The Contest is a project of education to development, promoted by the Salesian NGO “Jóvenes y Desarrollo” (JyD - Youth and Development) which fosters the participation of the young in the construction of a more just and sympathetic world, through actions that favour reflection and a critical thinking of global reality and Human Rights.
This year there was the highest participation of initiatives of solidarity in the contest, with over 70 proposals: a success which was made possible thanks to the delegations of JyD and the active participation of the other Salesian Spanish NGOs “Solidaridad Don Bosco” and “Vols: Voluntariat Solidari”.
Mr. Manuel de Castro, President of JyD, declared: “We are all convinced that what we can do is really very little, unless we can count on people like you, fully available to commit yourselves in fighting poverty. Without you, much of what we are trying to achieve would be unreachable”.
Successively, an international mention was also awarded to project “Water as a Disinfectant” – implemented to improve the conditions of the quality of water and the health of a native community in Argentina – and a special mention was also made of the initiative “Verano en el Gurugú”, which was carried out by the office of Badajoz of “Solidaridad Don Bosco” and by the association of the people residing in Gurugú (a quarter di Badajoz), that did educative activities with street children.
At the encounter was also present Dr. Philip Acqua, Consul of Ghana, who spoke of the centre for protection of infants of Ashaiman, in Ghana, and who congratulated Jóvenes y Desarrollo “for helping street children return to their homes”.
The consul, accompanied by entrepreneur Nana Kwame Bediaco, named “Asociación SUM” (Soy uno más – I am one more) of Burgos as the winning initiative of an experience of voluntary work to implement in Tangeri, in Morocco. “Asociación SUM” is a music group of young people who do concerts and records to contribute in the promotion of a social enterprise of women in Dakar, in Senegal.
