In the picture below: Musa Gwebani (European Union), Miguel Isaac (GreenCape), Thimna Ntozini, Ima Breakfast, Agcobile Williams(Green Avatars, Walmer High School), and Lindiwe Johnson (Presidential Climate Commission).
Green Avatars from Walmer, Eastern Cape, has won the 2024 Green Opportunities Challenge national final hosted at GreenCape on Tuesday, 2 July 2024. These innovative climate champs finished in first place for their technical model in the renewable energy category. The group developed a project promoting biogas as a household application for cooking and heating. The competition served as a platform for youth voices to be heard on how they imagine a green transition can benefit their communities.
The national final welcomed the top 8 finalists who progressed from the regional judging rounds of the competition and were brought to Cape Town for an opportunity to present their projects as part of the pitch day final. Among the other diverse projects were solar street lights, vertical farming, solar energy at wastewater treatment works, and circular solutions presented on the day. Each group had a turn to present their green projects to a panel of judges using either a graphic, poster, technical model, or video.
The judging panel was made up by Musa Gwebani (European Union Delegation to South Africa), Lindiwe Johnson (Presidential Climate Commission), and Miguel Isaac (GreenCape). The judging panel evaluated the pitching finalists, which saw the final standings emerge as follows:
- 1st Place: Green Avatars, Walmer High School – Gqeberha, Eastern Cape
- 2nd Place: Little Green Monsters, Emil Weder High School – Genadendal, Western Cape (Pictured below)
- 3rd Place: Blue Bulls, Carlton van Heerden High School – Upington, Northern Cape (Pictured below)
The programme also brough together other target beneficiaries of the project, such as The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, a skills development partner of the project; Namaqua District Municipality, representing local municipalities; and a panel of representatives of community-based organisations implementation partners; Darryl Dreyer (ÎsaEnviro), Lincoln Meyer (Contour Enviro Group), Lusandi Msebi (Catwalk Youth Development Agency), and Thandisile Fatyela (Fatyela Enviro Works).
In the picture below: Panel discussion with community based organisations represented by Darryl Dreyer (ÎsaEnviro), Lincoln Meyer (Contour Enviro Group), Lusandi Msebi (Catwalk Youth Development Youth Development Agency) and Thandisile Fatyela (Fatyela Enviro Works).
This climate change initiative is co-funded by the European Union, implemented in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, and presented by GreenCape.
