Aegea Saneamento project benefited 80 young people in 4 states

Aegea Saneamento held the first edition of the Pioneers Project, created with the objective of stimulating the innovative thinking of high school students from public schools in identifying alternative solutions to basic sanitation problems in their localities. The action also promotes important items for the training of young people, such as reflecting on their professional future, strengthening their socioeconomic skills and encouraging good school performance.

Over the 3-month duration of the project, lectures and activities were held in the field with 80 students, who live in regions served by 4 company concessionaires, located in Teresina (PI), Timon (MA), Piracicaba (SP) and Lagos (RJ).

In the first phase of the project, under the support of the concessionaires’ tutors, young people were encouraged to develop ideas aimed at solving a specific problem of basic sanitation in their neighborhood. The projects presented went through an examining board composed of executives from each concessionaire. At the end of this phase, the students participated in graduation ceremonies in each company, with family members and authorities present. All participants received diplomas from “Health Pioneers”.

The three best projects were selected by a committee of company executives to compete for the Innovation Award – Young Pioneers category. On the 11th and 12th, the girls participated in a special schedule of activities in São Paulo. The projects competing for the Innovation Award are:

Project 3R (Teresina-PI) – Constituted by students Ruama and Thayná
Environmental education project on the reuse of used cooking oil, in partnership with a neighborhood school, and ecological soap workshops.

Sustainable School Project (Timon-MA) – Constituted by students Catarina and Thaisa
Project on the use of water from air conditioning units for washing and gardening at the school.

Caixa d’Agua Project (Cabo Frio-RJ) – Constituted by student Amanda
Awareness project on water consumption and waste through the exchange of used cooking oil by water tank floats.

The latter was the great national winner and received a prize of R $ 1,000. All young finalists were also awarded local prizes such as laptops and tablets, visits to museums and Facebook Hack Station (space for innovation and entrepreneurship).