ANNOUNCEMENT: ESSAY COMPETITION



“Feeding Ourselves – Securing our Rural Communities” – The Voice of Youth



Is agriculture dead? Will concentration on a New Agriculture change lives in the rural areas of countries in the Caribbean? What is this New Agriculture? Will it be more attractive for young people? Can we become more food secure? Or is it just not happening, too expensive, or not feasible at all?

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for the Secretariat of The Alliance for Sustainable Development of Agriculture and the Rural Milieu (The Alliance) invites you to share your vision of a New Agriculture (Agribusiness, Agro-biodiversity, Agro-energy, Agriculture and tourism) for future development in the rural communities of Caribbean countries.

If you

are a national of an IICA Member State (Caribbean1)
are between 14 and 25 years old
are a member of a youth group with an interest in the development of agriculture in the Caribbean
have ideas on how concentration on a new agriculture can help to improve youth livelihoods, especially in the rural areas of your country
then you are encouraged to participate in The Alliance Essay Competition. Tell us in 2500 words how you think a New Agriculture could make life better in your country, especially for young people and what needs to be done to achieve this goal.



The Prizes

From the submissions, Fourteen (14) National and three (3) Regional winners will be chosen and awarded prizes, which will be announced in the press. The 1st place winner at the regional level will be invited to collect the award during the Caribbean Week of Agriculture to take place October 02-07, 2006 in Nassau, The Bahamas. All winning entries will be published on the IICA website.



Competition Rules

Submissions

must be in English, Spanish or French
should not exceed 2,500 words
must be typed
should include your name, age, group/school affiliation (if any) and full contact information (home address, telephone number, e-mail address, if available)


Deadline for submission of entries: September 08, 2006. All entries must be received on or before that date. Winners will be announced on September 27, 2006.



You can e-mail (preferred), fax or mail your work to:

UnaMay Gordon

IICA Representative in the ECS

P.O Box 1223, Castries, Saint Lucia

Phone: (758)-451-6760/61 Fax: (758)451 6774

E-mail: iica.lc@iica.int



We welcome all essays. However, we regret that we will be unable to acknowledge receipt of entries that do not win one of our prizes.