Summary: EU Commission President Barroso to bring "voices of EU Development aid" to Brussels (21 May 2007: Brussels)
In the run-up to next month's G8 Summit in Germany, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso will meet next Thursday in Brussels with the President of Ghana and President of the African Union, John Kufuor. He will also welcome representatives from several developing countries who will present their personal experience and involvement in EU financed projects that have a decisive impact in the lives of millions of people in developing countries.
Last week, President Barroso met with Bono, lead singer of U2 and representative of the "Make Poverty History" campaign, to urge G8 participants to meet global development assistance targets. President Barroso considers that "it is equally important to bring to Brussels and to hear other voices that are anonymous, those that can best explain how the money from European taxpayers bring hope and support to the daily lives of millions of people around the globe". Voices of people
benefiting from and implementing EU financed projects, but also the voices of those aid workers who devote their talents and lives to help people in need. These include young European students that have become "European development ambassadors" promoting twinnings between European and African municipalities.
On Thursday 24 May, all these "voices of EU Development aid" will be in Brussels to meet President Barroso and President Kufuor. A photo opportunity will be organised at 14:50 on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont, followed by a "VIP corner" by the two Presidents at 15.00h. The "witnesses" will also attend the daily press midday briefing and will be introduced to the press at 15:15 in the press room. They will then available for press interviews from 15:30 (Aquarium).
Aid from Europe in 2006 reached 0.42 percent of gross national income, exceeding the 0.39 percent target for the year. EU assistance was roughly 48 billion euros, 57% percent of global aid and nearly 100 euro per European citizen per year.
The "voices of EU Development aid" are:
SAFOURATOU ALFA GAMBARI IMOROU, age 32, Beninese, environmental protection and planning engineer (specialisation in forestry), consultant responsible for ecological monitoring with the administration of the ECOPAS/CENAGREF W Regional Park (Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger).
SEIFU BEDATA CHALA, age 26, Ethiopian, sales manager of Dire Industries Plc Peacock Shoe Factory, a company founded in Addis-Ababa with support from the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE).
MORISA CAÑIGUERAL RODRÍGUEZ, age 35, Spanish, logistics manager for the NGO Médicos del Mundo in Ouagadougou, which manages a programme to fight AIDS transmission in Burkina Faso.
BENOÎT CHABRIER, French, age 26, coordinator for emergencies and ICT for the NGO Télécoms Sans Frontières; has participated in numerous humanitarian missions in the Caribbean and South-East Asia.
SILVIA DOS SANTOS, Mozambican, age 17, student at Nampula, coordinator of youth programmes (notably AIDS prevention) on Radio Encontro, has been trained in radio programme production techniques with the help of the MSP/APPLE. She will be accompanied by MÁRIO FILIPE DE BRITO, age 30, Mozambican, teacher and founder of the NGO Niihipite, implementing the APPLE programme set up by CARE Austria in Malawi and Mozambique.
ABDOUL KARIMOU EL HADJI SAMNA, age 33, Nigerian, rural development technician, in charge of ecological monitoring and planning for the regional programme ECOPAS W Reserve, Niger.
MARIE FOSSET and JULIEN VAN COTTEM, age 18 and 17 respectively, Belgian; participated in drafting the newspaper "The European Union in the world: 50 years, 50 stories of solidarity".
DOMINIQUE GASSAUER, age 26, Austrian, master's degree in international relations (conflict settlement); has worked for different NGOs, including Action contre la faim (Action against Hunger) in Chad, Somalia, Sudan, etc.
MHLENGI BRIAN GUMEDE, age 36, South African, in charge for the municipality of Ethekwini for implementing the Cato Manor Area Based Management Programme (ABM).
TRIFFINE IYAKAREMYA, age 22, Rwandan, pupil in final year of school; when her parents died in 1994, she took charge of her younger brother and sister with support from the Nkundabana programme.
PETRA LARSSON, age 34, Swedish, degree in civil engineering (natural resources and environmental management), attaché at the Infrastructure section (water, energy and information technology) of the European Commission Delegation in Dar Es Salam.
OLIVIER LOMPO, age 35, from Burkina Faso, doctoral student in development geography at University of Bergamo (Italy); coordinated teams of young people and researchers and collaborated on development of the Multimap interactive and multimedia cartographic system (supported by the ECOPAS W Reserve project).
SONIA LUQUE, age 31, French, in charge of civics and electoral education at the Bukavu (South Kivu) section of the United Nations Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).
OLIVIER MAYEMBE MUKUNATI, age 30, Congolese (RDC), marketing graduate of EPHEC (Belgium), deputy national coordinator of the logistics technical unit and focal point of the logistics unit of the MONUC electoral division.
ALEXANDRA MOREL, age 30, French, specialized in natural resource management; worked as junior expert in the support mission for planning and management of the W Reserve cross-border regional park.
ELIE NDUWAYESU, age 42, Rwandan, in charge (for the NGO Care International) of the Nkundabana project for the province of Gitarama (Rwanda).
BOUKARI OUANGRAOUA, age 30, from Burkina Faso, master's degree in information and communication science and technology from Ouagadougou University, in charge of information, education and communication for the NGO Médicos del Mundo, which is setting up an STI/HIV/AIDS prevention project in Burkina Faso.
GERLY NUGIS (age 18, Estonian), LUKE HICKS (age 19, English), MARTIN HUDEC (age 18, Czech), ALEXANDRA PÄRNEBJÖRK (age 16, Swedish), winners of the "Development Youth Prize 2006"; they accompanied Commissioner Louis Michel last month on a mission to Rwanda and became "EU Development ambassadors" in their countries.
| Top |
European Union Member States
Alerts by email
Email this page
Print this page