Directors Message
Director’s Message - April 2013
Dear friends of ECO-UNESCO,
We’ve had many highlights this month from winning awards to hosting national seminars to everything in between!! It’s definitely been a busy, but very enjoyable few weeks.
Earlier this month it was a wonderful honour to receive the National Energy Globe Award fwhich was presented by Dr. Thomas Nader, the Austrian Embassador to Ireland. This is a hugely prestigious award and I am delighted that ECO-UNESCO’s Young Environmentalist Awards programme was chosen as the overall Irish winner. This is a fantastic endorsement for this youth environmental action programme and with just a little over a month to go before the YEA Annual Awards and Showcase, it will make the 2013 ceremony even more special.
Speaking of the YEA, my congratulations to each of the 70 finalists who will showcase their projects at the Annual Awards ceremony on May 22nd in the Mansion House. The projects submitted and presented at the ECO-DENS last month were all of an impeccable standard and it was a tough task picking just 70! Be sure to check out all the finalists’ projects here and vote for your favourite before May 10th! I also hope that you can join us on May 22nd so be sure to put it in your diary!
The Greenhouse has as usual, been a hub of activity and on April 11th we hosted ECO-UNESCO’s Young People and Europe Seminar. It was tremendous to have some many inspirational young people attend, to hear their viewpoints and have some lively debate on Ireland’s EU Presidency, young people and Europe and green employment. My thanks to everybody who participated; the students, teachers, leaders, the expert panel and our keynote speaker; Minister Frances Fitzgerald. Following on from young people's input on the day, a resource explaining the EU and Ireland’s EU Presidency is now being complied and will be launched later next month and distributed to schools nationwide in September.
Green Pathways, our free FETAC training course which began last month is now well underway. Due to demand we are now adding a second course date which will commence on May 23rd and will run until November. This is a fantastic opportunity for job seekers aged 25 and under to up-skill for jobs in the green economy or to work with young people in the community. If you know anybody who may be interested in this opportunity, they should contact Niamh, our Green Pathways Project Support Officer at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Of course there are plenty of other trainings also taking place here at the Greenhouse. We have some upcoming training courses such as our Introduction to Sustainable Development and ECO-Community Development, both of which are FETAC accredited. Places are limited on both so be sure to register your interest today.
Finally, don’t forger our Green Trails nature tour of Dublin city is now running each Wednesday and we hope that you can join us on one shortly!
I hope to see you soon at 'the Greenhouse' and in the meantime be sure to keep up to date with all our news and events on Twitter, Facebook and our website.
Until next time,
Elaine Nevin,
National Director ECO-UNESCO
