Prizes show self-sufficient schools that sustainable projects are on the money
Six schools from across the world each won $100,000 (Dh367,250) yesterday to breathe life into their sustainable projects.
The 2019 Global High Schools section of the Zayed Sustainability Prize was split into geographic locations, with a winner chosen from each.
The African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg won the prize for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Wuntia Gomda, 18, a Ghanaian student at the academy, worked on the living machine project, a wetlands water-filtration system that converts greywater from the school to be used to irrigate crops on campus.
“We have a farm, but we are yet to implement the living machine, the prize will help us to move ahead with the next stage of the project,” Mr Gomda said. “It is natural and sustainable and cleans the water without using chemicals, so it is safe to use.”
Jesse Forrester, 20, a Kenyan student at the academy, was inspired by Sir Richard Branson to become an entrepreneur in global sustainability projects.
“Sustainable mass transport systems will change Africa,” Mr Forrester said. “That is something I would very much like to be involved in the future.
“Winning this award is great for the school and shows the commitment from the UAE to supporting sustainable projects.”
The projects were evaluated on three criteria – their effect on people’s lives; innovation to bring transformative change; and inspiration, with the potential to develop ideas into bigger projects.
Another winner was the Impact School, Guatemala, in the Americas category. It was rewarded for developing a sustainable farming learning environment for young girls.
In the Mena region, the American School of Dubai won the prize for their work developing an industrial composter and a data board to monitor energy use.
Gymnasium Goethe school in Tajikistan won its category for developing a greenhouse and sustainable garden to provide produce for the school kitchen.
And Indian school Secmol won the South Asian category for using solar power and sustainable growing to become 23 per cent self-sufficient, helping 20,000 disadvantaged people in the area.
The final winner for the category was Muntinlupa National High School in the Philippines, where pupils are set sustainability goals to introduce into the school and wider community by cultivating green algae for biofuel and to create sustainable products.
Maria Regaele Olarte, a researcher at the school, said the prize would help the institution to achieve its ambition of cultivating a green algae microfarm.
“Our school has been doing lots of research into converting the algae into biofuel, as our country is in an energy crisis and this could provide a valuable power source,” Ms Olarte said.
“We want the school to be off-grid in the future and become self-sustainable because of these biofuels. It can also be used to develop products that can then be sold, as a highly nutritious super food and also in medicine.
“Our school has become a living laboratory.”