The long-awaited event, not only of this month of November 2022, but also of the last two years of Covid that had reduced our public events to virtual rooms, finally took place on Wednesday, 23 November! Welcoming our network of friends and collaborators, themselves accompanied by their own acquaintances and contacts during this evening, was unique in many ways. This event took place at our new offices in Luxembourg-City, never before visited by a large majority of our community, and it was also organized in two parts:

• an “after-work” session to present Unity Foundation as a whole, with its international projects and the recent evolution of development education projects in Luxembourg,
• followed by a panel discussion moderated by journalist Stephanie Bodoni and the President of Unity Foundation, Fernand Schaber;  our special guest speaker, Dr. Joseph Lample, was invited to share his experiences in development education as program manager of Kimanya-Ngeyo Foundation for Science and Education, our partner organization in Uganda since 2009.

Joseph Lample interviewed by journalist Stephanie Bodoni and Unity Foundation President Fernand Schaber in front of a packed house.

In a joyful and attentive atmosphere, Dr. Lample’s presentation and the exchange that followed lasted more than an hour and a half, in a room filled with fifty guests coming from very different fields. More than double the number of people than initially expected!

The topics discussed in the panel were organized in three parts: the journey of Joseph Lample until he took up his post at Kimanya-Ngeyo; a second part on the Foundation, its lines of action and the experiences accumulated in recent years – particularly in the face of the Covid pandemic; and a third part focused on the principles at the heart of the projects, the vision of development and the redefinition of the role and nature of education in order to empower populations to take charge of their own development.

Two stories reported by Dr. Lample offer a concrete example of the change in perspective and impact of the projects on their community. He explains that the foundation offers teachers several weeks of training to meet the government’s demand to make teaching more practical and effective in schools. The training leads teachers to ask themselves, “What is the role of education?” and what motivates individuals to go to school, apart from the obligation given by their families or institutions. Would teachers themselves go to school for several years in a row without understanding the meaning and concrete impacts of their studies on their daily lives? “No,” they answer immediately.

The passionate exchanges between Joseph Lample and the public continued around a walking dinner prepared by Lokaal.

This reflection leads them to redefine the role of education and how it can contribute directly to the country’s overall development. Through training, they are led to develop capacities that allow them to act not as simple transmitters of theoretical knowledge to audiences deemed indifferent, but to redefine their role as indispensable guides to the future promoters of society’s well-being. Their mission is to help them acquire and apply valuable knowledge for their individual development and society.

Returning from their training, several teachers shared their students’ reactions to their changing behaviour: “Who are you? You are not the teacher we knew!” They also reported that they had observed a growing trust in their students in them. They themselves felt a new sense of mission to support their students at all levels of their education.

The following day, we were invited to the International School of Luxembourg (ISL) to lead three workshops on the occasion of a special “Global International Network” day, organized at the Luxembourg level. With the aim of allowing students from different national schools to meet and exchange on their development projects, Unity Foundation was invited to accompany the students in building their projects and to share the experiences of its partners, personified by the presence of Dr Joseph Lample himself.

An intensive day for the participants of the “GIN” day in which Unity Foundation was able to participate accompanied by Dr Joseph Lample.

Introduced in the morning to project development tools and invited to reflect on the coherence of the practices and principles at the heart of their actions, the 20 students then engaged in a conversation with Dr. Joseph Lample and were able to carry out themselves some practical exercises of the training programs offered by Kimanya-Ngeyo to Ugandan students. The youth were able to deepen their understanding of the importance of research and analysis prior to conducting a project: (1) identify the main topics and types of questions they need answers to, (2) determine the different sources of information they can use, and (3) collect information based on the specific situation of their micro-region and the resources available to them. The day ended with an art activity to unite the group: collective drawings on their T-shirts and the performance of a song based on the following quote:

“That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. Arise to serve for the betterment of the world. Arise to serve for the unity of our hearts.”

An intensive day for the participants of the “GIN” day in which Unity Foundation was able to participate accompanied by Dr Joseph Lample.

Evaluation forms distributed to participants allowed us to measure their appreciation of the workshops. They indicate that the activities proposed by UF were the most appreciated and rated more than 8/10 by the majority of students. On the other hand, to the question “What are the next steps you have set for your group?”, several students answered to make the search for information and statistics, a main element of the exercises given by Joseph Lample during his workshop. So the students not only appreciated but also retained the important elements of our interventions, a useful learning for our future workshops.

What’s next?

We are very grateful for the success of these two events, and for the support and confidence shown by our friends and collaborators. The interest shown by the general public and students in sharing the experiences of our partners encourages us to organize these meetings on a more regular basis. We hope to see you soon!
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