2011 Winner: Local Government
Whitehorse City Council
Whitehorse City Council’s Whitehorse Sustainable Ambassadors Program was designed to empower its community to make sustainable changes and spread the sustainability message within the community. More than 1,100 people in the Whitehorse community were engaged in different projects as part of a program involving sustainable living principles such as: energy, water, recycling and waste efficiencies; ‘green’ cleaning; and healthy lifestyle activities.
The program, introduced in 2009, was essentially an education and training program, shaping sustainability champions within the community. A series of professional workshops were run followed by a practical project within the community to apply the knowledge of the workshops to engage others.
The program is now at a stage where it can be duplicated and several other councils are looking to run similar programs in their municipalities.
