Inspired by Africa: Geocell Presents Movla Winners
On Friday 7, telecommunication company Geocell invited guests to an exhibition of photos taken by three young winners of their Movla Blogger Competition- the prize: a two week trip to Africa. The event took place at the New Mziuri social café in Mziuri Park, Vake.
Movla is a social responsibility campaign launched by Geocell in 2016 which envisages clients downloading the Movla App which allows them to pinpoint on a map of Georgia sites which are polluted by litter. The aim is to tell people where to go and to gather friends and colleagues to clean up the sites. There have been over 20,000 downloads since its launch.
“500 polluted sites have been highlighted around Georgia since the App was introduced, and 400 of those are already clean, thanks to the 100 volunteer organizations and numerous individuals,” Nika Gventsadze, Geocell Marketing and Communication Manager, told GEORGIA TODAY.
We spoke to two of the three winners of the competition.
“I really liked the Geocell Movla App and I found out about the blogger competition on the very last day,” said journalist Mari Nikuradze. "I’ve been writing about the ecological problems in Georgia for about seven years and I was happy to see the campaign because not many people care about the environment. I wrote about Chiatura- most people focus on the cable cars but there is a company there seriously polluting and already fined $350 million by the government, without a change to the reality, though. The more people who know, the more likely it is something will change.”
Elena Chkkheidze, PR and CSR manager, saw the competition on facebook. “I have a village near Gori and the nearby river always has rubbish dumped in it. 10,000 people live in that village and there is only one waste truck to collect every four days. The municipality knows but has no resources to improve the situation. I saw this as my chance to raise awareness and change attitudes.”
Both girls were surprised by the real poverty they encountered in Africa. But they were also touched by the friendliness of the people, their desire to communicate and their curiosity. “And they really care about animals and the environment,” Elena said.
We asked how the experience had changed them. “We’re more aware of what we have and how lucky we are,” Mari tells us. “And we’re definitely going back.”
GEORGIA TODAY spoke to the Deputy Minister of the Environment, Ekaterine Grigalava. “We’ve been involved with Movla since the beginning. The littering problem in Georgia cannot be solved by one state or private agency alone- all citizens need to get involved.”
A new Waste Management Code was introduced in 2015 fully compliant with EU regulations, but policy is one thing and enforcement another.
“More waste trucks have been supplied and there is a lot of capacity-building going on with help from foreign donors to enable municipalities to meet the obligations and elaborate plans. There are also many informational campaigns in action across the board. It’s slow progress, but there is progress, nonetheless,” Grigalava says.
Katie Ruth Davies