A national competition to find the Young Global Education Ambassadors for 2011 is now open to schoolchildren in the UK. The winners will have the opportunity to visit Bolivia in February 2011 with the charity Toybox and the Global Campaign for Education.

14 and 15 year–olds in the UK are invited to apply through their school for the Steve Sinnott Award. This competition will give two committed individuals, and their teacher, the amazing opportunity to travel out to Bolivia and investigate the barriers to education that street children face.

The competition aims to raise awareness of the need to provide every child with a full primary education by the year 2015. This is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals that world leaders agreed back in the year 2000. Since that time, some progress has been made, but there are still 72 million children around the world who are missing out on an education.

The winners will meet street-living and street-working children and hear from them about the challenges to a full education that they are facing. Children from Toybox-supported projects will give the UK pupils a unique insight into the lives of young people the same age. The students will also meet with community leaders and politicians, to hear about progress on education for all in Bolivia.

On their return to the UK the young campaigners will help ‘spread the word’ by speaking at union conferences and to the media. They will also feature in a short film, which will form the centerpiece for next year’s Send My Friend to School Campaign, organized by the Global Campaign for Education, to inspire schools across the country to help get free, quality primary education worldwide by 2015. This year 1 million pupils in over 9,000 schools took part in the campaign.

Steve Sinnott was a passionate advocate for Education For All and The Steve Sinnott Award was set up shortly after his untimely death in 2008. During his time as General Secretary of the NUT, Steve was a committed member of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), which believes that education is the best route out of poverty. As a result of donations in memory of Steve, this exciting award scheme was launched to further the skills of young education campaigners.

Michelle Rhodes, Deputy Head at Stantonbury School, who accompanied James and Beth (the first Young Ambassadors) to Tanzania, said, "Winning the Steve Sinnott Award gave James and Beth an opportunity that few students of their age could ever hope to have. Their memorable trip to Tanzania was the start of an amazing journey of personal challenges and opportunities that developed their self confidence, their awareness of important global issues and their ability to be leaders of change. As Young Ambassadors they lobbied politicians, wrote for and spoke to a range of audiences, engaged with the media and learned to respect and critically evaluate the views and opinions of many different people. They had a wonderful experience, throughout which they were superbly well supported by ActionAid. I know they would do it all again if they had the chance."

Toybox can only accept entries from children with the full support of a school, as a teacher must accompany the students on the trip.

For further information on how to apply please contact David Westwood on david.westwood@toybox.org, ring Toybox on 0845 4660010 or visit www.sendmyfriend.org/award to download the details.

The closing date for entries is 10th November 2010.

Notes to Editors:

For more information, please contact David Westwood on 0845 4660010 or email david.westwood@toybox.org

1. Educational issues in Bolivia.
There are an estimated 4 million Latin American children of primary school age who are currently out of school. In addition, many other children are failing to gain any meaningful education and repeat year after year due to poor quality schooling and teacher absenteeism. Street-involved children are a particularly vulnerable group when it comes to getting a full primary education. They face significant barriers, including child labour, migration, family breakdown and other poverty-related factors.

2. Toybox is a Christian charity which works with street children in Latin America (currently Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru and El Salvador) where there are many thousands of children living and working on the streets of major cities. The Toybox vision is of a world with no street children where families are restored, those who are disadvantaged have choices and hope, and all children have a voice. Toybox works with street-involved children in four Latin American countries through networks of local projects which support children in cities. Education and educational support are key ways that these projects are helping to break the cycles of poverty and abuse that lead to children making a home for themselves on the streets.

3. The Global Campaign for Education is a coalition of international aid agencies, teachers unions and civil rights groups. It was formed in the year 2000 to hold world leaders to the Millennium Development Goal promise of education for all by the year 2015. This network is now active in over 120 countries, but there are still 72 million children worldwide who are not receiving primary education.

4. The GCE UK partners are: ActionAid, Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Book Aid International, CAMFED, Christian Aid, City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development, Consortium of Street Children, Comic Relief, Deaf Child Worldwide, Education Action, Handicap International UK, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Link Community Development, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, National Union of Teachers, Oxfam, Plan UK, Results UK, Save the Children, Sightsavers, Steve Sinnott Foundation, Toybox, Voluntary Service Overseas, World Vision UK

5. The trip is generously co-funded by Domain-London – a fully integrated communications agency specialising in the not for profit sector. Domain-London’s CEO Andrew Saunders commented “It’s great to have the opportunity to be involved in such an important project building bridges between children here and in Latin America.”