European Year for Development 2015 opened in Slovakia

On 28th January 2015 the opening of European Year for Development took place in Slovakia. The event was opened by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Miroslav Lajčák, who highlighted the engagement of Slovaks working in development cooperation and stressed the results of the most recent Eurobarometer, in which 79 % of Slovak population agreed that development cooperation is important. Minister Lajčák also appointed the ambassadors of EYD: Adela Banášová, a fan favourite of Slovak TV and radio audiences, Michal Hvorecký, a Slovak writer, and Marián Čaučík, the director of Dobrá novina (Good News campaign).

At the opening event of the EYD, the Head of the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, Dušan Chrenek, underlined the European achievements within development cooperation, but also expressed a need to limit the consumption lifestyle of our society and to lead a more conscious life thinking of the impacts in other parts of the world. Throughout the year, the ambassadors of the EYD will communicate its main messages calling for a fairer world, justice and global responsibility.

The Slovak NDGO Platform, as the national beneficiary of the EYD project, together with its members and partners, has prepared activities to raise the public awareness on development cooperation and interdependencies in the world. Among prepared activities there are a drawing competition for primary schools, a photo competition for amateurs and professionals, a stand focused on EYD topics at the summer festival Pohoda, the Development Day and the international conference Development and Democracy.

More information on prepared activities can be found online.

The opening of EYD was followed by awarding of “The Volunteer of the Year”. The award in category the Volunteer of the Year SlovakAid was given to Ivana Uličná for her engagement in education projects in Kenya. The award in the category the Best Project was given to Dobrá novina of eRko, a fundraising campaign for the projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. The event was organised by CARDO, the Slovak NDGO Platform and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

Photo courtesy of Jana Birošová: Minister of the Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajčák awarding the Volunteer of the Year in the category SlovakAid.

Information provided by Andrea Girmanova, Slovak NDGO Platform