Schools and communities submitting proposals for the HSBC Malta Water Programme – Catch the Drop have until 19 December to share their projects for scholastic year 2014-15, programme officials announced during a visit at Ghaxaq Primary School.

Owing to immense interest, proposals can now be submitted in either the School Outreach Programme or Community Outreach Programme categories. The winning proposals will be announced by end of January 2015.

The School Outreach Programme aims to empower students as active contributors and will look specifically at actions that can be taken by individual students with emphasise on water consumption reduction in Malta.

Proposals submitted by schools and Local Councils, demonstrating how a project can reduce water consumption amongst parents, relatives of children, within the schools, and the surrounding communities, will be judged as part of the Community Outreach Programme.

Earlier in October, more than 45 school representatives attended an information session hosted by HSBC Malta Water Programme – Catch the Drop to announce the initiative for scholastic year 2014-15.

In the previous scholastic year, the campaign received a total of 30 proposals, out of which 21 ended up receiving funding from the €500,000 reserved by the Bank  for this three-year campaign.

Beyond the new School and Community Outreach programmes, the HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop will continue to raise awareness through a variety of separate activities. These will feature a travelling Forum Theatre, drama performances, educational shows, and presentations, and will be held at all the schools in Malta and Gozo by the HSBC Water Programme staff volunteers.

So far, the HSBC Malta Water Programme – Catch the Drop staff volunteers have successfully conducted 305 presentations for 19,438 students – nearly half of the total number the three-year programme aims to reach by June 2016. The Catch the Drop campaign is an initiative of the Ministry of Energy and Health.