Students are connecting Londonderry to the World

The three-day conference is being organised by Development Action; a student led registered charity established by International Politics students at Magee last year to promote global development issues at the University.

Deirdre Doherty, the chairperson of Development Action explains how their local efforts are able to have a global impact.

"Development Action was the first university group in Ireland to become part of U8 Global Student Network for Development. U8 is a global university network founded by students in the wake of the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005. It facilitates and promotes the exchange of information between students relating to development issues and enables students to engage with others on the subject. U8 takes its name from the 8th of the Millennium Development Goals – 'to develop a global partnership for development' but it is also a play on G8, although there is a strong contrast between the exclusivity of the G8 and the inclusivity of the U8."

When Deirdre was subsequently appointed to the U8 executive as the Global Uni Links Director, she suggested that they bring their annual conference, which last year was hosted by Cambridge, to Magee in 2010.

"We secured Skype as a sponsor and they agreed to both promote the conference to their 480 million plus existing service users and help to make it possible to 'stream' the conference live online to make it U8's first ever truly global conference.

"The live streaming will be of broadcast quality and we are hoping to get as many people as possible to 'connect' during the conference. Michael Callaghan and Kerry McCusker of the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems at Magee are creating a virtual world for the conference where people can 'connect', create a virtual self, watch the conference stream live in a virtual amphitheatre and talk to other members anywhere in the world on Skype.

"Richard Jolly TV and Diarmuid Lynch of Switch New Media are providing the facilities to create a television broadcast standard for the live streaming, which is being funded by Skype. There will be screens and chat boxes for people to participate from wherever they are around the world."

Deirdre continues: "'Connect' is our way of promoting global dialogue about development issues with a particular focus on the 8 Millennium Development Goals which are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; ensure environmental sustainability; and to develop a global partnership for development.

"Students can attend in person or connect to the conference online. Delegates and speakers from across Europe and North America have already confirmed their attendance and thanks to Skype they will be joined by virtual delegates from around the world."

Deirdre adds that the students involved in Development Action at Magee remain committed to active participation in the fight for global development by empowering and connecting people, students or otherwise, in the cause of a fairer global society.

"We recognise that people living here can have a positive impact on the lives of those in the developing world, while helping them to sustain their own communities with the assistance of Development Action."

Last year Development Action provided fishing nets to a vast slum community in Sierra Leone, which has given the community a source of nutrition, as well as an opportunity to provide for themselves, instead of being dependent on others.

The 'Connect' event shares its theme with a pilot project of Development Action. The charity's 'Connecting Children' project is concerned with expanding connections and relationships between schools here and schools across the world on a mutually beneficial basis. Through it local schools will connect, via video conferencing facilities with Skype, to a school in Sierra Leone. The project hopes to offer an opportunity for school children, at home and abroad, to learn from different societies and cultures and consequently promote global citizenship

The 'Connect' global student summit which is being supported by the University of Ulster, Derry City Council and UNESCO, will take place at the Magee Campus, from Thursday March 25 to Saturday March 27 2010. For further information please log on to www.development-action.com or email Development Action at [email protected]