#OmanPride: Campaign inspires people to ‘clean up’ surroundings in Oman

Muscat: A group of concerned citizens and residents is encouraging the public to clean up their surroundings.
Clean Up Oman (CUO), a volunteer-based programme that started on November 29, 2011, conducted its first clean-up campaign on December 30 with 35 members.
Two months after its first drive in March, the group asked the public to clean up their villages and towns during one day.
“That day, around 15,000 people, organised into teams, took part in what then became an annual nationwide clean-up drive,” said Nasser Al Kindi, a volunteer.
However, CUO’s mission is not just to organise clean-up drives. “Our ultimate objective is to one day have our services and initiatives become obsolete. That is to say, we work towards a day when our initiatives would no longer be required,” he explained.
The group regularly organises lectures and presentations, in collaboration with schools, sports clubs and various NGOs. It also carries out awareness programmes across various media platforms. In doing so, it aims at complementing the government’s efforts to keep Oman litter-free. The group believes that consistent clean up and awareness campaigns will help it achieve its goal of ‘tipping the scale against reckless littering’.
CUO, a fully volunteer-based initiative, does not need or seek funding. Its management is free of hierarchy and promotes ideas, while supporting those willing to translate these ideas into initiatives. “For example, a volunteer may want to organise an awareness programme for children. CUO, upon checking the idea against its criteria, would promote the programme and enable the volunteer to turn it into a reality,” Al Kindi said.
CUO’s criteria include scalability (the project must be easy to replicate and organise in various parts of the country), sustainability, and not posing risk to the people, or Oman’s flora or fauna. The aim of the project must be in line with CUO’s aim of ‘tipping the scale against reckless littering’.
Al Kindi asserted that littering is a serious hazard to the planet, and all those living on it. “In Oman, it poses serious damage to our flora, fauna, avian fauna and marine life. It is a serious risk to the human health, and to cattle and sheep. — Photo: Supplied - Photos: Supplied