Congratulations to JCI Izmir, Turkey; Pelin Kadilar and Sevinc Atay! The winner of the WorldWide JCI impact month!! With JCI Turkey Takes Action to Preserve the Environment Members of JCI Izmir of JCI Turkey won 2013 JCI President Chiara Milani’s challenge to upload the best project during the September JCI Impact Month. September’s Impact Month focused on the third stage of community development, sustainability, as outlined by the JCI Active Citizen Framework. This stage includes projects that advance UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), #7 ensure environmental sustainability and #8 develop a global partnership for development. Advancing UN MDG #7, the young active citizens of JCI Izmir’s project “Waste Reduction Awareness Project” uncovered through an extensive needs analysis that waste reduction is an urgent matter for the entire European Union. Household waste continues to grow each year by one to two percent and almost 50% of consumption of products, through their production, transportation and distribution, produces emissions that contribute to climate change. JCI Izmir tackled the waste problem at its root, interested in not just reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills but reducing the amount of waste generated in the first place. These young active citizens had three main objectives: first to raise awareness about waste reduction, product reuse and material recycling strategies, second to mobilize and encourage the public and target all groups to concentrate on waste reduction, product reuse and material recycling and third to assess common behaviors regarding consumption and waste management patterns. Taking Action To reach these objectives, JCI Izmir conducted a series of projects all focused on waste reduction. One project trained 12,000 students in Izmir about waste reduction awareness. The students created “waste from art” and displayed their artwork in an exhibition while also performing theatrical pieces about waste and marine pollution. JCI members organized a coastal cleanup involving volunteers from the public. They set up an informational booth at one of the biggest Sunday markets and educated consumers on how to change their shopping habits to reduce waste. Partnering with the business sector, JCI Izmir members organized a waste management meeting at the Izmir Chamber of Commerce and presented to citizens from all different sectors. Other partnerships included the UN Development Programme and the UN Environment Programme, the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of European Union Relations. The European Union recognized the hard work of JCI Izmir members by naming their waste reduction project the best project out of more than 7,000 projects worldwide for being the first initiative to combat waste reduction on such a large-scale. Now the European Commission has waste reduction communication tools in Turkish thanks to JCI Izmir members. The project also received a lot of media coverage. Local radio and TV outlets broadcasted about the project several times and it was published in the top 4 Turkish newspapers as well as in more than 60 newspapers online. With this project, JCI Turkey leveraged an issue that unites all sectors of society to take action against a common challenge in their community. JCI Turkey plans to continue their waste reduction project with other nonprofit organizations, companies and government entities both in Turkey and abroad. Impact Around the World Thank you to all JCI members, Local and National Organizations who submitted their projects during September’s JCI Impact Month Contest. Many outstanding projects were submitted, including the three runners-up to the JCI Izmir, Turkey project. Congratulations to these June JCI Impact Month project finalists: JCI Quatre Bornes, Mauritius: “Go Green Quatre Bones” (advancing MDG #7 ensure environmental sustainability) JCI 80 INC, Dominican Republic: “CINA” (advancing MDG #7 ensure environmental sustainability) JCI London, United Kingdom: “London Youth Conference 2013” (advancing MDG #8 develop a global partnership for development) Browse the JCI Project Gallery to read about the runners-up and many other strong projects JCI members have conducted in their communities throughout the world. Thank you to JCI Izmir Vice President and JCI UN Affairs Commissioner for Europe Sevinç Atay for providing information for this story.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 21:15:16 +0000
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