Voices of waste pickers is a collaborative project, to amplify the voices of waste pickers across the globe. Co – Produced by the community, the audio series gives you a glimpse into the lives of the informal workers, discuss important policy related issues related to the informal waste sector and talk about their struggle. One of the objectives of the project is to make information available in audio format for those who can not read.
The website at WPvoices.globalrec.org is the center piece of the project where all the radio shows and contents are hosted and distributed.
Collaborative project
Voices of waste pickers is a collaborative project with Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz, Hasiru Dala and the Global Alliance of Waste Pickers (globalrec.org)
Waste picker Rising. By Pinky Chandran
So what if I am a waste picker,
On the never ending road, where no one walks…
So what if I am a waste picker
Walking on a cold street,
Lonesome, yet proud
So what if I am a waste picker
I am the one treading my own path
Reaching out for the scraps, so carelessly tossed out
So what if I an a waste picker
With bruised hands, hoarded tears,
Pained silences, vacant thoughts and fatigued feet
I am the one lifting, stirring, picking,changing and cleaning…
So what if I am a waste picker…
I rise with every fall
I rise with very obstacle
I rise through your dominance
I rise through your ignorance
I rise through your caste based hypocrisy and discrimination
I rise through the depths of a hollow marriage
I rise through the myopic vision of the authorities calling shots on the city’s waste management
I rise through the names you call me
I rise through the mixed waste you throw out
I rise with every spent energies and rigid stances
I strive, I soar, I push, I rise,
For I have a voice
I have a name, I am who I am
I am the waste picker, charting new frontiers
About Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz
Radio Active is an urban community radio station catering to diverse and heterogeneous groups in Bangalore, licensed to Jain University. Launched in 2007, the station is a platform for different communities (by interest and by geographical area, including NGOs, other institutions) to converge/unite, share ideas, encourage creative expressions, raise issues (civic and social rights), promote local talent, foster local traditions, sensitize on issues of importance. Radio Active seeks to promote inclusion, good governance, policy advocacy issues and enhance community cohesion by dialogues to support collective problem-solving and promote initiatives by collaboration and partnerships.
About Hasiru Dala
Hasiru Dala is a membership based non-profit organization of waste pickers and other informal waste workers. Hasiru Dala strives to integrate marginalized informal waste workers including waste pickers in the solid waste management framework by utilizing their expertise in the domain. Initiated in 2013, Hasiru Dala now has a membership of over 7500 waste pickers and is innovating services and business models that leverage waste pickers’ expertise and entrepreneurship, generating stable livelihoods in the process.
About Global Alliance of Waste Pickers (GlobalRec.org)
The Global Alliance of Waste pickers is a networking process started after the 1st World Conference of Waste pickers held in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2008. Waste pickers organizations and allies from more than 30 countries participated in this first global event. The Global Alliance is currently focusing on the sharing and exchange of information and solidarity among thousands of waste pickers’ organizations, with the support and coordination of WIEGO and contributions from waste picker leaders and allies across the world.
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