Students in Dublin are being reminded to submit their entries to ActionTalks, a national speech writing competition organised by ActionAid. The competition, which opened for entries on 20th September, is aimed at secondary school students aged 14 to 17. ActionAid has already had a lot of interest from students across the country and hopes for more entrants from Dublin before Monday 17th January 2022.
Entries will be submitted by email in written form and five successful entrants will go forward to the Leinster final. Two winners from Leinster will be selected to go forward to the national final and will receive a €50 One4All voucher each. At the national final in March, six finalists will be asked to present their speech to a panel of esteemed judges. The national prize is a €500 One4All voucher for the winner and a €100 One4All voucher for their teacher.
ActionAid provides long term support and focuses on the human rights of the poorest and most marginalised women and children, so they can overcome the obstacles holding them back. Its’ Women’s Rights Programme, funded by Irish Aid, works to eliminate violence against women and girls through innovative community-led approaches.
Now in its eighth year, this year the competition will focus on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted on women’s rights and how we can create a more equal world post-pandemic. ActionAid is asking students to write a speech on one of three topics.
The choice of topic for the 2022 competition are:
- The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of unpaid work in the home (e.g., childminding, caretaking, household functioning), with women often bearing the brunt of this work. How can we redistribute unpaid work in a way that is fair for everyone?
- During the Covid-19 pandemic, incidence of gender-based domestic violence rose, both in Ireland and internationally. What can Ireland do?
- Unfair access to vaccines has meant that those living in the poorest countries will suffer the worst effects of the pandemic. The inequalities exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of global solidarity and international aid. Discuss.
Karol Balfe, CEO of ActionAid Ireland said: ‘Young people understand well how the coronavirus pandemic has further exposed global inequalities, particularly for women. They are often inspirational voices for change on many issues and highlight the need for global solidarity in their activism. We have had a fantastic response already to the 2022 ActionTalks competition. We hope for more entries from Dublin before the deadline of 17th January 2022. This year we also introduced the regional finals for the first time, so students have another opportunity to get their voices heard.”
To enter, students can ask their teacher for details or visit https://actionaid.ie/speech-writing-competition/ for more information.
