Nearly 300 young Canadians express their thoughts on microfinance in the DID DoingMyPart.Coop Youth Contest
In May, the two grand prize winners will take part in an educational tour in Tanzania
Lévis (Québec), February 6, 2008 – To celebrate the beginning of International Development Week, Développement international Desjardins (DID) is pleased to announce that some 300 young people from across Canada, ages 18 to 30, entered the second DoingMyPart.Coop Youth Contest, held September 20 to November 9, 2007.
Among the participants, 12 young people distinguished themselves with the exceptional quality of the essays that they submitted in answer to the contest question: Is microfinance a solution for sustainable development in developing countries?. The 12 winners are listed below in alphabetical order.
Winners |
City/Province |
Member of Caisse Desjardins1 |
|---|---|---|
Charles Bélanger |
Quebec City (Québec) |
Caisse Desjardins de Cap-Rouge (Québec) |
Misha Benjamin |
Montreal (Québec) |
n/a |
Annie Bérubé |
Quebec City (Québec) |
Caisse Desjardins de Saint-Rodrigue (Québec) |
Marie-Pierre Bérubé |
Becancour (Québec) |
Caisse Desjardins du Canton d'aston (Saint-Léonard-d'Aston) |
Sara Blenkhorn |
West Vancouver (British Colombia) |
n/a |
Maxime Carré |
St-Romuald (Québec) |
Caisse Desjardins de Saint-Romuald (Lévis) |
Anaar Kara |
Torbay (Newfoundland) |
n/a |
Sarah Kelly |
Trois-Pistoles (Québec) |
Caisse Desjardins de l'héritage des Basques (Trois-Pistoles) |
Mike Lafleur |
Calgary (Alberta) |
n/a |
Sarah Messerli |
Montreal (Québec) |
Caisse Desjardins d'Argenteuil (Lachute) |
Gregg Newson |
London (Ontario) |
n/a |
Natalie Rouskov |
Mississauga (Ontario) |
n/a |
 |
||
Among the twelve winners, two stood out in particular. The two grand prize winners are Sarah Kelly (Trois-Pistoles, Quebec) and Mike Lafleur (Calgary, Alberta).Together, the lucky winners will travel to Tanzania in East Africa for a one-week education tour. There they will be welcomed by the local DID project director. They will visit Tanzanian financial cooperatives where they will meet with employees, managers and members and discuss the practical benefits that access to basic financial services provides for them and their families.
Style and originality were the elements that distinguished the 12 winning essays. Choosing the winners involved a rigorous evaluation process by a jury composed of representatives from contest partners and DID. You can read the 12 winning essays and learn about the winners on the contest microsite at www.DoingMyPart.Coop.
All the winners will receive a selection of gifts offered by DID and the contest partners – the Fédération des coopératives québécoises en milieu scolaire (under the COOPSCO banner), Jobboom and the Canadian International development Agency (CIDA).
Imagination and Awareness
The quality of the winning essays showed how aware young people are about development in countries in the South.
Sarah Kelly, age 23, is studying for a Master's degree in ethics at the Université du Québec à Rimouski. In her essay, she portrayed a Peruvian mother with very limited means for improving her family's living conditions. It begins, "It is 5:30 am. Her day begins on this damp December morning in Peru. She knows the routine and the reason: feed her three children, at least for today… All day her unfailing fingers will weave the products they know so well and then the children will sell them. The small profit, if there is any, will be spent on yarn and dye. She cannot afford to send her little ones to school and they already work so hard. It is impossible to break out of this vicious circle that keeps them in this vulnerable state." The full text is available on the contest microsite at www.DoingMyPart.Coop.
Age 29 and a resident of Calgary in Alberta, Mike Lafleur is an Education Program Developer with the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, an organization dedicated to developing new technologies for making affordable water and hygiene services available in developing countries. His essay puts us in the position of the 1.2 billion people in the world who live on less than one dollar a day. "Imagine playing a game of Monopoly but starting off with less than a dollar. Without access to any credit, each roll of the dice lands you into more debt and the cycle of poverty rolls on. Think of microfinance as the "Advance to Go" card that allows you to collect a small yet sufficient amount of money to invest in." The full text of Mike's essay is also available on the contest microsite.
The second www.DoingMyPart.Coop contest is a DID initiative under the Desjardins Youth Focus program.
About DID
Développement international Desjardins (DID) is a component of the Desjardins Group, the largest integrated cooperative financial group in Canada. For over 35 years, DID has been providing support for the creation, development and strengthening of financial institutions and is now present in twenty countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central and Eastern Europe. DID, which specializes in providing technical support and investment for community finance, draws on the rich and diverse experience acquired through collaboration with numerous partners, and on the 100 years of experience of the Desjardins Group. DID works in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency, the World Bank and other multilateral organizations.
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Source:
Karina Lehoux
Communications Advisor
Développement international Desjardins
Phone: 418-835-2401, extension 5796
www.did.qc.ca
