Generation Blue: reaching out to future water leaders
Generation Blue:
reaching out
to future water leaders
Over the last ten years, an initiative seeking to attract children aged 13 to 19 with innovative projects related to water protection has become an integral part of classroom education as well as a popular pastime for kids outside school.
Generation Blue celebrates its tenth anniversary, and ten years of inspiring tomorrow’s water leaders to protect natural resources today. © Knallgrau
When teachers and experts in Austria think of water education for children, the first thing that comes to mind is Generation Blue, the youth water platform from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management. The innovative platform, which targets young people to teach them how to protect water resources, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
Launched in 2004, Generation Blue brings together a variety of media channels, including a web platform, online games, a Facebook page and a YouTube channel to address young people between the ages of 13 and 19 years old. The web platform (www.generationblue.at) provides the possibility to share relevant information as well as pictures, videos and other content. Incorporating social media has been an important part of the programme, and easy access to communication has been a target from the beginning.
“We have always sought to cater for the needs of a digital age and the high mobility of our target group,” says Susanne Brandstetter, project manager of Generation Blue. “More than 20% of all visits to the website are already made via smartphones – and the number is growing steadily.”
From digital platforms to outdoor classrooms. In addition to online material, Generation Blue has brought the river into the classroom. The platform includes a dedicated Teacher Service section, providing downloads for teaching materials on water supply, water quality, water as food and the Blue Planet – all of which can be easily integrated with the regular school world.
Meanwhile, Generation Blue has been successful in getting teenagers away from their desks and out to riverbanks to learn about river habitats in the field. The Danube Challenge, launched in 2007 by Generation Blue along with Coca-Cola Hellenic, offers a day of adventure in a nature park where students can get in touch with water, create a river course and take part in quizzes and action challenges all in an outdoor classroom.
Susanne Brandstetter, project manager of Generation Blue, credits the commitment from internal and external supporters for the web platform’s success in teaching young people how to protect water resources. © BMFLUW
Competitors in the Danube Challenge are
chosen from the participants of the ‘Aktion
Trinkpass’ initiative, a campaign by Generation
Blue and Römerquelle to playfully
encourage young people to analyse their
water consumption. Programmes such as
the Trinkpass and Danube Challenge have
been very successful, with teachers across
the country requesting over 30,000 Trinkpass
packets each year.
Support across stakeholders and generations. As the platform has continuously reinvented itself, success over the last ten years has been possible thanks to overwhelming commitment from internal and external supporters. “From the very beginning, we have found many partners and sponsors who have helped us develop Generation Blue into what it is today – a unique water project for young people in Europe,” says Brandstetter.
In the end, the greatest success of Generation Blue is that it is putting power into the hands of young people who will be tomorrow’s leaders in water management.
“Generation Blue has always been a work in progress,” says Brandstetter. “I look forward to many more exciting water contributions.”
