thumbnail_download (3).png

download (3).png

This collection is part of Footprints Africa's work to build a comprehensive database of circular economy initiatives in Africa. 

This is a result of the collaboration with the <a href="https://www.acen.africa" target="_blank">African Circular Economy Network (ACEN)</a>, as part of the programme to support the circular economy transition in Africa. Footprints Africa's vision is that businesses can be a force for good at scale. Their mission is to advance sustainable, scalable and inclusive approaches to development of local African economies. Footprints Africa supports SMEs to adopt future-friendly practices, such as those inspired by the circular economy, to address the challenges of growth and create jobs. 

This open-source dataset features well over 500 cases and 200 examples of policies and laws and intent to collect inspiring examples of initiatives from across Africa, in order to inform the global dialogue, which is largely focused on the European and American context. 

To learn more about Africa's initiatives and content to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, visit https://www.footprintsafrica.co/



thumbnail_download.jpg

download.jpg

Footprints Africa

large_photo-1507576566681-1932a6a38099-1920w.webp

medium_photo-1507576566681-1932a6a38099-1920w.webp

small_photo-1507576566681-1932a6a38099-1920w.webp

thumbnail_photo-1507576566681-1932a6a38099-1920w.webp

photo-1507576566681-1932a6a38099-1920w.webp

small_20210526 - CJI logo - 185x600px-01.png

thumbnail_20210526 - CJI logo - 185x600px-01.png

20210526 - CJI logo - 185x600px-01.png

This collection comes from the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>, an initiative of Circle Economy.

The workforce is an essential lever for transforming our economy from linear to circular. The Circular Jobs Initiative aims to maximise the employment opportunities offered by the circular economy. It provides practical support and insights to businesses and governments that want to adopt circular strategies that have a positive social impact.The Circular Jobs Initiative works through three focus areas: 

- Upskilling the workforce

- Quality of work

- Inclusive job opportunities 

CJI has defined circular jobs as any occupation that directly involves or indirectly supports one of the strategies of the circular economy. It distinguishes between three types of circular jobs: core, enabling and indirectly circular jobs.

**Core circular jobs** are all jobs that ensure the closure of raw material cycles, including jobs in repair, renewable energy, waste and resource management. 

**‍Enabling circular jobs** are jobs that remove barriers for and enable the acceleration and upscaling of core circular activities, including jobs that arise in leasing, education, design and digital technology. 

**Indirectly circular jobs** are jobs that occur in other sectors that do not play a direct role in furthering the transition to the circular economy but can still adopt circular strategies. They include jobs that provide services to core circular strategies, including jobs in information services, logistics and the public sector.

The Knowledge Hub Collection includes examples of circular jobs, publications, reports, case studies and policies different organisations, governments and businesses are already using to advocate for a person-centred circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>

Visit the <a href="http://jobsmonitor.circle-economy.com/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Monitor</a>

20210526 - CJI vignette - circle crop - 120x120px.png

Circular Jobs Initiative

large_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

medium_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

small_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

thumbnail_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

shutterstock_406114573.jpg

Business case

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

Producing agricultural products and processing them into food and beverageproducts for consumption

Agri/Food

Producing and gathering crop and animal products from land and water through farming, hunting, and fishing

Agriculture

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

![Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png](https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2024_10_21_at_16_53_12_12858da6aa.png)

Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

medium_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

small_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

thumbnail_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

                 1  You can adopt a tree, a tree farm, or a tree planting activity. Gift a Read More      2  Would you like to join a discussion, field activity on planting trees, growing trees, forest Read More      3  Are you an individual or a business entity, looking to offset your carbon? Calculate your Read More      4  We currently have no job vacancies, but if you wish to volunteer use the contact Read More            Environmental degradation has a human toll “I want to stop people from being climate refugees.” - Tabi Joda One Billion Trees for Africa sees the interconnected nature of the human and climate crisis. Our programs employ people in rural areas, providing jobs and access to all the ecosystem services agroforesty systems provide. Pilot projects have recruited close to 100 employees, and the organization envisions recruiting even more youth and women  Combatting Desertification Supporting Rural and Vulnerable Populations Creating longterm livelihoods  Read More            What Restoration Really Means

Future-Proofing
Delivering on the Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and NDCs. 

Biodiversity
Our Mission is to plant, grow and nurture one billion trees to revive our degraded ecosystems and biodiversity.


De-Desertifying
In Africa, communities and critical infrastructure are increasingly on the front-line of the impacts.


Offsetting
A single tree sequesters a rate of 34.6 pounds of carbon, reducing global warming and meeting global targets of 1.5oc.


Farming
When the trees start to yield fruits and other medicinal products, they immediately create new value chains for communities.


Saving Wildlife
“It was shocking. The land was bare, the water table low, wildlife had diminished, and invasive species had taken over”.
       
UN FEATURE
Tabi Joda grew up in the forest, spending hours playing with his friends among the trees that lined the Mambila Plateau between Cameroon and Nigeria. But as they got older, there were fewer trees to climb amid a widespread and ruinous deforestation that turned trees into timber and agricultural land into deserts.
“The scale of deforestation was shocking,” he said. “The land was bare, the water table low, wildlife had diminished, and invasive species had taken over.”
The environmental toll also carried a human one, with more and more of his childhood friends making the dangerous trip to Libya in search of employment and opportunity in Europe. Some came back, but many did not. It was then that Joda decided he had a responsibility not only to the memory of his friends but also to their community and the planet.

                                Awa Amadu – Project Assistant Acha Syntiche – Programs Assistant Ngalim Juliette – Project Manager Tabi Joda – Coordinator          “Ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education and encourage sustainable economic growth” Judith Walcott, Programme Officer with UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre.    “One Billion Trees for Africa is the real deal; people on the ground who know their community and are doing the real work to make sure every tree survives… GEIA- Global Ecological Investment Agency         

Empower The Future!
Deforestation is driving land degradation, biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, disasters, migration and violence; but we can reverse these challenges with sustainable nature based solutions! We are dedicated to supporting youth in becoming the ecosystem champions of the future.                                                  

Africa

Cameroon

large_blob

medium_blob

small_blob

thumbnail_blob

blob

Footprints Africa supports SMEs to adopt future-friendly practices, address the challenges of growth and create jobs, using supply chains as a tool for development. 

The vision of the African Circular Economy Network (ACEN) is to build a restorative African economy that generates well-being and prosperity inclusive of all its people through new forms of economic production and consumption which maintain and regenerate its environmental resources.

African Circular Economy Network

One Billion Trees for Africa is a frontline response to climate degradation focusing on planting and growing indigenous trees to restore lands, and create jobs and income for local communities in 11 countries in Africa, mostly in the Sahel within the Great Green Wall.

GreenAid - One Billion Trees for Africa

<p>One Billion Trees for Africa is a frontline response to climate degradation focusing on planting and growing indigenous trees to restore lands, and create jobs and income for local communities in 11 countries in Africa, mostly in the Sahel within the Great Green Wall.</p>