Faculty News
October 2009
Winners of the 2009 Bayer Young Environmental Envoy (BYEE) programme announced
Outstanding young environmentalists off to Germany in November
Johannesburg, October 07, 2009 – Two young environmentalists, one still in her teens, have been selected as this year’s Bayer Young Environmental Envoys, and will jet off to Germany in November on a week-long educational field trip. The winners also receive R10 000 each towards their projects.
Tribute Mboweni (23) and Ntendeni Luvhengo (18) pipped three other young environmentalists to the coveted prize at the BYEE Finals held in Johannesburg on Monday. As part of the day’s proceedings and selection process, the five finalists presented and fielded questions from the jury about their projects and related activities.
Mboweni, a post-graduate student at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), impressed the judges with her initiative, Projekt 23, The Green Movement. Through the project, she runs environmental education and social upliftment activities at schools in Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria. Luvhengo, who’s a first-year Journalism student at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, received the judges’ nod for Ukuzalwa Okokutsha, a litter and waste management project with a difference.
See Luvhengo's slide show here: Slide Show
“The standard of entries we received this year was very high, and this resulted in highly competitive Finals. It is for this reason that we are confident that the two youngsters who have been selected will represent the country very well in Germany,” said Bayer Chief Executive Bjoern Skogum.
Projekt 23 started as an idea to celebrate Mboweni’s graduation. On completion of the next phase of the project, she not only aims to have touched as many school children as possible with her environmental education drives, but also to have secured funding to pay school fees for 23 children.
Luvhengo’s Ukuzalwa Okokutsha is addressing litter and waste management challenges in Extension 09, Grahamstown, to benefit the JABEZ health care centre. The centre supports underprivileged children and women affected either by poverty or HIV/AIDS. The project involves the collection and recycling of rubbish in the township, with all proceeds going towards the centre.
The BYEE is a global environmental education initiative for the youth, organised and promoted by Bayer and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The programme was introduced in South Africa last year, and the inaugural winners were Simon Mayson from University of Cape Town (UCT) and Unisa’s Refilwe Mokobodi.
To participate, youths between 18 and 24 years old, and actively involved in environmental activities, are required to submit an essay of no more than 1000 words. The essay should be on how their project has or is addressing environmental challenges in their community or city, looking at the five (5) focus areas of Sustainable Agriculture, Water Conservation, Litter and Waste Management, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change.
The field trip is from November 8-13, 2009. Mboweni and Luvhengo will be joined in Germany by winners from 15 other participating countries. As a part of the program, the Envoys will learn about major components in the development of industrial and private environmental protection. The trip also includes guided tours to environment related facilities; lectures and discussions with Bayer environmental specialists; visit to municipal waste segregation system; lectures and discussions with experts of the State Environmental Protection Agency, and a ride on a laboratory ship to check the water quality of River Rhine
The Bayer- UNEP partnership:
Bayer became the first private-sector company to partner UNEP in the field of youth and the environment in 2004. More: www.unep.bayer.com
Bayer: Science For A Better Life
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. The company’s products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time Bayer creates value through innovation, growth and high earning power. The Group is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its role as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. Economy, ecology and social responsibility are corporate policy objectives of equal rank. In fiscal 2008, Bayer employed 108,600 people and had sales of €32.9 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to €2.0 billion, R&D expenses to €2.7 billion. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.
Contact:
Silvanus Mabaso, phone: + 2711 921 5351/5911 or 082 873 2423
E-mail: silvanus.mabaso@bayerlocalservices.com
Find more information at www.bayeryoungenvoy.com