Impumelelo Award winners tour Germany to witness climate change initiatives

2011/04/12

The Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre is a South African non-profit organisation that identifies, rewards and promotes social innovation in public service and civil society. Public service projects receive an Impumelelo Award for exceptional innovation shown in the fields of water provision, sanitation, food security, renewable energy, waste management, public works, housing, skills development, HIV/AIDS, the environment, justice and security, rural development, arts and culture, and education.

Various South African projects have received the prestigious award since its inception in 1999. Five of the Impumelelo 2010 Sustainability Award-Winners were recently selected by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung to travel to Germany to study German implementation of the Kyoto Protocol from state to federal level. The week-long study tour focused on environmental and climate change initiatives within the rural and urban areas of Germany. These tours were awarded at the German Chamber of Commerce's Annual Ball in Johannesburg on 8 June 2010.   

The projects awarded were:

•    Kuyusa CDM Pilot Project (City of Cape Town)

•    Orange Bag Domestic Recycling Project (eThekwini Municipality)

•    2010 Green Goal Action Plan (City of Cape Town)

•    Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Programme (City of Cape Town) 

•    Durban Landfill Gas to Electricity Project (eThekwini Municipality)

ICLEI Africa congratulates two of its pioneering members, the City of Cape Town and the eThekwini Municipality (both in South Africa) for their award-winning initiatives. Their experiences in Germany will certainly be of benefit to their contributions to sustainable development into the future.