Global World? Global Learning- Education for global equity

Global World? Global Learning - Education for global equity

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." (M. Mead)

From November 7th to 13th, 2022, twenty-eight youth workers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, France, and Germany gathered in Grillenburg near Dresden to participate in the Erasmus+ training course "Global World? Global Learning! - Education for Global Justice" organized by CAMBIO e.V.

During the week we spent together, we familiarized ourselves with the concept of Global Citizenship Education (GCED), discovered new educational methods, and broadened our perception of global issues and potential solutions. Participants had the opportunity to learn by doing and directly test the content they learned by leading GCED workshops for other participants in pairs or small groups. The more adventurous also tested their moderation skills at an international school in Dresden with high school students, who warmly welcomed them and appreciated the open-minded experience.

The content of the methods covered key aspects of our globalized contemporary societies. Participants had the opportunity to develop their workshops on topics such as global inequalities, our consumption patterns and mismanagement of natural resources, the history of food and its relationship with colonialism, various possible strategies towards sustainability, and our opportunities for action to change the world.

In addition to the workshops, participants used the time to reflect on their actions and wrote a letter about how they want to shape our common future on this beautiful yet fragile planet.

The training course was also a phase of intercultural exchange and active critical thinking about the mechanisms that govern our societies at national and international levels. In this context, an intercultural evening was organized, during which participants shared with the group a variety of food, objects, and interesting facts related to their home countries. During other evenings, there was time to exchange ideas on how to transform the school system and to learn about local initiatives working in education for sustainable development, with Lisa, a local activist, who presented her project to the participants and shared her passion for biodiversity protection.

As a result of this Global Learning training, participants gained knowledge on how to change their behavior towards a more sustainable lifestyle and learned examples of how to bring content into their local context using GCED methods as a possible and easy-to-use means of strengthening values such as tolerance, freedom, ecology, and human rights.