International Development Week

(Cobourg, ON) International Development Week (as declared by CIDA, Canadian International Development Week) is February 5 to 11, 2006. The theme this year is “Move Your World…because you can”.

YMCA Northumberland and Horizons of Friendship, local development organizations are both marking International Development Week with activities and events. Every year, International Development Week provides us with a unique opportunity to engage our diverse community in sharing ideas and raising public awareness on global development issues. Both the International Program of the YMCA and Horizons of Friendship’s Community Outreach Program strive to increase the awareness of the role that we as Canadians play in international development, to help people learn more about life in developing countries and to help people discover how they can become global citizens and become actively involved at home and in the world to make a difference.

The week will kick off early on Friday, February 3 at the Best Western Inn, Cobourg, with the launch of the YMCA Northumberland/Northumberland United Way Speaker Series featuring Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and passionate Canadian leader on development issues.

On Saturday, February 5 from 12noon to 3:00pm, our YMCA Youth Exchange participants and members of the YMCA Youth Leader Corps are presenting an afternoon of fun for youth aged 8
to 13 entitled “Global Games and Crosscultural Crafts”. There will be games from an African village, an International Survival Game, International Crafts and more. Youth can register at the Cobourg YMCA at $5 per participant, $10 per family. This will be a fun afternoon of youth sharing with youth. On February 8, a delegation of YMCA staff and volunteers will be traveling to Nicaragua to visit our partner YMCA and report back to the Canadian government on the work of the partnership between YMCA Northumberland and the Nicaragua YMCA, helping marginalized young people in rural and urban areas with skills training, AIDS and sexual health education, health and wellness programs, leadership training and participation in development of their communities.

During the month of February, Horizons of Friendship will highlight our role as ‘global citizens’ by working with local youth on February 10 & 11 as they fundraise for an organization in Costa Rica that is improving the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS through a shelter and outreach assistance. Meanwhile, twenty people from Ontario, including four local residents of Northumberland County, will travel with Horizons to Chiapas, Mexico, as part of a 10-day educational delegation to visit and learn from grassroots projects.

Horizons of Friendship, a local charitable international development organization working since 1973 is committed to help eliminate the root causes of poverty and injustice in the region of Central America and Mexico. We find it unacceptable that half of the population in this region live in poverty and lacks access to basic services such as water and sanitation. To this end, we support community development projects in close collaboration with local organizations from Mexico to Panama, who work closely in the areas of health, skills training, agricultural development and human rights.

YMCA Northumberland is a community-based, charitable organization dedicated to ensuring the development of all people in spirit, mind and body. The YMCA is a place where people

from all ages and all walks of life are accepted and included and through participation in membership and programs, learn valuable life skills and improve their health and wellness in a safe and caring environment. We are open to all and every year over 900 community families who would not otherwise be able to participate, receive support to benefit from YMCA programs and services Through the work of our International Program, we work with our partner, the YMCA of Nicaragua to ensure that children and youth in a developing country have opportunities for education, training, recreation and a chance for a future.

Both Horizons of Friendship and YMCA Northumberland strongly believe in the power of international and local solidarity and in the positive role that Canadians can exercise by promoting humanitarian and peace values across borders.

For more information, please contact:

Jessica Farias, Community Outreach Coordinator
Horizons of Friendship
905.372.5483×24
jfarias@horizons.ca

Happy Mireault, Director, Development
YMCA Northumberland
905-372-4318×309
hmireault@ymcanorthumberland.com