Egypt's Children's Poster Competition

By request of the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, the Academy for Educational Development assisted in organizing the Agenda 21 Children's National Poster Contest managed by the Green Corner Library Network through EEAA.

The Agenda 21 Poster Contest was a national level competition involving children between the ages of 7 and 12. The competition aimed at raising the children's awareness about sustainable development and at generating an education process through which children learn about Agenda 21 and the Rio +10 preparations. Children were invited to submit drawings that capture their concerns about environmental and development issues and portray their understanding of Agenda 21 objectives.

As part of its preparations for the Earth Summit. Egypt is participating in the Agenda 21 Poster Contest which is organized under the patronage of Egypt's First Lady. The evaluation of the children's drawings depended on criteria such as:

• How well the drawing reflected the chosen environmental theme
• How well the drawing reflected the importance of the chosen theme on a local and global level
• How well the drawing conveyed a clear and easily understood message

The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and the Integrated Care Society (ICS), which act as the coordinating parties for the contest, designated the Green Corner librarians as facilitators for the contest that took take place in the Green Corner libraries in Egypt's 27 governorates during the school mid-year recess (January 26 to February 10, 20Q2).

A steering committee was established to work on the Agenda 21 Poster Contest project. Its members were designated from the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the Integrated Care Society (ICS), and also from the Academy for Educational Development (AED) which provides technical assistance.

The children's drawings were short-listed by regional focal points before being evaluated by the national judging committee which members are a gathering of artists, educators, publishers and environmental professionals. The Egyptian winning drawing was submitted to the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) in New York on March 1, 2002 in order to take its place among winners from other countries on the Earth Summit Conference walls.

In order to publicize the competition and encourage the children to take part and present drawings that reflected their own perspectives and concerns about the Egyptian environment, AED produced the following set of Arabic materials:

• Five posters portraying five different environmental themes to be distributed in all Green Corner libraries at the national level
• A children's kit which will be distributed to all participants in the competition and which includes:

1. A sticker entry form to be attached at the back of the drawing
2. A flver describing the contest, the conditions to join, the criteria for evaluation and the prizes
3. Four sheets depicting drawing ideas related to vital environmental themes (water air, agricultural land, garbage)

Three orientation days were organized by AED in three different locations (Cairo,Alexandria and Aswan) in order to provide librarians with the information, procedures, and timelines necessary to carry out the competition. Brainstorming sessions and open discussions included defining sustainable development concepts and examining the objectives of Agenda 21. The Cairo orientation days, which took place on December 30 and 31, 2001 received 51 librarians from the 26 Green Corner libraries of Greater Cairo and surrounding regions. The Alexandria orientation days, which took place on December 23 and 24, 2001 received 15 librarians and the Aswan orientation days which took place on December 28 & 29, 2001 received 17 librarians from the remaining 22.

Agenda 21 Children's Poster Contest Orientation Days Report

Organizers:
The following parties participated in the management and coordination of the orientation days held in Alexandria (23 and 24 Dec. 2001), Aswan (28 and 29 Dec. 2001) and Cairo (30 and 31 Dec. 2001):

The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA)

• Nahed Hassan
• Marwa Hassan

The Integrated Care Society (ICS)

• Farida El Reedy
• Zeinab El Tanahy

The Academy for Educational Development (SED)

• Magda Gomaa
• Seftab Jabi
• Hala Adel
• Hany El Shahat
• Neveen Abushadi

Target Group

• librarians of the Green Corner libraries at the national level - Two Green Corner librarians from Egypt's 27 governorates were invited to attend the orientation days.
• The representatives from Port-said, Suez, Mounofia, Gharbiya, Dakhahlia and North Sinai governorates did not attend the orientation days despite confirming the receipt of formal invitations from EEAA.

Objectives

• To recall the environmental and development issues addressed by Agenda 21
• To introduce the librarians to the Agenda 21 Poster Contest
• To provide explanations on the theme of the competition, instructions, procedures and timelines on how to carry it out .

back to top

Copyright © United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Division for Sustainable Development
Comments and suggestions
24 August 2006