Minister Peter Power launches Our World Irish Aid Awards

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Minister Peter Power launches Our World Irish Aid Awards

Over 15,000 children participated in last year’s awards

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The Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, T.D., today launched the fifth annual Our World Irish Aid Awards for primary school children. The awards encourage pupils across Ireland to create projects in a variety of media which explore the challenges faced by young people in developing countries. Launching this year’s awards, at the Salesian Primary School in Fernbank, Limerick, Minister Power said:

"I would encourage teachers and pupils across Ireland to take up the challenge of learning more about people living in the developing world. This award scheme is an engaging and interactive way of raising awareness of the many development challenges facing our fellow citizens around the world.

Last year more than 15,000 pupils submitted very creative projects which demonstrated their strong interest and understanding of the challenges facing the world’s poorest communities. In the course of my work, I have met many young people who are passionate about forging a more equal world. I think it is crucial to encourage this generation to become even more interested and involved in development as they will lead the challenge of tackling hunger and poverty in the future.

The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Hunger in our World’ which relates to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal One: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Achieving this fundamental goal is becoming increasingly difficult in light of the current food security crisis which has pushed the number of people going hungry in the world to one billion. Eradicating hunger is a key component of Ireland’s aid programme and I have committed to spending 20% of our total budget to that end."

Over 15,000 children from more than 550 primary schools participated in last year’s awards. Their projects included art, drama, essays, poetry, film and music. The closing date for this year’s awards is Friday 4 December 2009. A shortlist of schools will be announced in January 2010. The Our World Irish Aid Awards ceremony will be held in February 2010. One outstanding entry will receive the ‘Our World Irish Aid Award’, with ten to fifteen entries receiving the ‘Our World Irish Aid Award - Highly Commended’ prize. Entries consistently showing an understanding of the subject and a high level of creativity, will receive a specially commissioned ‘Our World Irish Aid Awards Plaque’.

Note to editors:

Further information and application packs are available through www.irishaid.gov.ie/ourworld/ or from the awards administrators Real Events (ourworld@realevents.ie or 01 5224800). Participation is open to children from third to sixth classes (years 5 to 7 in Northern Ireland). Schools and teachers are provided with support and materials to aid the research and execution of projects. These include dedicated project managers, a help-line, information packs, media guidelines and classroom activity suggestions, along with in-school workshops.

The Awards introduce children to the eight Millennium Developmental Goals, which were agreed in September 2000 by Ireland and 188 other countries in the United Nations. They are:

- to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

- to achieve universal primary education

- to promote gender equality and empower women

- to reduce child mortality

- to improve maternal health

- to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

- to ensure environmental sustainability and

- to develop a global partnership for development

For further information or to arrange an interview with Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, please contact Fionnuala Quinlan, press officer, Irish Aid on 01-4082653 or 087-9099975.

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Press Office

08 September 2009