In 2021, Unity Foundation is collaborating with teachers and NGOs to create new workshops of education on development. 

The Our World, Our Dignity, Our Future consortium (OWODOF) which Unity Foundation has recently joined participated in a discovery week on the theme “The World in 2040” of the private school Sainte-Sophie. In this context, OWODOF intervened to present the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during three days to 11 classes of youths aged between 11 and 14 years.

Students at St. Sophie’s School reflect on the knowledge, values and attitudes needed to be active in their community.

With a colleague from Aide à l’enfance de l’Inde et du Népal (AEIN), we chose to present the SDG 4: “Quality Education” through which we made the students think about what education means to them, what the different dimensions of our education are and how they enable us to participate in the improvement of society when they are guided by universal values.

Côme discusses the relationships between the Sustainable Development Goals with the students.

Solidarity, honesty, respect, forgiveness, mutual support, belief, respect for rules, being able to forgive, empathy and social equality were some of the values given by the youth to contribute to the SDG 4.

We hope that the discussions have contributed to developing a better understanding of how the knowledge youth acquire through their education needs to be complemented by moral values, and that especially at their age, they can be “agents of change” in their communities. When asking participants to identify knowledge and individual attitudes that can contribute to the achievement of this goal, we again witnessed the depth of their responses, among which: 

“World peace is necessary because it guarantees development and non-violence on earth.”

“Authority does not necessarily resolve all conflicts.” 

“Being there for family and friends to avoid conflict and bring more peace and happiness.”

“When I meet someone new I should not be prejudiced towards them but rather appreciate them and get to know them with all their differences.”

Exercise given to the young people to place the cards on the board according to whether they indicate a “knowledge to have”, a “value to believe in” or “an attitude or action to adopt”, in relationship with the chosen objective (left column)

At the international school of Luxembourg (ISL), as part of a project to have students discovering new countries and getting to know NGOs, Unity Foundation prepared a workshop with a teacher to make links between the United Nations’ 17 SDG. Through examples of the activities of our partners from Malawi and Colombia, the students reflected on how they can pursue the SDG in a meaningful way.

The students also deepened these themes by reflecting on their own daily lives in the Luxembourgish context. The students’ feedback was very inspiring. Some explained that they had already tried to start projects within their family or community (creating compost, picking up litter etc.), others said that they were going to pay more attention to their behaviour, in and out of school, to be more inclusive and be respectful of the environment.

Anne and Côme (Unity Foundation) during their presentation with the first group of students from ISL

All of these comments showed us that these students have many ideals for their community and want to participate in a global transformation in the way we educate ourselves, act, and think about life in society.

Last but not least, two weeks later, Unity Foundation was again invited to speak at the opening of the “international forum”, in front of the 100 students involved in the extracurricular project, their teachers and the director of ISL. It was an opportunity to share some of the principles and hopes that Unity Foundation holds about development, about the role of youth in society and education for achieving prosperity for all. The speaker also stayed during the morning to assist the students in the elaboration of their projects and it was very inspiring! 

This wonderful experience has allowed UF to diversify its interventions in schools through new workshop formats, created hand in hand with the teachers. 

We would like to thank Sainte-Sophie school and our close collaborators of ISL for their enthusiastic and loving hospitality and we are already looking forward to our collaborations next year!