British High Commission launches 'Shape the Future' competition
The British High Commission and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Pakistan launched a painting and a writing competition titled ‘Shape the Future’ at the SoS school in Rawalpindi today.
The competition invites students from across Pakistan to share their recommendations – in the form of paintings and pieces of creative writing – on what they think would help improve people’s lives in Pakistan and put the country on the path to sustainable progress. Since their launch in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals have encouraged countries to work towards meeting the needs of the world’s poorest people by 2015. We want to help Pakistan’s young people contribute to the international debate that is shaping the new, post-2015 development goals.
Participating students from schools across the country, aged 12 to 17 years, are invited to submit their ideas either in the form of paintings with brief descriptions or a presentation on the goal they have chosen, or as a 500 word essay. The entries will be judged by a panel of experts.
The deadline for submitting entries is 16th November 2014. Details for submitting entries can be found at the British High Commission Pakistan Facebook page
Opening the competition at SOS Children’s Village at Islamabad, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan, Alison Blake said:
On behalf of the British High Commission and the UK‟s Department for International Development (DFID), I am delighted to launch this competition, “Shape the Future”, which is an unprecedented opportunity to hear the views of Pakistan’s young people on how to improve the lives of the people of Pakistan and create a more prosperous, fairer and sustainable future for everyone. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set targets to improve standards of living for the world‟s poorest countries by 2015.
Enormous progress has been made and, building on this, the next set of global development goals will play a crucial role in shaping the world for future generations. We hope that the competition to “Shape the Future” will encourage schools to discuss and formulate creative recommendations to influence the debate as the important post-2015 development goals are formulated.
As a long standing partner of Pakistan, the UK is helping Pakistan in achieving its MDGs. By 2015, the UK will have helped four million children go to school, will have provided young adults with skills to get jobs, have helped 1.23 million poor people, more than half of them women, access microfinance loans, and have prevented half a million children from becoming under-nourished.
This competition is a chance for Pakistan‟s next generation to develop their understanding of the global Development Goals and to express their vision of how to achieve a better future for Pakistan and the world.
Chairperson of the SOS Children’s Village Rawalpindi, Mrs. Nasim Muzaffar said:
It is a great honour to host the ‘‘Shape the Future’’ competition organised by the British High Commission in Pakistan at SOS Children‟s Village Rawalpindi. It is a unique opportunity where we get together to find ways of how to look after our country, uplift the standard of life and make it a better place.
The competition will greatly help us by giving ideas through the paintings and writings of our children. Through their thoughts we will see how they would like to see the future.
We are always grateful to the British High Commission for their kind and continued support for our country and especially for the children of SOS Children’s Village Rawalpindi.