Monday, April 09, 2018

Toyota Eco Youth Program 2018 is Launched - 11 Selected Schools to Come Up With Community Waste Management Solutions & Try Win Some Prizes Too


UMW Toyota Motor launched the 18th edition of Toyota Eco Youth Program 2018 last week. The annual CSR event organised by UMW Toyota is aimed at educating the participants, who are mainly secondary school students, on sustainable waste management practices. This time around, students from 11 selected schools will be trained on problem solving skills to address concerns on environment preservation. They will be presenting their completed projects in August of this year where the participating schools will be vying for cash prizes of RM10,000, RM7000 and RM5,000.


Standing third from left onwards: En. Rosden Rahmat, General Manager, Human Capital Division of UMWT, Mr. Yuji Tomobuchi, Financial Controller of UMWT, Tuan Zainuren B. Hj. Mohd Nor, Director of Technical & Vocational education Division, En. Mohd Affendi Kairon, General Manager, Marketing Division of UMWT with team leaders of the participating schools

One of Toyota's key CSR or corporate social responsibilty activity is environment protection. The Eco Youth Program is developed to encourage youth to understand and make the conservation of the country's environment and eco-system so that everyone has better a quality of life. Even other living beings. 


The Toyota Eco Youth Program primarily focuses on inculcating life skills to the participating student through project base learning. A 3-day training program was held prior to this launch where the students were taught on proprietary Toyota 8 Steps Problem Solving methodology and techniques. What they have learnt should be brought with them into their respective projects as well as for them to have an understanding of how to manage tasks given to them. It is about skill building and what better teacher than Toyota.

The theme for this year's programme is Waste Management. This theme emphasizes on coordination with government, community, public interest groups to cultivate good practices in minimizing waste and managing waste with minimal impact on the environment. As such, we should be seeing the participating schools and their students interact with government agencies and members of the public in order for them to follow through with their respective projects. As usual, this is good exposure to young minds.

The Eco Youth Program is conducted annually with collaboration and support from the Ministry of Education since 2001. UMW Toyota Motor to date has spent nearly RM7 million for the program since it started and it has always hoped that students who participated  in this program become ambassadors in advocating environmental sustainability.

The Toyota Motor Corporation has come up with the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 which is their global CSR campaign. They have identified 6 key environmental issues to be tackled in the next three decades. Super important goals for this challenge are CO2 reduction, water optimization and establishing societies that practice recycling and an earth-friendly culture.

In line with this global initiative, President of UMW Toyota Motor, Ravindran K, said “Our continuous commitment to Toyota Eco Youth program show cases the importance of educating youth to take meaningful actions to safeguard the environment in a sustainable manner. It is critical at this juncture, now, to address issues regarding environment conservation and reduction of carbon dioxide emission. The reduction in
carbon dioxide will have direct impact on suppressing global warming, and hence mitigating climate change. What these students learn today will be useful to them tomorrow as decision makers”

The launch ceremony last week marks the official start of 2018 Toyota Eco Youth Program. The participating students will be identifying projects related to waste management found within their local community and will then work on coming up with a better waste management system for the community they've focused on. The research work and activities on their proposed solutions are expected to take three months to complete where their projects will undergo a final evaluation in August 2018.

In order to come up tops in the Toyota Eco Challenge, the winning teams will be based on an on-going evaluation of the project. There will be cash prizes of RM10,000, RM7000 and RM5,000 for first, second and third placing respectively for participating schools. Apart from the three main prizes, awards are also offered to categories for Best Presentation, Best Exhibition and Best Blog Site Report. Top winners of these categories will receive RM1000 each. Two of the best supportive teachers in the projects will be given RM500 each for their effort and supervision.

Let's see what August 2018 brings to us in terms of projects. I actually like it when companies give back to society, especially to our youth. I mean, these are the people that will eventually take over from us you know.

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