Although the EU provides over 50 per cent of development aid worldwide Dutch citizens pay little attention to the EU with regards to its role in the global South. Therefore, the project will help to enhance the understanding of the importance of development cooperation while acknowledging critics and shortcomings. Giving a realistic and multi-faceted approach to the issue of development cooperation at the European level will help strengthen support for development cooperation in general.
The Interplay towards a Policy Making Exercise is geared towards youth and student teams (between 18 and 25) from different cities in the Netherlands. When joining the competition participants will compete in researching the impact of the European Union’s development policies on (post)conflict countries (one country will be associated to each team), through a position paper. The winning team, together with their partner from the south, will conduct an advocacy visit to representatives of the development aid program of the European Union in Brussels where they will present their policy paper.
The competition will run from 01 March 2011 to 30 April 2011 and competitors can sign in online at www.unoy.org/interplay from today. To get students and youth acquainted with the project, workshops about conflict and actor mapping will be organized from 01 March 2011 to 30 April 2011 and would include an outreach tour on 15 February 2011 at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA, Bungehuis Spuistraat 210-212 in Amsterdam).
UNOY Peacebuilders is a global network of 42 youth peacebuilding associations throughout the world. The aim of UNOY Peacebuilders is to facilitate the build-up of the capacities of members and youth to mobilize them to be effective contributors to the creation of peaceful societies; to develop positive youth engagement in international and national processes related to peacebuilding and conflict transformation. More on UNOY: www.unoy.org
www.unoy.org/interplay