Where in the World?

06/18/2008

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Nelson Mandela

We are thrilled to announce that the next World Forum on Early Care and Education will take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland on June 16 – 19, 2009

The selection of Belfast is the result of over 12 months of research and intensive dialogue with communities on five continents. Along the way we were challenged by the continuing decline of the US$ and other economic issues. We are grateful for the support and guidance of the World Forum team — our International Organizing Committee, our Board of Directors, and our National Representatives — for keeping us focused and energized during this arduous search.

We are thrilled with the final selection. The World Forum in Belfast will be a memorable experience which will not only expose you to international perspectives on a wide range of early childhood issues, but will also provide you with a first hand look at the history of “the Troubles” and how early childhood education is now bringing communities together.

We are indebted to our friends from Early Years in Northern Ireland who were instrumental in making this site work and who will be working closely with the World Forum Foundation as the host of the event to make this the professional and personal experience of your lifetime. We also want to thank our many loyal sponsors whose support in the past has enabled us to arrive at this point, organizations such as Community Playthings, Lakeshore Learning Materials, IBM, JohnsonDiversey, Teaching Strategies, Knowledge Learning Corporation, UNICEF, High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, Bright Horizons, Save the Children, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Childrens’ Creative Learning Centers, ICF International, and many others.

The official web site for the 2009 World Forum will be ready to go in July and its launch will be announced in ExchangeEveryDay.

And the Winner is....

On the World Forum Foundation web site we have been holding the "Where in the World will the World Forum 2009 be held?" with the first person to correctly guess the location winning a free registration to this event. And the first person to guess "Belfast" was Jackie Goodsman from Clarkson (a suburb of Perth) Australia. Amazingly, she submitted her guess in July of 2007 before Belfast was even being considered! Congratulations Jackie, we will see you in Belfast.

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