Green City Beautification Initiative

The depletion of vegetation cover in urban settings have brought in Urban environmental problems such as urban heat islands, urban stormwater runoff, urban air pollutants and increasing carbon dioxide  in atmosphere.  

The plant resource (vegetation & tree cover) in the built areas is the most effective strategy to solve all of these problems stated. The green city beautification initiative is an integrated, coordinated and participative urban greenery intervention aimed at increasing vegetation and trees cover in the built-environments to curb the biodiversity loss, climate change & conservation in urban environment.  

The solution provides ecological, recreational and aesthetic resource in a built environment. The ecological assets and urban tourism provides environmental, economic and social opportunities. Urban tourism promotes active and passive recreation to urban dwellers. The solution will promote environmentally friendly living and eco-citizens that will limit the environmental impact of communities, towns and cities. 

Urban development problems in Africa could be viewed from both socio-economic and environmental perspectives. Thus, the cities are especially vulnerable to frequent flooding, erosion and storm damage (Lawanson, 2006, and Youngquist, 2009). In addition to that, most urban people in Africa have very limited experience with green infrastructure development and underestimated in land use decisions, they do not understand its significance or the potential it can bring to their city and towns (Youngquist, 2009).

According to (Richard et al., 2013) and (Ahern, 2007), report human settlements are complex, evolving social-ecological systems which are dependent on the health of their associated natural environments for ongoing sustainability. Thus, planning for sustainable cities is a complex process addressing the fundamental areas of economic, environmental and socially equitable sustainability (Ahern, 2007 and Janet, 2007). Currently, several studies confirmed that urban green spaces as a resource in improves the environmental quality of life, promoting public health and providing valuable ecosystem services, urban tourism, active and passive recreations to urban dwellers (Haq, 201; John, 2011 and Martin, et al., 2013).

Urban dwellers are faced with many urban challenges that include; housing, urban poverty, urban heat islands, urban storm runoff, urban air pollutants and increasing of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, Green spaces act as a filter to improve air quality, in this case vegetation has a great contribution to improve air quality through removing gas and dust related pollutants (Bolund et al., 1999). Vegetation cover reduces polluted runoff that flows into rivers, streams, and coastal waters and is a cost-effective strategy to ensure that these waters are safe for swimming, boating, and fishing (Banking on Green, 2012).

At present, several studies have pointed to urban green spaces as a resource in promoting public health and providing valuable ecosystem services to urban dwellers (Martin et al., 2013).

Certainly, improvements in air quality due to vegetation have a positive impact on physical health with such obvious benefits as decrease in respiratory illnesses (Bayram et al., 2012 and NICE, 2008). Thus, the connection between people and nature is significant and strong for everyday enjoyment, work productivity and general mental health (Haq, 2011). Our third eco-pillar provides educational opportunities through public awareness and capacity building in environmental matters.

The Green City Beautification Initiative (GCBI) comprises of five core pillars i.e. Eco-friendly buildings, Eco-friendly places, Eco-tourism , Eco-friendly practices and Eco-friendly living aimed at delivering the three main intervention’s objectives; to promote socio-environmental opportunities, to promote socio-economic opportunities, and to promote social inclusion opportunities.

The GCBI is committed to providing Eco-friendly buildings, sustainable landscape services, urban tourism products and environmental educational products.

The GCBI is using a HOTEL methodology to achieve its main objectives. The HOTEL methodology is an integrated urban solution for delivering Eco-friendly buildings, Eco-friendly places, Eco-tourism , Eco-friendly practices and Eco-friendly living through club service delivery system  in a coordinated manner that promotes Eco-citizen engagement and participation. This is facilitated by the club structures, mobile app technology and network marketing.

HOTEL is an acronym for Housing, Outdoors, Tourism, Environment and Lifestyle. Each one of the component is represented by a club structure i.e.

1. Housing is provided by Construction Club an integrated low & middle income housing scheme for Eco-friendly buildings.

 2. Outdoors developed by Gardens & Landscapes club to create Eco-friendly places.

 3. Tourism provided by Travel & Recreation Club to promote urban tourism and recreation opportunities through Eco-tourism.

 4. Environment managed by Green Photos Club an Urban environmental education program that promote Eco-friendly practices. It is also crowdfunding strategy for environmental projects.

 5. Lifestyle club a sustainable urban lifestyle lab that promotes green living and green skills for Eco-friendly living.

The Green City Beautification Initiative is a catalyst of both a national program called Keep Zambia Clean, Green & Healthy campaign and an international Eco2Cities initiative for the World Bank. Both the interventions are aimed at greening the economy to create sustainable communities, towns and cities.

Our initiative takes a holistic approach to solving social, economic and environmental problems by creating Eco-friendly places, promoting Eco-tourism and providing eco-education to urban dwellers. Our members in the clubs are into three categories; Eco-entrepreneurs, Eco-citizens and Eco-promoters  .There are supportive structures being established at district level such as District Eco-Task Forces and Community learning centres or clubhouses to sustain operations at all levels.

The Green City Beautification Initiative is an innovative approach that integrates five sectors i.e. Housing, Outdoors, Tourism, Environment and Sustainable Urban Lifestyle into one Urban Solution that addresses social, economic and environmental cause. The initiative is a new process that uses a club service delivery system, mobile app technology and network marketing to impact a large population.

The HOTEL methodology is an innovative approach behind the green city beautification initiative built on three principles i.e. making Eco-friendly services; Available, Affordable, and Accessible through clubs system, mobile app technology, public-private partnership and innovative financing schemes.

The club system has proved to be an effective strategy in achieving  a common goal, especially  in an African setup because of its 3  core elements that provides a sense of; Belonging, Acceptance and Recognition. The practical models that have flourished in this area include churches, sport clubs and empowerment clubs.

The HOTEL methodology is the new application of existing technologies that include mobile apps,network and social marketing model that promotes active participation, coordination and social inclusion giving us a new dimension of service delivery.

The HOTEL methodology will use a “Software-as-a-service” platform. This will be a mobile app technology which is the best social media platform to connect and interact with clients.

The mobile app technology in the HOTEL model will improve processes such as customer engagement, support and payment systems. This will increase the level of accessibility by the general public nationwide and serve as a one stop destination for all our HOTEL club services. The mobile app technology has a huge opportunity to attract potential clients, no matter how far they are and is the great way to reach out potential clients and the existing ones.

We will have portals with mobile money service providers to enable our club members to facilitate financial transactions such as deposits, withdrawals and transfers.

The “Software-as-a-service” platform will also serve like membership software or landing page where new club members can have some order forms and are automatically enrolled in the club of their choice.

Urbanization in developing countries may be the single greatest change in this century. It is projected that developing countries will triple their built-up urban area between 2000 and 2030—from 200,000 square kilometres to 600,000 square kilometres. These added 400,000 square kilometres, constructed in just 30 years, equal the world’s built-up urban area in 2000. Thus, planning for sustainable cities is a complex process addressing the fundamental areas of economic, environmental and socially equitable sustainability (Ahern, 2007 and Janet, 2007).  

Our integrated urban solution is developed to create an environmentally responsible way to Housing, Outdoors, Tourism, Environment and Lifestyle (HOTEL) in urban environments.

The solution will impact more lives by shaping the quality of human lives, urban environments and harnessing the opportunities for economic growth and poverty reduction, while mitigating negative impacts offered by urbanization such as urban environmental problems, and urban poverty through urban greening, urban tourism, building construction and urban environmental education.

The direct outputs and outcomes for populations within these ecological cities will include ;

• improved urban ecosystem's biodiversity, urban beauty scenic and sustainable environmental management in cities.
• improved health , physical and psychological well being of urban residents
• increased economic and food security  for the urban poor through green jobs opportunities

We are currently serving 221 urban dwellers with the green city beautification initiative using the HOTEL model (i.e. 6 construction club members (Housing), 4 Eco-smart club members (outdoors), 83 travel & Recreation club members (Tourism), 4 Green photos club members (Environment) and 124 Lifestyle club members (Sustainable Urban Lifestyle).

1,241 will be served in one year, following our referral program and networking marketing strategy being used. The current 221 eco-citizens were enrolled in a span of 2 months, the number is likely to increase by five times based on urban trends and acceptability of the initiative.

Following the catalytic nature of the initiative and the HOTEL methodology used, 40 000 urban dwellers will be served in the next five-year.

Our initiative and solution aims to achieve three goals within the next year and the next five years which include;

• Promotion of socio-environmental opportunities through creation of Eco-friendly places
• Promotion of socio-economic opportunities through creation of green jobs
• Promotion of social inclusion opportunities through urban tourism

The green city beautification initiative is a catalyst of a national programme called Keep Zambia Clean, Green & Healthy Campaign and an international approach devised by World Bank Urban called Eco2Cities initiative. With these two movements, the HOTEL methodology will directly and meaningfully affect urban dwellers through creation of Eco-friendly places, Eco-tourism and Eco-citizens

The organization is a social enterprise that has developed a social business model which is scalable and has great potential to create social impact to more people in an urban environment. The HOTEL methodology addresses most of urban problems faced by urban dweller such as urban poverty through green jobs creation, urban environmental problem through increasing vegetation and tree covers and social inclusion through urban tourism.

Financial and cultural barriers are the currently existing factors that may hinder us from accomplishing our goals for the next year and for the next five years. It is apparent that more urban residents need to be more active and engaged in environmental friendly living. To do so, they need to know where they can participate as well as why it is a good idea to do so. It is believed that a barrier to participation in Eco-smart projects by urban dwellers is that they are “unaware of opportunities” and there are no integrated, coordinated and participative “urban greenery intervention” to involve them.

To address this barrier, we will create public awareness of both benefits and opportunities through our club system and public-private partnership ensuring that Eco-friendly places, urban tourism and eco-education are perceived as essential, valued services, and that public investment is needed to deliver the greatest social/public good. Educating the public about the opportunities available as well as reasons to participate will further the benefits achieved. Education is an important aspect of service delivery and one that our social enterprise will take a lead role in delivering, potentially with other cross-sectoral partners.

Mungandi Mubitelela-Team Lead; Qualified Landscaper, Monitoring & Evaluation and Travel & Tourism Management professional. He is responsible for the Eco-Smart Club and Lifestyle club. He is responsible for Jogra’s Project and systems Development. Mungandi’s market sector experience includes NGO, Green Infrastructure, Travel, Leisure and Tourism and Public health sector.  

Victor Havwundu –Team; Architect and Quantity Surveyor .He is responsible for the Construction Club. He has experience of programming, procurement, estimating and construction management over a number of building types and civil projects. His market sector experience includes commercial, residential, retail, infrastructure industrial and has spent several years in the Construction Industry.  

Edina Phiri –Team and she is responsible for the Green Photos Club. She holds a qualification in Journalism and Public relations. Her experience includes Production of high quality information resources including stories, photos, videos and web based materials for marketing and fundraising and building strategic and productive relations with the media to ensure coverage of events.  

Shita Lungowe- Team. She is responsible for Travel & Recreation Club. Her experience includes Network Marketing, development and implementation of marketing initiatives, product marketability and profitability, clientele and membership management, and strategic partnership engagement.

we are 4 working on the solution as full-time staff

We have currently partnering with the line ministries that include;
ministry of local government, ministry of development planning and
ministry of general education.

We are working the ministry of local government through the local authorities under the public-private partnership and receiving technical support and public authorization. Also the ministry of development planning is providing technical support in the full development of the green city beautification initiative as to access funds from the green climate fund and use it as a framework in the seventh national development plan 2017 – 2021 “Accelerating Development Efforts towards Vision 2030 without leaving anyone behind”.

We partnered with the ministry of general education; this is being done through creation of Eco-Smart School Club aimed at strengthening programs for increasing children’s access to environmental education/awareness and deep understanding of nature, plants and the need for conservation and preservation of nature.

Participants are supported through carefully designed activities in order to arrive at important understanding that relates to environmental issues. The green city beautification Programme recognizes the importance of working with children, families and communities as equal partners in programs that affect their lives, thus ensuring that programs lead to sustainable local action.

We have currently partnered  with the line ministries that include; ministry of local government, ministry of development planning and ministry of general education.

We are working with the ministry of local government through the local authorities under the public-private partnership and receiving technical support and public authorization. Also the ministry of development planning is providing technical support in the full development of the green city beautification initiative as to access funds from the green climate fund and use it as a framework in the seventh national development plan 2017 – 2021 “Accelerating Development Efforts towards Vision 2030 without leaving anyone behind”.

We partnered with the ministry of general education; this is being done through creation of Eco-Smart School Club aimed at strengthening programs for increasing children’s access to environmental education/awareness and deep understanding of nature, plants and the need for conservation and preservation of nature.

Participants are supported through carefully designed activities in order to arrive at important understanding that relates to environmental issues. The green city beautification Programme recognizes the importance of working with children, families and communities as equal partners in programs that affect their lives, thus ensuring that programs lead to sustainable local action.

Our social business model is a multifaceted approach that integrates social, economic and environmental causes into a coordinated and participative club system. Service delivery is packaged into five (5) Club Structures using a HOTEL methodology. These club structures are used as vehicles to deliver healthy environments, leisure and recreation services and socio-economic opportunities.

Eighty to ninety (80 - 90) per cent of the gross sales for the company are in building construction; landscape design, construction and maintenance and tour packages .

The enterprise has devised club activities into “fee-based” as a financial sustainability model.

Our new streams of income includes;

• Building construction contracts
• landscape contracts,
• Club membership subscriptions, Eco skills trainings and club programs
• Direct sales commissions from service providers in the hospitality, tourism & travel,and  leisure & recreation industries,
• Tour packages,
• Consultancy fees,
• Projects fundraising events.

As an early-stage social enterprise, we need more of technical support in form of capacity building to help us refine our social innovations for social impact and financial sustainability. Also we seek financial support from SOLVE to help us in the first phase of the programme, since most of the activities involve citizen and local authorities engagement, and a huge expense goes on running costs and establishment of institutional systems and deployment.

We would like to partner with Ecocity builders for their Ecocity standards and World Bank Group (urban) for their Eco2Cities initiative. Our HOTEL methodology strives to work within these two operational frameworks hence need for more help from these partners to accelerate our solution.

Ecocity Builders and the Ecocity Standards are now at the forefront of global discussions on sustainable cities development. Ecocity Builders seeks to develop organizational capacity, funding, programs and processes for collaboration with other stakeholders, including the public sector, foundations and the private sector in order to successfully roll out the Ecocity Standards in a transparent manner with a high level of participation at the international scale while ramping up visibility and influence through its next stage of development, testing and implementation.

Eco2 Cities is a new initiative launched by the World Bank, as an integral part of the World Bank Urban and Local Government Strategy, to help cities in developing countries achieve greater ecological and economic sustainability. The Eco2Cities Initiative will also assist cities in developing countries gain access to financial resources needed for strategic urban infrastructure investments. Another important feature of Eco2 is its bottom-up approach.

The AI Innovations prize for “Innovating Together for Healthy Cities” is appealing to our HOTEL methodology being used in the green city beautification initiative. Our team will utilize the prize for social inclusion opportunities in the solution. The Model takes a multifaceted approach to solving urban problems by integrating Housing, Outdoors, Tourism, Environment and Lifestyle (HOTEL) sector to provide Healthy environments for urban residents to participate and mingle.

 The prize will be used in our clubs mobilization and engagement activities that include; public awareness campaigns, group facilitated meetings, sustainable urban lifestyle behaviour change and eco-education. Our club system is one way of an effective community engagement strategy. The club structures improve coordination, communication, participation and involve the basic notions of belonging, acceptance and recognition. It enables urban residents to participate as valued, respected and contributing members of the society.