The outcome from groups on the three reports was perfect and consultants were advised to review the studies from consolidated comments for final approval before starting next steps for data collection. The consultants were given one week to finalize the reports (to be submitted by 24 June 2022) and the members will cross check if all comments and inputs were addressed within one week as well (29 June 2022). A separate file with consolidated comments, inputs and recommendations on respective reports was produced and shared to consultants.

Day 3 project implementation progress
On the last day of the thematic working group, the waste to resource project team presented the project progress. It has been indicated among the 21 activities that are supposed to be implemented for year one, 20 activities are on track and 1 one activity is off track. It is worth mentioning that year one for the project will be completed as of July 2022 according to the approved donor financing agreement.
The activity that is off track is the sorting equipment infrastructure planned to be constructed to Nduba. The project team could not find a qualified firm for an attempted tender for this activity. It was decided to be retendered and the deadline for Request for Proposal (RFP) is planned on 30 June 2022.

Recommendations
Members of the thematic working group commended good work that is being done by the project team to ensure waste to resource project is successfully implemented.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Dismas, emphasized on the fact that the project is not GGGI’s rather for Government where everyone’s effort is encouraged to ensure it creates impact in its areas of interventions. One key recommendation made is that for activities that are off track should be clearly documented highlighting reasons for delays and clear actions made to fast track them.