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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Talking Points of J. Brian Atwood, USAID Administrator
July 22, 1998
for Capitol Hill Roundtable on Youth Activism in Foreign Affairs
-- Thank you, Congressman Delahunt. I am delighted to have this opportunity to discuss something that I deeply believe in -- the opportunity for young people to learn about and get involved with other nations and the people of other cultures at an early age. When I was 16 years old, I spent four months in Luxemborg as an American Field Services exchange student. Before that, my whole world had centered on Wareham, Massachusetts.-- My introduction to the larger world may not have been as dramatic as Congressman Shays may have experienced when he went to Fiji with the Peace Corps. Still, that experience during my high school years forced me to examine my own country and culture, its institutions and values, as well as those of other countries. It changed me and in many ways set the course of my life. But I have to admit, it never occurred to me that, at 16, I could make a difference in that larger world. .
-- Operation Day's Work will give young Americans not only the chance to learn about other peoples, but to lead and make a positive difference in the lives of young people in developing countries.
-- Students in Scandinavian countries have been participating in similar programs for more than 30 years. Each year, students choose a developing country to study during "International Week." They then take a day off from school to work in their communities to earn money to fund an educational project for young people in the chosen country. We are happy to have Eivind Homme [ IVAN HOME-UH] from the Norwegian Embassy with us today. The government and students of Norway are helping us establish our own Operation Day's Work in the United States. We hope that within ten years, every community in the United States will also have an school participating in Operation Day's Work -- USA.
-- Broad Meadows Middle School of Quincy, Massachusetts, was chosen as one of the pilot schools because of their outstanding work to combat child labor in developing countries, which they will tell you about in a minute.
They received USAID's Domestic Partnership Award for their achievements.-- USAID shares the students' concern about exploitive child labor, and their belief in education to open the doors of opportunity for all children. We will invest $100 million in basic education in developing countries this year. Education is only part of the answer -- child labor flourishes because of grinding, desperate poverty.
-- Preventing child labor means parents must have alternative sources of income in order to feed their families and provide basic necessities. USAID attacks the causes of child labor on a broad basis. We working with governments for the reform of laws and economic policies to foster sustainable overall economic growth that can provide families adequate incomes. We support microenterprise programs that help the poor start or expand small businesses. We work to strengthen civil society and non-governmental organizations in developing countries -- which in turn raise people's consciousness and provide alternatives and work to make the exploitation of children unacceptable.
-- I'm going to call on the students from Broad Meadows now to tell us about how they got interested in child labor and their experiences.
[You may need to break into the discussions to allow Congressman and Senators to speak as they arrive if they must leave; otherwise, after the students make their presentation, you might call on their teacher, Ron Adams]
-- If it is hard work to design, organize and carry out such an effort, it is perhaps even harder to empower young people to do that -- not doing it for them, but inspiring, encouraging and enabling them to do it themselves. That is the essence of what a great teacher does. Ron Adams is a master at it. Ron, could you share some of your experiences, and perhaps some of your secrets?
[Following his remarks and some discussion, you might call on the MacFarland Middle School students from the District of Columbia to explain how the pilot schools chose Haiti as the focus country. They attended the ADRA Global Village in April and visited the Norwegian Embassy. MacFarland was the first school named a "School of Promise" by Gen. Colin Powell.
-- I think most of you will agree that Operation Day's Work is an exciting prospect. We know that young people care, that they want to do something meaningful with their lives -- not just in the future, but in the process of growing to maturity.
-- Young people can also lead, as the students of Broad Meadows Middle School have already demonstrated. With apologies to Hallmark, When they care enough to do their very best, they do amazing things. Operation Day's Work is an opportunity for American students to learn, to give of themselves, to accomplish something, to make a difference in the lives of other young people in countries far away.
-- I want to thank all of you here today for what you have done -- and what you are about to do.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001 |
