A joint water project initiated by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and WESSA Eco-Schools has won a United Nations-Water “Water for Life” Best Practices Award.

The DWS/WESSA Eco-Schools Water Project was awarded in the category “Best participatory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices” and shares the award with Project India.

The award recognises outstanding projects that are working to ensure sustainable long-term management of water resources and to help achieve the water and sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

The theme of the awards for this year was “Water and Sustainable Development”.

The DWS/WESSA Eco-Schools Water Project – officially launched at the Youth Summit on Water and Climate Change in July 2014 – encourages water conservation and the wise use of water resources at school level from grades R to 12.

The 50 participating schools, located in eight provinces across South Africa, are required to set up a water action project that includes the entire school and members of the local community.

The project’s main objective is to strengthen water and sanitation education in South Africa through implementation of the international Eco-School Programme’s 7 step framework for Education for Sustainable Development learning and change.

These steps guide schools through a learning process which promotes water conservation and sanitation education, as well as engaging learners in enquiry-based learning methods which empower them to better understand their local water context and to take action to improve this.

The project has a strong inclusivity focus, emphasising public participation, participatory learning processes and action taking.

The success of the project, now recognised by this significant international award, is an example of government and civil society organisations working together effectively in the education and environmental conservation fields.