>Project title: Green Schools
Summary: Green School Activity is a pilot project for couching primary schools through a process of becoming green. It is implemented by the project partners USAID Primary Education Project (run by AED) and USAID Plastic Recycling Project (run by MDC Ti.Net). The pilot was implemented in the in following 5 primary schools in the Republic of Macedonia: Mirce Acev – Skopje, Drita – Saraj, Grigor Prlicev – Ohrid, Goce Delcev – Negotino, and Vidoe Podgorec – Strumica.

In the course of the project activities, 2 teachers from each of the schools were trained to establish and run Green Clubs within the schools. Students participating in the Green Clubs worked on four environmental themes relevant for the schools: energy efficiency, saving water, managing waste and transport. Following the ISO 14000 environmental management standard, the students will measure schools’ energy and waste usage, waste production and transportation habits. Based on the acquired data, they designed and implement actions to improve the energy efficiency of the school, to reduce water usage and waste production, and to promote environmental friendly means of transportation. They designed and implemented educational campaigns among their fellow students to achieve the improvement targets set by the actions. At the last period of the project life, the 3 best performing Green Clubs will be awarded a prize. The Green Clubs will be equipped with uniforms, energy efficiency measuring equipment, bikes and photo cameras, and will receive a grant of 1500 USD to implement the actions.

The pilot phase resulted in a comprehensive Green School methodology adjusted to the local needs of the school, which can be further used for replication in other schools in Macedonia.

Period of implementation: 2008- 2010
Donor: USAID