At Youth Engaged in Wetlands, we are delighted to support the Múcura Award (Premio Múcura in Spanish) created by the Fundación Montecito, in Colombia. This award is designed for children and young people (aged between 7 and 17 years old) of the rural province of Sugamuxi in Colombia.
Through this Award, the Fundación Montecito wishes to increase the visibility of actions that promote the conservation of wetlands in rural areas and to bring a special recognition to the young citizens that are already working to protect their wetlands!
The idea for this special prize, developed by Felipe Velasco and Juanita Arango, founders of Fundación Montecito, is based on the recognition that there are few to no opportunities out there which recognize the engagement of young people in wetlands of rural areas in Colombia. This lack of visibility can hinder wetland protection initiatives. The purpose of this Award is to create an incentive to help young people connect with wetlands, raise awareness and motivate and encourage others to act in favor of their local wetlands. In addition, this Award marks the 10 year anniversary of Montecito!
The 2020 Award has gathered the support of several private sponsors including: GlobalGiving, Vortex Optics Colombia, Totto and Holcim Colombia, as well as some public institutions: Corpoboyacá, the Ministry of the Environment of Colombia and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands!
Is it with great enthusiasm and inspiration that Youth Engaged in Wetlands is very happy to be endorsing and supporting this Award, alongside the World Wetland Network and the Sogamoso Chamber of Commerce, through advisory support as well as through the selection process as YEW core-team members María Elisa Sánchez (Americas Regional Representative) and Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães (Conservation Policy Support Lead and Americas Regional Representative) are proud members of the Jury!
Thinking about the replication of this initiative in the future, the Award has also been designed to be supported by donations and endorsements each year, in addition to the contribution of the Fundación Montecito. For the sustainability of this initiative, a crowdfunding page was opened for the 2021 call through the Global Giving platform to ensure the necessary basic support in each future call and to explore the expansion of the Award to other regions in the future.
For YEW, this Award represents an important opportunity to value the work young people in rural areas are leading as well as to empower and encourage others their own age to care about wetlands.
We wish good luck to all the participants!
Learn more about the Award here: https://rb.gy/bpjwwe and don't miss the announcement of the winners on the 14th December 2020!