Nestle sponsors programme aiming to educate students on water issues

Nestlé Bangladesh Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with House of Volunteers Foundation last Wednesday, to sponsor 'Bangladesh Stockholm Junior Water Prize' (SJWPBD) along with Water Aid.

Under the agreement, Nestle will arrange national competition, water science projects to prepare Bangladeshi students for international competitions, reads a press release issued on Thursday.\

Debabrata Roy Chowdhury, director, Legal & Tax and company secretary of Nestle Bangladesh, and Jafrul Hassan, executive director, House of Volunteers Foundation signed the agreement on behalf their respective organisations.

Naquib Khan, director, Corporate Affairs, Nestle Bangladesh said, "This is part of Nestle's global commitment of environmental sustainability, where we are globally promised to attain our 'Roadmap to Net Zero'. This programme will help the future generation to tackle water issues scientifically and help them realize that water as a resource needs more attention."

The SJWPBD prepares students and volunteers from more than 200 schools and universities by expert mentors from prestigious institutions.

The ambassadors are chosen from the pool of volunteers who are later given opportunity to research and attend international competitions.

Beside this extensive programme, Nestle Bangladesh is launching year-long initiatives aimed at educating children and youth by awareness sessions, digital competitions on water issues tackling ideas, water storytelling and booklet distribution to schools, colleges and universities about severity of water issues.

Nestlé Bangladesh is already running "clean drinking water," projects in 58 schools in Gazipur, where they built water tanks to ensure the access of safe drinking water for school children and community. They also built separate toilets for girls in 39 schools across the district.