Environmental Wardens Certified

Scores of environmental wardens have been certified and recognised for their involvement in community sanitation, by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

The JSIF’s Environmental Wardens Programme was implemented under the second phase of the Government of Jamaica Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP 2) Solid Waste Management cycle four sub-project.

The Environmental Warden sub-project was designed to improve cleanliness in ten communities namely, August Town, Parade Gardens, Denham Town, Greenwich Town, Treadlight, Anchovy, Salt Spring, Mount Salem, Norwood, and Savanna-la-mar, including seven Zones of Special Operations.

Speaking at a certification ceremony held on Thursday (March 28), at the AC Mariott Hotel, in New Kingston, Managing Director of JSIF, Omar Sweeney said the project has made a marked difference in the communities.

“Being a warden is more than just clean up, you are ambassadors in the communities, and we recognise it, and that is why the programme is so valuable and treasured,” Mr. Sweney stated.

Approximately 350 of the wardens also received specialized training from HEART and are to be certified providing successful completion of the competency test.

All wardens will be gazetted under the National Solid Waste Management Act.

“This programme of training persons in communities, in partnership with the NSWMA, is being looked at for scalability and replication,” Mr. Sweeney said.

For his part, Project and Planning Manager at the NSWMA, Edson Carr said the programme holds significant promise for the environment and for communities.

He noted that the partnership between both agencies is a “shared commitment for environmental stewardship”.

Through public education, residents in these communities were exposed to sustainable solid waste management approaches; promotion of containerization and reduction of illegal dumping; and enforcement.

This project has succeeded in transforming the environmental landscape of the beneficiary communities, through access to sustainable solid waste management services.

At the ceremony, the St. James based Anchovy Wardens, won the first prize.