Offaly student wins the Leinster Final of ActionTalks speech writing competition

CAOIMHE Spain, a student at Colaiste Naomh Cormac Kilcormac, Co. Offaly, has this week been chosen as a Leinster Final winner in ActionTalks, which is a national speech writing competition run by ActionAid and open to all students aged 14 to 17. Caoimhe won a €50 One4All voucher and will now proceed to the national final of the ActionTalks Competition, which is taking place in Dublin on March 28th.

ActionAid provides long term support and focuses on the human rights of women and children in developing countries, so they can overcome the obstacles holding them back. The approach is to empower women to take control over their own lives. Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs, funds an ActionAid Women’s Rights programme in Kenya, Nepal and Ethiopia. ActionAid uses this funding to work with marginalised communities in an effort to prevent gender-based violence and help women gain an independent income.

The ActionTalks competition aims to engage young people with global issues, gender equality and sustainable development, and challenges them to use their voice to create positive change. This year the prize is a €500 One4All voucher for the national winner and a €100 voucher for their teacher.

CEO of ActionAid Ireland Karole Balfe said: “We were blown away by the quality of delivery in the Leinster Final, as well as the research, critical thinking and time that went into writing the speeches. It was a very difficult decision to choose the winner as all finalists submitted very high-quality videos, but Caoimhe won out for their outstanding delivery and well written speech on vaccine inequity. It is wonderful to see so many young people engaging with international development and learning about the work that Irish tax payers fund through Irish Aid.”

You can read more about the ActionAid Women’s Rights programme here https://actionaid.ie/womens-rights-programme/