Introduction at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"Slovakia is a small country, but sometimes better perceived in Africa than the big ones."

Today has been a motivating day, with special thanks to Ms. Wursterova, the director of Development and Humanitarian Aid Department, who gave me a positive insight on the issue. It has become clear that what matters is the way how the aid is directed and not exclusively the financial aspect. Is the crucial to listen to what the developing countries exactly need - that's why so called "Country Strategy Paper" is produced.

Slovakia is directing its official aid to 3 program countries: Afghanistan, Kenya and Serbia.

How is the Slovak youth involved and informed? A nice example, which caught my attention, is one high school which played "an Afghan day": the pupils dressed in Afghan way, lived their tradition, as well as the Afghan school played Slovak day, staying connected through Skype.

Secondly, there was an essay competition on the topic, motivating students with 1. prize Internship at UN HQ in Geneva, 2. prize internship at UNDP Bratislava and 3. prize internship at Ministry of Foreign Affairs. See the winning essays here (in Slovak).

Thirdly, there are efforts to cooperate closely with the Ministry of Education and implement the development aid topic to the educational contents in Slovak schools.

I am curious to find out more during my internship in the department 23.8. - 3.9. 2010.