Walk the Global Walk 2018/2019 edition in France closed on Tuesday 4 June 2019 with a final event as part of the Normandy for Peace World Forum. After a year of sensitization and reflection on the Sustainable Development Goals, 813 students from Normandy met in Caen to share their actions through the European pedagogical program.
The day started at 9:00 with the arrival of 18 buses carrying more than 800 high school students from all over Normandy. 800 young people who participated in Walk the Global Walk throughout the school year, reflected and built together projects for the Sustainable Development Goal 11 "Sustainable Cities and Communities".
Discover the sustainable infrastructure of the city
During the morning, the youths made a fun tour of the peninsula, on the theme of cities and sustainable communities and in different structures: The Pavilion, the Library Alexis de Tocqueville and The Dome. On the program: booths for small challenges to solve puzzles around themes related to sustainable development.
Walk for the Sustainable Development Goals
Once this journey was completed, the 800 young people gathered in front of the Alexis de Tocqueville Library to embark on a march common to all the European States participating in the Walk program. This march symbolizes the mobilization and advancement of youth in favor of the ODD. The arrival was at the Abbaye aux Dames, seat of the Normandy Region and venue of the Normandy for Peace World Forum.
180 seconds to defend his project for sustainable development
In the afternoon, the 800 young people participated in a large final restitution of the projects completed this year as part of the Walk the Global Walk program.
In 180 seconds, the winning students were able to present their initiatives to an exceptional jury chaired by Geneviève Avenard.
Three prizes were awarded to the best projects:
- Innovation Prize: High School of Golf (Dieppe) and their project "Waste revolution day" to raise awareness against food waste in the high school canteen, project presented by Chloé and Louis;
- Pedagogy Prize: Institut Saint-Lô (Agneaux) and their project "Solidariday", a day of solidarity and sharing with migrants. This project was presented on stage by Jeanne and Youssef;
- Public Prize: Institut Saint-Joseph (Le Havre) and their project "Ecocup, let's go from disposable to sustainable", the creation of a reusable cup for the beverage dispensers of the school. Project presented on stage by Tifenn and Arthur.
The other 3 projects presented on stage were:
- Alain Chartier (Bayeux): "Improve mobility in Bayeux", raise awareness of ecomobility to make bayeux a sustainable city;
- Gilbert Martin (Le Neubourg): "Vermicompost", construction of a vermicompost to reduce food waste;
- Porte-Océane (Le Havre): "Pollutions - Solutions", animation and workshops around cycling in high school, petition for free public transport in Le Havre on pollution days, a day of garbage collection on the beach, creation of a leaflet on recycling and reuse of waste.
The whole team of the Institute congratulates all the students who took part in the Walk the Global Walk program throughout the year, congratulations for their commitments and their projects!
"The Walk the Global Walk team of the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace has been very happy to have accompanied you throughout your projects. We have seen in you a real interest in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and we have been able to observe the strength of collective intelligence at your side. Beautiful ideas have emerged to make your cities and communities more sustainable. You gave us a generator bike at a farmer's market, explained how to build a vermicompost, invited to shows about inclusion and many others; all this in the four corners of our beautiful Normandy. You have become the bearers of a message that we hope will grow beyond the Walk the Global Walk program so that we can all together, at our respective scales, achieve the so-called "SDGs", an acronym for you to make you smile and that we talked to you so much! Congratulations to you all! "
The Institute also wishes to thank the structures of the Caen Peninsula, the volunteers, the members of the jury, Canopé and the Normandy Region, without whom this event could not have taken place.
See you in September for a new edition of Walk the Global Walk, Focus on Sustainable Development Goal 13: "Measures to combat climate change"!
