Exnora International

Exnora International is a non-governmental environmental service organization started in 1989 in Chennai by a renowned social activist M.B.Nirmal. It has grown into a wide spread environmental movement focusing on mobilizing and empowering communities to participate in preserving nature and preventing environmental degradation. Exnora has directly/indirectly involved over 3 million people in its activities.

Philosophy

The name Exnora is derived from EXcellent, NOvel and RAdical ideas in solving problems of society by involving those who caused the problem. Exnora's fundamental philosophy is that no environmental protection or management is meaningful unless it becomes the conscious choice of all citizens. Since its inception, Exnora has believed that waste mismanagement is the one of the most important causes of environmental degradation and this has affected the poor more than the rich. The inability of the local bodies to manage the waste due to the sheer volume of waste generated and the lack of resources was evident. The members of Exnora are therefore citizens who volunteer to clean up their streets and get involved in various environmental activities.

Activities

Exnora's success was in its ability to motivate people and involve them in the sanitation of their area. This became possible by bringing them together through neighborhood communities called Civic Exnora's. The Organisational hierarchy of Exnora is such that there are hundreds of branches/ chapters in Towns, Villages & larger neighborhoods called ‘Exnora Innovators Club (EIC) which plays the lead role in guiding thousands of Exnora subsidiaries, ancillaries, sub branches & net working CBOs called ‘Civic Exnoras’. Over the past decade and a half, Exnora has been able to motivate and form thousands of Civic Exnoras’ across India, who took "Civic pride" in their locality, managed their waste in an environment friendly way and in part were able to participate in the governance of their locality.

The concept of Civic Exnora was introduced first in Adyar area of Chennai in October 1988.Soon this concept spread to the neighbouring suburb adambakkam in 1989, which along with alandur muncipalality's co-operation launched various awareness programs for the residents. The residents who generated garbage got together to collectively solve the problem of solid waste accumulation, by removing and relocating it, in an identified dumping place. A street beautifier was employed and given a tri-cycle to collect waste from door-to-door, all of which were funded by small subscriptions from the members in the community.

The focus has been on waste to wealth programs. Exnora firmly believes it is quite possible to develop different kinds of replicable models to suit different places and situations. The various prototypes developed by Exnora have in fact been replicated often. The vision has been to promote sustainable human settlements, through the promotion of waste management as an income generating opportunity. Practices today by Civic Exnora's include Solid Waste Management, Liquid Waste Management, Rain Water Harvesting and Recycling among others. Participation by Civic Exnora's has been seen in all income groups. This is because member's contribution to financial expenses can be kept minimal. The extra income generated through sale of compost and recyclables will even cover the maintenance costs of the Civic Exnora.

There are about 5,000 such Civic Exnoras in Chennai city and in the various Districts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala and a few other states of the country, covering about 30,000 streets and settlements

The Waste Management of an area is under the purview of the local authority. Exnora has brought about the enactment of Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2000 through the Public Interest Litigation filed by Exnora in the Supreme Court. This has provided guidelines for municipal authorities to follow in waste management. Exnora has helped local authorities through consultation as well as partnership to manage Zero Waste Centers.

Awards and recognition

Exnora International has received many awards namely the Environmental Leadership Award in November 2005 from the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership, the Best Environmental Service Organisation for 2002-2003 from the Tamil Nadu Government and the Best Practices Award in June 1996 from the UNCHS HABITAT-United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.

"Indian Express" wrote in their issue dated 26 April, 1992 "Exnora must be the fastest growing service organization in the world".

"Economic Times" wrote in its issue dated 9 October 1994, "Exnora's concept has become the blue print for people's participation in urban - clean -up".

References

1. Frozen Thoughts magazine. August 2005 edition :Issue 2

2. http://www.indiatogether.org/stories/exnora.htm

3. http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/resources/organizations/ExNoRa.html

4. http://www.serd.ait.ac.th/umc/bestprac/exnora.htm

5. http://www.hinduonnet.com/jobs/0010/05250014.htm

External links

1. http://www.exnorainternational.org/

2. http://www.homeexnora.org/

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVbOFApeyEM