Competition ,, My Vision of the Clean and Sustainable Transport“ in Vilnius, Lithuania

Background and objectives: The main objective of the initiative was to promote the bicycle network and the

footpaths, to save energy and to lay the basis for new community traditions. The promotion of a cleaner and quieter environment will help re-discover cities and their heritage.

The organisers’ intention was to offer such activities that would not tire people but encourage them to participate in the whole programme. Therefore it was of primary importance to select appropriate places for the events. The best venues are considered those that are located in the centre of the city, the places favoured by the inhabitants for free time activities. The events organised in such places tend to attract more people, they do not create conditions for social exclusion. Due to these considerations, Vilnius Healthy City Bureau selected central squares as a venue of the events.

Implementation:

In February - April 2008, Vilnius Healthy City Bureau arranged a competition of presentations called ,,My vision of clean and sustainable transport“. The pupils of  the secondary schools and  informal education were  invited  to  take part  in  the 

competition.  They were  divided  into  two  age  groups:  pupils  of  the  age  of  12‐15  years  and 

pupils  of  the  age  of  16‐18  years.  They  could  choose  either  individual  or  group work.  The 

presentation  had  to  be  in  a  Power  Point  format,  the  delivery  time was  not  to  exceed  20 

minutes. Every presentation had a title, the author’s name, school and form, and the name of 

the supervising teacher. All the schools were informed in writing about the terms and rules of 

the  competition.  A  commission was  set  up  to  assess  the works  according  to  the  following 

criteria:  authenticity,  topicality,  creativity,  originality  and  general  literacy.  The  pupils  put 

forward a  lot of  interesting  ideas  regarding  the best means of  transport and ways of  saving 

energy:  riding bicycles,  replacing petrol by bio  fuels, constructing bypasses  to prevent  traffic 

jams in cities, sharing cars with neighbours and other interesting measures. 

An obstacle was insufficient access to computers: not all pupils have computers at home, therefore the meeting of one of the requirements – to prepare a PowerPoint presentation – caused problem.

Conclusions:

108 schools took part in the competition. The total number of the participants was 550.

The feedback on ,,My vision towards the clean and sustainable transport“ competition has revealed the following: 90 % of the participants say they would recommend taking part in such events to their friends; The question if the presentations demonstrated by the young speakers were meaningful and effective was positively answered by 82 per cent of the respondents.

Danguole Vaitkiene , Vilnius Healthy City Bureau, Vilnius Municipality, Konstitucijos pr. 3, LT-09601, Vilnius, Lithuania; Phone number +370 69878786, e-mail: danguolev@post.omnitel.net