The Veolia Foundation names its 2015 Student Solidarity Award winners

On 24 June 2015, in the presence of Antoine Frérot, Chairman and CEO of Veolia, the Veolia Foundation and the company's Training department revealed the winners of the 2015 Student Solidarity Award.

First Prize
AEJTO association
Humanitarian and Development | Niger

Association des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs d'Ouallam, the student association of the Université Abdou Moumouni in Niamey (Niger)

The first prize was awarded to the "Ouallam Children and Young Workers Association" led by students at the Université Abdou Moumouni in Niamey (Niger), for its project to create an educational and psycho-social support structure for children at risk in the town of Ouallam in Niger. The association will be supporting 200 vulnerable children aged 6 to 17 through individual meetings, literacy classes to help them move back into the school system and vocational training for learning a trade.

Second Prize
Family First association
Social and Employment | Cambodia

Family First, HEC Paris student association

The second prize went to Family First, led by HEC Paris students, for its project to measure the social impact of the Enfants du Mékong program in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The students will be interviewing 200 families whose children are supported by Enfants du Mékong and various educational and professional stakeholders with the aim of giving the NGO greater visibility of the wider impact of its action and identifying avenues for improvement.

Third Prize
YA+K association
Environmental conservation and Biodiversity | France

YA+K (Young Architects + Konnexion), an association led by students from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture (La Villette and Paris Malaquais) and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne

The third prize went to YA+K, an association that brings together architecture, urban planning and plastic arts students at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture (La Villette and Paris Malaquais) and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, for their project to rehabilitate an abandoned urban space strewn with garbage in a low-income housing estate in Bagnolet. The students will be helping residents, nonprofits and social centers in Seine-Saint-Denis to reclaim this site, while inviting them to participate in a collective construction and development initiative.

Special COP21 Prize
Hydr-Open Association
France

Hydr-Open Association, Grenoble INP - ENSE3

The "Special COP21 Prize" was awarded to the Hydr'Open association led by engineering students at ENSE3 (Groupe Grenoble INP), for their project to build a small-scale functional hydraulic turbine for rural electrification. The micro-turbine, based on open-source technology, is easy to build and can be assembled from reclaimed materials to reduce production costs.

The Student Solidarity Award aims to encourage students in higher education to take initiatives and lead outreach projects serving the community. It rewards innovative approaches that contribute to sustainable development in one of the Foundation's three fields of action: humanitarian emergencies and development aid, employment and social links, and environmental conservation and biodiversity.

The winners receive financial support and technical back-up in the framework of the skills sponsorship program that harnesses the expertise of Veolia employees in France and elsewhere in the world.