In early 2020, GRET opened a representation office in Togo, marking its decision to become more involved in this country. The local team today is made up of a country representative, a project manager and two facilitators.
GRET’s main activity in Togo is currently focusing on the Africompost 2 project, working on waste management and recycling via composting in urban areas. This project, initially led by the Gevalor association – whose activities were taken over by GRET in April 2019 – is being conducted in partnership with Togolese NGO Enpro. 2020 is a highly strategic year for Africompost 2, as the project will come to an end next August. The country representative and his team are focusing as of now on drawing up a third project phase that should make it possible to perpetuate the actions undertaken to recycle waste in the urban area while seeking to extend the scope of intervention to agricultural and rural areas. With this approach, GRET’s representation in Togo wants to strengthen the links between urban and peri-urban geographic spaces.
Develop and expand areas of intervention
The Togolese team is also working on the design of its roadmap to develop local skills and extend scopes of intervention in the country. Initially, the country team wants to consolidate GRET’s work in Lomé, taking an approach based on urban services (waste management, water, sanitation, management and enhancement of public spaces). In this regard, GRET is already exploring certain opportunities emerging in Togo that will make it possible to consolidate this new representation.
Secondly, the local team wants to focus its forthcoming reflections on the agricultural sector, support for vulnerable populations and integrated management of natural resources. Lastly, following municipal elections held in Togo in 2019, GRET hopes to be able to put it skills to work for local authorities and newly elected representatives, according to requirements identified by the public authorities.
For the local team in the new representation, motivated and strongly committed, 2020 represents a challenge to be met that will enable the representation to lay the foundations of a sustainable intervention strategy in Togo.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and following in real time the instructions of the different local and national authorities, GRET’s teams adapted their working methods to continue to carry out their mission of general interest in the best possible way, while acting at their own level to limit the spread of the virus as much as possible.
