Tackling Karachi's Urban Waste the Gul Bahao Way

I have known Nargis Latif, the head of Karachi based NGO Gul Bahao for over a decade now. During this period, my views on her work have oscillated between fascination, frustration and bewilderment; fascination because her approach is always innovative; frustration because her work has not progressed from the level of a start-up despite a dozen or more years in the making; and bewilderment because, well, some of her ideas and products appeared borderline strange. But her tenacity, belief in herself and her commitment to the cause have never failed to impress.

So what is Nargis Latif's cause? Providing low-cost urban waste management solutions for Karachi. In a city of over 13m people (expected to reach nearly 20m by 2025) an estimated 9000 tonnes of solid waste is generated every day, presenting huge challenges for effective solid waste management. This challenge is compounded by the fact that at most 80% solid waste is collected for disposal and recycling; the severely restricted capacity of the municipal agencies--by their own admission they are only able to collect 50% of solid waste generated in their geographic jurisdictions--means that the for-profit and non-profit sectors involved in solid waste management are signficant market players. Enter NGOs such as Gul Bahao.

Launched in 1994, Gul Bahao has been experimenting with innovative, if not always scientifically sound, ways of managing solid waste. From humble beginnings of organising neighbourhood collections to launching Safai Kamai Bank (Garbage Bank) to products such as 'Fuel Pack' made from waste material and claimed to generate electricity to 'Chandi Ghar' (Silver Home) made from a combination of aluminium foil, panaflex and bamboo sticks, Gul Bahao has been constantly striving to come up with new solutions--and to keep itself both alive and relevant.

This effort--or compulsion--to constantly expand its product range before securing and scaling up its existing products is indicative of both the energy behind Gul Bahao as well as a reflection on the difficulties it faces in achieving financial stability through an established, sustainable product line. A lot of the initial work done by Gul Bahao has been financed through Nargis's own savings or the financial support provided by immediate family and friends. Local philanthropists have also contributed and allowed her to carry out research and do trial runs, while the Safai Kamai Bank (Gul Bahao bought dry waste from citizens, factories and companies and sold it onward to kabaris or small and medium sized waste collectors and recyclers) has allowed her to turn in revenues sufficient to keep the NGO going. But getting sustainable, secure lines of financing has been tough at best, with commercial banks simply not interested and city and town governments and IFIs (including projects financed by them) skeptical, non-committal and in some cases, condescending by turns; her being a woman (doing a man's job?) and clearly not belonging to the elite or bogus set (often one and the same thing) of NGOs--the one's run from drawing rooms by drawing upon connections and government largesse--didn't help matters. Nargis often came to me for help when I was the State Bank of Pakistan and later with the ADB and UNDP and I must admit that despite admiring her passion, believing in her work and providing some leads, I too failed to raise any funds for her.

And therein lies the reason why social enterprises like Gul Bahao have failed to scale up their operations and thus to have wider impact. With virtually no Angel financing, few venture capital firms and practically no support from the government, small social entrepreneurs are condemned to a state of unecominical operations, always struggling to juggle the tasks of retaining employees, research their products and market themselves. In fact, far from being helpful, the town governments in Karachi have been impediments, uprooting her waste collection banks and denying her permission to set up stalls in the city.

To carry on as Nargis and Gul Bahao have for such a long time in the face of relentless apathy from the public and private sectors, is admirable and a testimony to her commitment. I am very pleased to see though, that Gul Bahao and its driving force have begun to get due recognition, not that they hanker after it for personal reasons. Gul Bahao has been a labor love, but the spate of profiles and interviews, including by Telenor for their Karo Mumkin (Make it Happen) campaign, Newsline magazine's recent feature and blogs have helped raised its public profile.

But I fear that until social entrepreneurs like Nargis Latif gain access to adequate financing which in turn will enable access to quality personnel and research and development capacities, their work will forever fall short of their potential, while they will continue to be largely unsung heroes.

Because make no mistake, people like Nargis Latif truly are heroes.