International Men’s Day (IMD) 2011 will be celebrated in over 50 countries around the world on 19 November and the 2011 theme is:
Giving Boys the Best Possible Start in Life
IMD interfaces with MOVEMBER and also with Universal Children’s Day on November 20 and in focussing on the main challenges boys all over the world face, asks how we can come up with local solutions to global problems.
At Dads on the Air this week we explore what IMD means to organisers in Ireland and the USA. Listeners are invited to share their own thoughts on giving the best start to boys by contacting the IMD coordination team at http://www.international-mens-day.com/ The best solution oriented approach will be awarded a prize certificate for the IMD FLAGSHIP PROJECT.
Across the sea to Ireland
Our first guest today is Mick Kenny, the Chair of Men in Childcare Ireland coordinating a celebration of IMD in Ireland. Mick has been working in childcare for 19 years, for the last 15 years in the early years sector (preschool / kindergarten) and he speaks to us from Kilkenny.
Mick is fortunate to be working in an area he loves. He is working towards his vision of seeing children feel it is normal to be cared for by both men and women.
Hear what the community gains from accessing men for this career and also the benefits to the male childcare workers themselves.
Mick’s efforts to increase the contribution of men in raising boys fits neatly with the IMD theme in 2011 and it is told with a lilting Irish accent.
The IMD Poet in the USA
Today we are honored to welcome back to Dads on the Air John D Evans who is the Illinois Regional Coordinator for IMD in the USA. John is an educator, humanitarian, folklorist, author and poet whose literary work Diary of a Renaissance Man was named Children’s Choice 2008 by the International Readers’ Association, the Children’s Book Council and 10,000 school children.
In talking to John we find out how IMD will be celebrated in the Illinois area of the USA in 2011 as well as hearing something of what was achieved in 2010. We hear about a writing competition that is open to writers around the world.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 10:30AM 
With special guests:
