The Award is ‘making a difference’ through global youth event in Mauritius

MAURITIUS, OCTOBER 2008 – Helping to alleviate poverty and hardship as part of major initiatives to ‘Make a difference’, ‘Tell the story’ and ‘Connection’ have been part of the work undertaken by nearly 100 delegates, including those from Germany, at the IGE of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Association currently being held in Mauritius, Africa.

The IGE or International Gold Event (sponsored by Barclays, Glaxo Smithkline and Nestle amongst others) involves delegates from over 30 countries, of the 125 that the Association represents, and part of their time on the island has been spent helping the local community. Delegates at the IGE include 30 from the African continent and strong representations from Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Europe.

An example of how the IGE has directly helped make a difference in Mauritius has been the involvement of the delegates in a project to build new houses in an under-privileged part of the island. 30 delegates joined officials from the island’s Ministry of Youth and Sport and local people as they worked, over a two-day period, to build two new houses.

Commenting on the project, Benedikt Kurz, from Das Internationale Jugendprogramm in Deutschland, a member of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Association said, “Making a difference is one of the themes of the IGE and we are certainly doing that by completing in two days what would usually take more than a week to finish.”

As well as the housing project other delegates attending the IGE have been undertaking some work in a Drug Rehabilitation Centre and helping to keep Mauritius’ environment clean with some rubbish clearance work at a bird sanctuary.

The IGE has also connected with millions of others around the world by joining the global Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty Initiative. Stand Up and Take Action is a worldwide call to show support to end poverty and achieve and exceed the Millennium Development Goals, a roadmap to end extreme poverty by 2015, which was signed up to by 189 country leaders in 2000.

To show their support some delegates at the IGE held their own ‘Stand Up’ event, during which they looked to educate other delegates about the Millennium Development Goals and how they can help the work that goes towards reaching those goals. As Melissa Mooney, Youth Representative from Australia said, “We needed to make sure that the people knew what they were standing up for, and following the construction of the Stand Up for Action banner we made sure that everyone had an action plan to follow as it’s important that the group is active and not just a talking shop.”

There is little doubt that the delegates have achieved their ambitions with the work they have done across Mauritius and, as they depart the island and return to their individual countries, the experience they have gained will no doubt inspire them to continue to do so.