The Ghajn (pronounced Hain) National Water Conservation Awareness Centre in Rabat, managed by The Energy and Water Agency (EWA) of Malta, has won the prestigious European Sustainability Award for 2019, organised by the European Commission.

This prize is awarded to those projects and initiatives that focus their efforts in turning the SDGs into concrete actions and opportunities. In fact, in its actions, the Ghajn Centre, addresses 10 out of the 17 SDGs from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Ever since its opening back in April 2017, the Centre has welcomed close to 6,000 visitors, of which 2,500 were children on school visits, with the aim of promoting water conservation awareness and sustainable water resources management. One of Ghajn’s main targets is the future generation with specific focus on primary and secondary school students. In fact, the Centre carries out daily organised school visits in winter and hosts hundreds of Skola Sajf students in the summer months. All the interactive, educational games, which have been specifically designed for the Centre have themes that correspond to those being thought in local schools as part of the National Curriculum. Therefore, these visits consolidate what is being taught in formal education, in an informal manner. Furthermore, through the support of the LIFE-RBMP Malta Project, schools are able to make use of free transport facilities to and from the schools. In this way, a school visit to the Centre is completely free of charge, making it more accessible to all children.

The Centre also hosted several other groups ranging from youth associations, NGOs and senior citizen associations who also had the opportunity to experience the Centre’s water conservation message. Different organisations and associations have helped the Centre deliver its water conservation message, such as MIO-ECSDE (Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development) and Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) who supported the development of the Centre’s tailor-made educational programme. Ekoskola Initiative and Nature Trust Malta also provided invaluable support on the educational content, together with HSBC Water Programme who set up a Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at the Centre.

Read more:

Malta wins the European Sustainability Award 2019

Watch the video.

Closing Ceremony of the Project, Beirut 27 November 2015

In the presence of Mr Fouad Makhzoumi, the Founder and Mrs May Makhzoumi, the President of Makhzoumi Foundation, representatives from the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform, as well as representatives from Ministries, municipalities, NGOs, public and private schools, embassies, the media and other stakeholders, the closing ceremony of the project was held in Beirut on 27th of November.

The results of the Project were presented and all the involved actors affirmed their continuous commitment to work for the promotion of sustainable development in Lebanon and in the Mediterranean countries.

During the ceremony, representatives of all partners explained the importance of this Project and the contribution from each of them to its implementation. The Expert in ESD involved in the Project illustrated the methodology of the intervention. Makhzoumi Foundation illustrated the role and contribution of this Project within the national and global efforts to promote ESD.

The Toolkit on EE and ESD and the Documentary of the Contest were presented and distributed to all participants.

View snapshots of the ceremony:

To increase awareness of the whole communities on topics concerning sustainable development and environmental protection, families were invited to an environmental day and participate to activities, like environmental craft workshops,  awareness raising sessions for women and environmental games and animation for children.

The environmental days took place at the premises of Lebanese Universities. The decision to organize these events at well-known educational institutes was to highlight the importance of education, at all levels, to encourage a culture of sustainable development within the society.

See the pictures of the environmental day in Beirut:

See the pictures of the environmental day in Bekaa

See the pictures of the environmental day in Tripoli

On 20, 21 and 22 of May 2015, the award ceremonies of the Contest entitled “PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION” were held at Baalbek, Tripoli and Beirut, respectively.

The best three sketches in each region were proclaimed and the teams who prepared them received valuable awards.

In addition, the first winning school in each region was awarded with the opportunity to realize a project related to sustainable development in the community, of a value of one thousand Euros.

All the participating schools were offered appreciation trophies.

View snapshots from the Award Ceremony in Beirut:

View snapshots from the Award Ceremony in Bekaa:

View snapshots from the Award Ceremony in Tripoli:

The Project entitled “Lebanese Youth as Messengers for Sustainability” fosters a culture of sustainability among the Lebanese children and young, their families and the local communities, in order to enhance a sustainable development in the country and sustainable relationships in the Mediterranean region.

MOBILISING THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES: Seminars on sustainable development and consumption addressing local administrators and civil society associations, October 2014:

On 22-23-24 October, 2014, three seminars were held in Beirut, Tripoli and in the Bekaa region to enhance common approaches towards sustainable development and consumptions.

The seminars have been organized with the technical support of ALMEE and MIO-ECSDE, and are directed to increase awareness of local public and private actors on their role and responsibilities towards sustainable development and consumption. These are considered crucial matters that concern life of people and of the whole community, and involve improvement of their living conditions. They call for a new cultural and ethical dimension of sustainable development that should pervade the whole society and encourage people to cooperate together towards the community empowerment. It is related to the concept of civic engagement encouraging individuals to recognize themselves as members of a larger social fabric and to establish reciprocal relationships to reach common goals. It also promotes the role of ESD as lifelong learning that builds civil capacity for community-based decision making, social tolerance, environmental stewardship and a good quality of life. It finally increases civil capacities to advance citizens’ social and economic rights contributing as such to the socio-economic development of the community.

These are the main components of a new “Culture and Ethics” of sustainable development, which can be considered the process of achieving human development in an inclusive and equitable manner.

Link to the agenda of the seminars.

Find below some snapshots of the seminar in Beirut:

Find below some snapshots of the seminar in Tripoli:

Find below some snapshots of the seminar in Bekaa:

Read more on the project:

http://www.medies.net/staticpages.asp?aID=893&overRideCategory=1

Follow the project on Facebook :

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lebanese-Youth-as-Messengers-for-Sustainability/1486286024920727

Sponsors:

The Project falls under “AFKAR III”, the Programme supported by the EU and managed by the Ministry of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) which is engaged with the civil society organizations, in consolidating respect for human rights and socio economic development.

Prof. Scoullos has recently participated in the training on ESD entitled Sustainable School-Sustainable Community, that took place between 21 and 27 July 2014.

This meeting that was attended by some 100 teachers has resullted in the following list of recommendations, in view of the UNESCO Nagoya Conference to mark the end of the Decade on ESD.

The meeting outcomes / reccomedations can be downloaded HERE.

Here is the link to the training (in Greek language): http://www.ellet.gr/node/641

The project entitled “Lebanese Youth as Messengers for Sustainability” fosters a culture of sustainability among the Lebanese children and young, their families and the local communities, in order to enhance a sustainable development in the country and sustainable relationships in the Mediterranean region.

The Project deals with four different dimensions of sustainable development, in a wider framework of promoting the empowerment of citizens contributing as such to socio-economic development and better living conditions. They are: i) the important role of the education ii) the values of citizenship and civic engagement to be enhanced among people, iii) the cultural and ethical dimensions of sustainable development, iv) the local and global dimension of sustainable development.

Workshops on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) addressing teachers, March-April-June 2014:

The projects aims at integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Environmental Education (EE) in the Lebanese school curricula. That highlights the role of the education for the promotion of sustainable development in Lebanon. Indeed, Lebanese citizens need to learn their way to sustainability to create solutions and find new paths to better living conditions and a better future. The education is considered one of the most effective forces to bring about the changes in knowledge, values, behaviour and lifestyles required to achieve sustainability and stability within and among the communities.

Three workshops have been held througout the country to improve capacities of teachers to integrate ESD and EE in the school education, through acquiring the most adequate methodologies and teaching methods. The participants were selected according to their capacity of transferring the acquired knowledge and skills to other colleagues in their schools, to enhance the impact and sustainability of the Project.

The first workshop was held in Beirut in 28th-29th of March and 4th-5th of April 2014. Representatives of the  Ministry of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) visited the activity. The last day the participants received Certificate of Attendance.

Download the workshop's agenda.

View below snapshots of the training:

The third and last workshop for teachers was held in Qualamoun on 24-27 June and it was addressed to teachers coming from the Tripoli area. This workshop has completed the first phase of the Action, directed to train teachers of intermediate schools on methodologies and teaching methods of the Environmental Education and Education of Sustainable Development.

Around 60 teachers participated to the three workshops and several school Directors and Coordinators also attended, in order to strengthen the impact of the initiative at school level.The Action’s partners are actually working to the preparation of a TOOLKIT, including supportive educational tools for teachers and students. The scope of the toolkit is enhancing the practical capacities of the teachers to teach about Education for Sustainable Development, as well as supporting a more direct understanding and awareness of the concepts of Sustainable Development among the students, enabling those to transform theory into practice.

The project Lebanese Youth as Messengers for Sustainability is led by the Makhzoumi Foundation and consortium partners include also OMSAR, CERD, ALMEE, MIO-ECSDE (through MEdIES), and ARMADILLA.

Sponsors:

The Project falls under “AFKAR III”, the Programme supported by the EU and managed by the Ministry of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) which is engaged with the civil society organizations, in consolidating respect for human rights and socio economic development.

Read more on the project :

http://www.medies.net/staticpages.asp?aID=893&overRideCategory=1

Follow the project on Facebook :

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lebanese-Youth-as-Messengers-for-Sustainability/1486286024920727

U Marinu sucessfully organized again this year two events that combine education and sustainable development in the Mediterranean :

Med'Educ 2012 (14th edition): Mediterranean Governance through Educational Strategies

The theme of the 14th edition of Med'Educ concerned voluneering for Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean: The commitments of civil society.
It was held on Wednesday, May 30 2012, on the ship Danielle Casanova (port of Marseille).
The detailed programme of the Med'Educ can be found here.
Read more: http://merenfete.umarinu.com/mededuc

Mer en Fete Festival 2012 (19th edition)

This event brought together, for 3 days, schools and organizations from France and other Mediterranean countries to discover how to protect and manage the Mediterranean basin.
The 19th edition of the festival took place on Wed May 29 (in Ajaccio), May 31 (in Marseille) and June 1, (in Bastia), on board of the ship D. Casanova.
Read more: http://merenfete.umarinu.com/

Photoghraphic material from the 2012 activities:

U Marinu is an association created in 1994, in Bastia.
Since 2002, U Marinu has become a Permanent Centre for the Environment Initiative entitled "CPIE Bastia Golo Méditerranée", under the UNESCO Decade for Education for Sustainable Development DESD. Its main goal is providing awareness and education in marine and coastal environment.
Located in Corsica, Bastia, U Marinuu holds activities targeting the general public and mainly students, and has also a national and international agenda by promoting the networking working on similar structures throughout the Mediterranean.
Website: http://www.umarinu.com/
Contact: umarinu@wanadoo.fr

MOnuMENTA through the programme "Local Communities & Monuments" is composing, with the help of the Municipality of Naxos and Small Cyclades, a fairytale including knights, dragons, treasures, menhirs, towers, ruins, elves that actually happened in Naxos in earlier, distant times.

These fairytales will be narrated by four archaeologists that worked in the Archaeological Service in the period 1960-1995, leaving their mark to the research, protection and enhancement of the archaeological wealth of the island. Their comrades along with friends and the people of the island will help to the unfolding of the fairytales.

These will take place in Naxos island, in the ex-College of Ursulines (Castle of Chora, Naxos) on Sunday 3rd July 2011, 7 p.m. The fairytales will end with a small feast. Through this, we attempt to examine an alternative perspective, unexplored in terms of interpretation, considering the social past and present of the monuments, commencing at the same time our research on intangible heritage about understandings, uses and management of monuments, products of which will be published in due course on our new website.

The "True fairytales of Naxos" are kindly supported by VALLINDRAS distillery and AKTAION pastry shop.