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.

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Malta wins the European Sustainability Award 2019

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