Brussels, 02/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The idea of a European education strategy to heighten awareness of development issues for greater EU citizens' commitment to development is gaining ground. Those at the public hearing organised on this subject on 30 August by the EP development committee all hailed it as a major tool for eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development.
Filip Kaczmarek (EPP, Poland), who co-chaired the hearing, sees it as a way to strengthen crucial understanding by citizens of the global world and of their responsibility in the global society. He said: “Development education plays a very important role in the eradication of poverty and promotion of sustainable development. It strengthens the support to the active engagement of citizens in local and global level to promote justice, human rights and sustainable development”. Andris Piebalgs, Development Commissioner, said: “I believe our work in educating people to development issues is fundamental and I believe we must step up our efforts in order to achieve not only general support for development but also real engagement on the part of our citizens. I believe we can have a real impact on attitudes and perceptions, and I am willing to support actions that strive to achieve just that”. Along the same lines, Rilli Lappalainen of the NGO CONCORD underlined how important it is for European citizens to understand the “story behind immigration, poverty and global inequalities”. All call for implementation of the study, DEAR in Europe (Development Education and Awareness Raising), as a European development education strategy. Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic have recently established national strategies on this. (A.N./transl.jl)