Powerful Youth Ambassador Program

Leadership for Energy and Resource Efficiency in Schools and Homes

There is a critical necessity to motivate young people to become effective and important leaders for social change. This generation is the future. Australian households are directly responsible for about one-fifth of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, impacting directly on climate change (Australian Government - Your Home (opens in a new window)). In addition, Australians consume vast amounts of water and resources and produce large amounts of waste. These have a huge impact on the environment and our livability.

The Powerful Youth Ambassador initiative aimed to educate, empower and engage high school students and their families around these key issues, promote sustainable consumption of resources, foster environmental stewardship and encourage youth leadership in their schools, households and local communities across Greater Western Sydney. The project was held in May 2017 across 3 Local Government Areas involving more than 100 high school students and was funded by the Western Sydney Community Forum (WSCF) in partnership with Office of Environment & Heritage (OEH) under the Blacktown Energy Initiative (opens in a new window).

Led by the Office of Sustainability at Western Sydney University the program involved a number of collaborating organisations under the UN endorsed Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development - RCE Greater Western Sydney (RCE-GWS), including: Blacktown City Council, Campbelltown City Council, City of Paramatta Council, Longneck Lagoon Environmental Education Centre, Western Sydney Solar Car Team and industry support from Ndver Environmental (keynote speaker).

Download and read the PowerFUL project report (PDF, 8394.28 KB) (opens in a new window).