|
Page 4 of 6
YARDs @ EDD 2008
YARD Activities on the EDD 2008
See the video, updated on 25 Feb 2009 (102MB to load)
The European Development Days 2008 have been Europe's first meeting of development co-operation practitioners and decision-makers. Each year the EDD host some 3000 participants from every continent, representing over 1200 organisations in the development community. Everyone has a say at the EDD: administrations, parliaments, local authorities, civil society, international organisations, academics, development agencies, the private sector and the media.
By breaking down walls between different issues, the EDD serve as a natural platform for debating the major issues of development co-operation and launching new initiatives. The Young Ambassadors for Rural Development (YARD) discussed their visions for the future during the European Development Days 2008 in Strasbourg, France.
The YARDs from the countryside of all continents expressed their hopes and visions for the future during the European Development Days 2008 — lively, colourful, and straight to the point. They asked: What is our future? How do we want that future to be? As a background, they unfolded the stories of their daily realities.
YARDs @ EDD Gallery
See all images with comments at:
 flickr
Greeting
“It is not the impossible which gives cause for despair, but the failure to achieve the possible …”
The question of development is more pressing today than ever before.
Rural development is a field of politics that goes to the root of many challenges of present international politics — but only very rarely it is explicitly recognised to be of significance for resolving these challenges.
Many topics, such as food scarcity, climate change, struggle for resources, especially energy and water, security and biodiversity are directly connected with rural development. And no development will happen without considering the importance of rural areas.
Development is always made by people with visions. And the YARDs — the Young Ambassadors for Rural Development — want to make a change. By sharing their personal stories and experiences they illustrate the importance of rural areas — for all of us.
Young people will be the future decision makers and that is why we should start our discussion today. The dialogue of generations is therefore a chance to learn from each other and to make development happen.
I truly believe that young people are our future.
I wish the YARDs all the best for their mission!
Louis MICHEL | European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
|
Letter of gratitude
