Bhubesi Pride returns to the European Parliament

Bhubesi Pride’s Severin Prats and Richard Bennett visited the European Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. A 30-minute presentation was prepared and delivered to the Committee on Political Affairs for the African Caribbean Pacific Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP EU JPA) at 17.30 on 29th September.

During the two-day visit, the two Bhubesi Pride members (Severin Prats, Environmental concerns and African/British schools development) and Richard Bennett (Project coordinator), met with a number of high profile individuals, including MEPs [European, African and Caribbean], well-connected influential individuals and European Parliament press staff.

These included: Jim Higgins [Quaestors, Member], Jean Pierre Audy [MEP & Head of French Delegation of the EPP], Pieter van der Walt [MEP, Namibia National Assembly], Makhosini Hlongwane [MEP, Chairman-Parliamentary Welfare Committee, Zimbabwe], Robert Sturdy [MEP] and Sir Louis H Straker [Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade; St Vincent and the Grenadines].

Press interests came from Jim Gibbons [offering potential coverage through Europarl TV], James Drew [Editor, Together Magazine] offering further exposure and Georg von Harrach [Quadrant and ITV], who interviewed Richard for a potential radio broadcast.

Contributing to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

During the ACP presentation (where members from the European Parliament Rugby Union Intergroup [Derek Vaughan, MEP and Nicolas Michourquet, FIRA] were also present), Severin Prats also focused specifically on how Bhubesi Pride’s project, both during the 2011 expedition and as part of future initiatives, contributes to and supports five of the UN’s eight MDGs. These are:

MDG 2: Achieve universal education

MDG 3: Promote Gender equality and Empower Women

MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for development