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HELMEPA Junior Program

The HELMEPA Junior Environmental Educational Program commenced in 1993 as a new initiative of HELMEPA. Each year the program gives the opportunity to over 7,000 children throughout Greece, that voluntarily become its Members, to be informed and take action towards the protection of the marine environment.

 

The school children participating in the program are of ages between 5-13 years old, as this target group has proven to be far more receptive to environmental messages. The children organized in groups of 10 and with the support of their teachers, who voluntarily participate in the program, undertake a respectable number of activities related to the marine environment as well as to the general environmental problems that our planet is currently facing.

 

Children’s International Presence

Οn initiative of the Secretary-General of IMO, E. Mitropoulos, children-members of MEPAs take part at the International Children’s Conference for the Environment that UNEP, the United Nations Environmental Program, organizes biannually at a different country. Children from HELMEPA, CYMEPA and TURMEPA as “IMO Ambassadors for the Environment” attended such events in Japan, Malaysia and Norway.

Praises from the European Parliament

Ms. Rodi Kratsas, Vice Chairperson of the European Parliament, praising the voluntary environmental efforts of the children from the three MEPAs, awarded them with commemorative diplomas at a special ceremony organized at the office of the European Parliament in Athens, on 14 December 2007. Present were teachers, parents and the chairmen and Directors of CYMEPA, HELMEPA and TURMEPA.

 

Panhellenic Drawing Contest

Every school year all kids-members of HELMEPA Junior take part in the Panhellenic Drawing Contest. The Award for the best entry is always the printing by HELMEPA of the artwork as a poster with the names of the children-artists and their teacher in Greek and English and its wide dissemination as part of the Summer Public Awareness Campaign.

 

Ιn 2009, children drawings from CYMEPA, HELMEPA, NAMEPA and TURMEPA participated in the contest organized by INTERMEPA, the International Marine Environment Protection Association and judged by children in the hosting MEPAs countries. The First Prize was the printing of the four best drawings on the same poster, which was distributed in the four countries.