Last month, deputy prime minister of Ireland, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, and the Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, launched the new policy One World, One Future: Ireland’s Policy for International Development. Through this new policy, Ireland is emphasizing its commitment to “a vision of a sustainable and just world,” to defeat the ugly reality that some people only realize through a statistic while others experience it firsthand every day: approximately 1 billion starving people. The battle against poverty faces many challenges which include climate change, rising energy and food prices, and the global economic crisis.

Irish Aid established three main goals to try and accommodate the changing conditions: to reduce hunger and improve resilience, to have sustainable development and inclusive economic growth, and finally, to achieve better governance, and human rights and accountability which includes gender equality. When meeting these goals, Irish Aid will continue its progress based on its assessment of previous achievements; Irish Aid helped 46 million more kids go to school in Africa, and decreased poverty for ethnic minorities in Vietnam by 17%.

As Irish Aid recognizes the vulnerability of “fragile states,” it declared Sierra Leone as a new key partner country for hopes of establishing better and stronger relationships with these so-called fragile states. Thus, as these relationships grow and strengthen, better progress can take place towards sustainable development.

– Leen Abdallah
Source: Relief Web
Photo: Google