, , , ,

Ireland’s Foreign Aid: A Better World

Ireland's Foreign AidIreland, with a population of approximately five million, has dedicated time and resources to alleviating poverty and hunger. The country’s “A Better World” policy has been a focus of Irish Aid, the government’s official foreign aid program. Ireland’s foreign aid works closely with many countries, prioritizing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, through development partnerships with local governments and communities and other international aid programs.

Irish Aid

Ireland’s foreign aid, better known as Irish Aid continues to provide development aid and assistance for the most impoverished communities in the world. The Humanitarian Programme Plan is one of the main sources of funding for Irish Aid’s work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In 2020, the budget was more than €15.8 million in order to maintain strong partnerships with NGOs while providing humanitarian assistance and emergency relief.

The Rapid Response Corps (RRC) is a group of 120 highly trained members that goes to communities for emergency response aid and crisis management. Irish Aid formed Standby Agreements for the RRC with four U.N. humanitarian agencies: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Children’s Fund. Working with these organizations, Ireland’s foreign aid has resulted in more than 400 Rapid Response Corps deployments since 2007.

A Better World

Ireland’s newest foreign policy, “A Better World,” aims to promote sustainability and peace while providing developmental assistance and protecting human rights. Launched by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney, this foreign aid policy is an example of how the Irish government is committing itself to “reaching the U.N. target of allocating 0.7% of our GNI to official development assistance by 2030.”

This new policy mainly focuses on gender equality, adequate governance and combating poverty. In addition, it aims to maintain partnerships with prominent aid programs and organizations to prioritize violence and conflict prevention, health and education, food sustainability and humanitarian crises. This policy will, therefore, ensure support to the most impoverished communities in the world through trackable funding, partnerships and emergency response.

Visible Impact

Because Ireland’s foreign aid has provided support and resources for some of the world’s impoverished communities, progress is visible. Irish Aid’s successes are notable, including a recent project providing access to education for girls in Zambia through a partnership with Campaign for Female Education. The project has supported marginalized girls with resources, funding and training while also breaking down the barriers barring girls from their right to an education. Another prominent impact of Ireland’s foreign aid is its commitment to clean and affordable energy. Irish Aid headed the National Cookstove Steering committee that provides cookstoves to individuals in Malawi as a solution to reduce deforestation and the health impacts of open fire cooking.

Irish Aid and the “A Better World” policy emphasize the importance of creating equal opportunities for impoverished communities by providing support to fight poverty and hunger as well as several other key global issues affecting the world today. Ireland has made immense strides in prioritizing foreign aid in the hope to join the fight for poverty alleviation.

– Caroline Pierce
Photo: Flickr

, , , ,

Campaigns for Gender Equality in Rwanda

Gender Equality in Rwanda
Rwanda started the journey to women’s empowerment earlier than the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goal 5, which encourages gender equality. Rwanda started encouraging gender equality after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and during its rebuilding. The country, therefore, developed a system that led to the appointment of more women in governmental leadership positions. This system also intensively invested in girl education. More women received encouragement to join the army and national security departments. After these interventions, the government started creating business opportunities and training for women. They were able to participate in activities that could provide them with an income. The following are some of the campaigns for gender equality that have been helping with achievements in Rwanda.

Isange One-Stop Center (IOSC)

IOSC is a national police-led center where victims of gender-based violence receive treatment and protection. Doing this helps to make sure that they can live healthy and developed lives. The program aims to provide psychosocial, medical, police and legal services. The Center provides these services to adult and child survivors of gender-based violence and child abuse occurring in the family or in the community at large. The U.N. office in Rwanda reports that there are currently 44 operating IOSCs in the country.

Parents’ Evenings (Utugoroba tw’Ababyeyi)

Parents’ Evenings are local evening gatherings that connect parents so they can discuss the community’s wellbeing. These evenings encourage conversations about fighting against gender-based violence in families. Additionally, these gatherings have discouraged different stereotypes about women and girls who faced discrimination in the local villages. These gatherings have also encouraged women to join together and invest in economic activities to generate income for them.

HeForShe Campaign

HeForShe is a U.N.-based campaign that aims to achieve global gender equality. The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, joined this campaign and committed to bridging the gender gap in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access. This tripled the number of girls enrolled in Technical and Vocational Training and also eradicated gender-based violence. These fields are crucial for achieving gender equality in Rwanda since economic development depends on them. In 2018, HeForShe reported that the number of women with access to mobile phones increased from 35.1% in 2010 to 84% in 2016. Additionally, there was an encouragement to start different campaigns granting mentorship and career guidance to girls in technology. Examples of these campaigns include Smart Village, Girls in ICT and the Miss Geek competition. All these campaigns for gender equality supported the cause of the HeForShe campaign in Rwanda by empowering women and girls.

Rwanda is one of the few countries that is substantially improving gender equality. This is the result of intensive investments in women empowerment, girls’ education and the fight against gender-based violence. Rwanda is showing progress because its campaigns for gender equality support the nation as a whole.

– Renova Uwingabire
Photo: Flickr