BP on behalf of its co-venturers in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) projects today inaugurated together with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) the Green Pack project. This joint initiative represents a unique investment in children’s environmental awareness and overall education in Azerbaijan.
The Green Pack is a multimedia, interactive educational tool which aims at enhancing environmental knowledge of school teachers and 1-11 grade pupils. The project commenced in 2004 and took about three years of hard work by all parties to create some 1000 Green Packs ready for distribution in schools in Baku, Ganja, Sumgayit, Lankaran, Yevlakh, Kurdamir and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The pack contains a teacher’s handbook, a textbook for children, DVD film collection, CD-ROM and dilemma game.
The idea of Green Pack originated in Great Britain and is now used as part of school curriculum in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, UK, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Albania, Belorus and Macedonia. It now has been adapted to Azerbaijan’s environmental context and is published in the Azerbaijani language.
The development of the Azerbaijani Green Pack was a joint effort requiring cooperation with and assistance from a large group of leading national environmental non-govenmental organisations, academic institutions and regulatory bodies. The content of the pack was approved by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and following this it was officially included in the national school curriculum.
In addition, the project has provided extensive training for teachers and methodologists from regional education departments on the ways to present the Green Pack material effectively to students. The training programme envisages that successful trainees become Green Pack stewards to ensure the sustainability of Green Pack knowledge and teaching skills.
The project, which is funded by BP and its co-venturers in BTC and SCP together with OSCE’s Baku office, is implemented by the Regional Environment Centre for Central and Eastern Europe -REC (Hungary) in collaboration with the Azerbaijani national non-governmental organization For Sustainable Development Society (FSDS). The total cost of the project is slightly over $400,000 USD, out of which $300,000 was contributed by BP and its co-venturers in BTC/SCP and the remaining $100,000 USD was provided by OSCE Office in Baku.
Rashid Javanshir, BP’s Vice President, Onshore Operations, says: “As a global oil industry leader BP has always made protection of the environment one of its primary goals and we have aimed to leave a positive legacy in every part of the world where we work. In Azerbaijan we have both initiated and supported a large number of ideas and programmes to that end. Here as anywhere else, we aspire to conduct our activities in a manner that is environmentally responsible and as the leading operator in this region we take this responsibility very seriously. Our decision to sponsor the Green Pack project was based on this aspiration. We believe the emphasis of the Green Pack is on creation of new values and behaviors and we also believe that enhancing younger generation’s awareness of the importance of environmental stewardship is a direct investment in the country’s leading future in this area.”
Torbjorn Bjorvatn, Economic and Environmental Officer of the OSCE Office in Baku: "The OSCE is delighted to be associated with this exciting and innovative venture which addresses core needs of the population – better environment through environmental education. I believe that such trainings will help Azerbaijani teachers to deliver environment knowledge to their students in more efficient ways".
Tamam Bayatly at BP’s Press Office in Baku, telephone: 994 (0) 12 599 4557