The Ploughing Championships 2023

Background

The National Ploughing Championships (NPC) is an annual three day event that takes place in Ireland and is Europe’s largest outdoor exhibition and agricultural trade show. It showcases a large variety of exhibitors, events, and activities and with something for everyone. The NPC attracts a wide range of demographics from across Ireland. 

The catalyst for collaborative engagement at the National Ploughing Championships in 2023 emerged from active discussions within the Dóchas Public Engagement Working Group relating to members Irish Aid funded Global Citizenship Education Programmes. Specifically, how best we as a sector could further engage cohorts of the Irish public in global development issues and Ireland’s overseas development programme.

Through the Dóchas Public Engagement Working Group, Trócaire, Sightsavers Ireland and Worldview (Dóchas) all expressed an interest and a desire to work in collaboration at a National Event, to help increase reach and spread the cost and resources required. The Global Solidarity Hub emerged as the collective engagement banner for all INGOs to work collaboratively under to engage the Irish public.

Overview of Collaboration

The Global Solidarity Hub

A series of initial planning meetings took place between Sightsavers Ireland, Trócaire, and Worldview (Dóchas) to develop the concept and activations for the NPC. It was agreed from the outset that a shared concept and unified approach was essential for success and as such the Global Solidarity Hub (GSH) was initiated to act as an umbrella brand that encompasses the shared messages of each organisation.

The shared concept focused on creating a journey for visitors that allowed Sightsavers, Trócaire and Worldview to highlight different areas of work encompassing in-built linkages that presented opportunities for meaningful engagement on issues related to international development and overseas development aid (ODA). Each organisation also developed their own activations and key performance indicators.

Overview of Activities

Worldview

On arrival into the Global Solidarity Hub tent, attendees were invited on a ‘journey’ to reflect on their current ‘worldview’ and knowledge of ODA while inviting an opportunity to increase this awareness and knowledge by engaging with Trócaire and Sightsavers’ site specific activities.

Attendees were then invited to reflect on and share their own ‘worldview’ which included responses such as: “We are all interdependent and must keep a wide worldview” (62 years, Tipperary) and “Aid helps bring awareness to the struggles of the developing world” (19 years, Laois).

Overall, the first time experimental engagement of the project’s data was successful and encompassed the following results:

 Trócaire

Trócaire celebrated 50 years of work in 2023 and the team wanted to highlight the many achievements and world changes that have occurred over the past 50 years, through the use of positive stories highlighting the possible impact of ODA and Irish Aid’s support of Trócaire. Taking the One-Day, 50th Campaign launched by Trócaire in September as inspiration, a wishing wall was put in place which invited the public to reflect on the ‘One day’ they want to see. With over 628 completing a reflection it became very clear that the Irish Public care about many of the global issues that Trócaire and Irish Aid are working together to combat. These reflections were compiled throughout the event to gauge the sentiments of the public revealing that the most pertinent global issues the public want to see change are:

1. Equality and an end to discrimination
2. An end to hunger & poverty
3. A peaceful world with no conflict
4. An end to climate change

Full details regarding the reflections can be found here.

To encourage further discussion a mock ‘community shop’ was developed which provided a space for the public to chat and engage with Trócaire staff and volunteers on ODA, the work of Trócaire and the fundamental support and work of Irish Aid. The story of Samwel and his family, based in Kenya whose lives were transformed with the installation of a water pipe on their farm was the vision that inspired the ‘community shop’. Through visual storytelling, Samwel’s story was brought to life, highlighting the importance and transformative nature of access to water.

“I don’t have to do casual labour anymore or buy food because I grow all my own...My farm these days is my employer from where I get food and school fees for my children ‘’
(Samwel Kariuke, Kenya)

Sightsavers Ireland

Sightsavers Ireland’s presence at the NPC aimed to showcase our inclusive education work in Senegal through 360 footage on Virtual Reality headsets following the story of 17 year old Ndiambe and his day at school. The footage is just over four minutes long and we had two headsets rolling on each day of the NPC. In addition to engagement with VR footage, Sightsavers Ireland showcased our school resources including braille materials, and flyers about ivermectin and its cross over from farming usage in Ireland to use in Sightsavers programme countries for the treatment of river blindness. In total at the NPC at Sightsavers Ireland stand;

• 490 members of the public watched VR footage
• 6,500 branded merchandise distributed
• Overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public on the collaborative approach

Results and Key Takeaways

Across the three-day event, 2,641 people entered the GSH, taking part in one or a variety of the activities on offer. The atmosphere in the Hub was welcoming and engaging, as people journeyed through the Hub they were provided with an experiential and immersive experience, which is clear to see from the individual results illustrated by Worldview, Trócaire and Sightsavers Ireland.

The collaborative nature of the Hub was felt throughout the marquee, with teams assisting each other and encouraging the public to engage in all the activities on offer.

It was decided that the Global Solidarity Hub would return to the NPC in 2024 alongside exploring options for another national event, likely to be a summer festival dependent on demographics and suitability. It was envisioned that a festival iteration of the Global Solidarity Hub would target a more specific demographic based on Worldview research segmentation and would engage attendees in more two-way participatory engagement to increase awareness and understanding of ODA.

The appetite for collaborative public engagement activity is strong and can be undertaken in a noncompetitive manner that serves the goals of individual organisations while also creating a ‘one stop shop’ hub to increase public awareness and engagement with aid and development issues across multiple themes. The National Ploughing Championship presented a rare opportunity for more meaningful engagement with a cross-section of the public that might not otherwise beinteracting with ODA issues.