Tag Archives: global citizenship education

Bridge47 roadmap – what more can we do to reach SDG 4?

Events Global Citizenship Education Learning participation News - 28th November 2019

The Bridge 47 network, coordinated by Fingo Finland, met in early November in Helsinki for the Envision 4.7 event to discuss European agenda alignment with the SDG goal 4 and its Target 4.7. 

Target 4.7 postulates that:

“By 2030, [we should] ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.”

The meeting outcome is a roadmap co-designed by participants. The Lifelong Learning Platform had an active role in the drafting process of the roadmap and it is happy to share the same commitment that the main organisers have shown throughout the process. 

The meeting in Helsinki gathered stakeholders from all sectors and levels of policy and decision making both from the development cooperation sector and the education and training sector. The participants have been calling for more synergies between stakeholders and stronger commitment of EU Member States as well as regional and local level authorities to achieve target 4.7. LLLP holds that more cooperation and dialogue between different stakeholders is key to adapt and meet challenges that arise in modern societies. 

The meeting served a long-awaited purpose: to create a real bridge between the education and the development cooperation sectors and stakeholders, something that is today possible. While civil society commitment is clear and sustainable, a lot still needs to be done by the European and international institutions, by Members States and all policy-makers. 

Global Campaign for Education

Active citizenship From the network - 28th May 2019

The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is a civil society movement that promotes and defends education as a basic human right. Among our members, ESU campaign and advocate at the international, regional and national level to put pressure on governments and the international community to deliver the right of everyone to a free, quality, public education.

The GCE movement was founded in 1999, in the build-up to the World Education Forum in Dakar, to provide a platform to unify and coordinate civil society voices in relation to the global education agenda. Since then, the movement GCE has grown significantly, in particular through the expansion and consolidation of national civil society coalitions.

Today, the GCE represents over 100 national and regional education coalitions and international organisations. Each is independent, and all are united by the commitment to the right to education, and to achieving change through the mobilisation of citizens and civil society.

The reach of GCE allows linking the grassroots campaigning to high-level meetings and seminars, bringing the voice of civil society to the UN General Assembly and the ECOSOC committees. GCE is a unique platform, merging and echoing education concerns from the countries facing the most development challenges to the more developed countries.

The European Students’ Union (ESU) is a member of the Board of the GCE platform and is the only organisation representing the youth-led organisations’ sector.

Strategic Areas:

  • Quality education – The GCE intends to contribute to an increased political and policy focus on quality education, with rights and social justice at its core.
  • Equity, non-discrimination and inclusion in education and through education – The movement works to expose and draw policy attention to inequity, discrimination and exclusion in education, in terms of access and in terms of quality.
  • Strong, public systems, leadership and governance in the education sector – We advocate for the state to effectively and responsively take up its role as the primary duty-bearer in education, highlighting the negative impacts of privatisation.
  • Financing for public education – We continue to call for increased domestic financing for education to at least 20% of budget and 6% of GDP, and to expand the domestic revenue base through tax justice.
  • Transparency, accountability and the role of civil society in the education sector – The GCE works to demand greater transparency and accessible sharing of information by governments, including budget and spending data; while expanding the space for civil society participation at every level.
  • Education in contexts of conflict or disaster – The movement seeks to draw attention to the need to invest in education in emergencies, and to support the voices of citizens in conflict or disaster situation

Structure:

GCE as a whole is a broad-based movement, encompassing a huge variety of civil society organisations active in the education sector at national, regional and international levels. Diversity and the different ways in which each member can contribute to the work of the platform are recognised and acknowledged, in pursuit of shared aims. GCE is aimed at fostering collaboration, networking and shared learning to strengthen our impact at national and regional levels, and to influence international frameworks and debates.

The movement’s governance and structure are set out in its constitution:

  • The World Assembly is the supreme governing authority of the GCE, all its members voting on an equal basis.
  • The World Assembly elects a board to provide oversight and strategic direction.
  • The GCE Secretariat is accountable to the Board and is responsible for implementing the strategic vision and facilitating the work of the movement.

You can download the full GCE current strategic plan here (in English), the resolutions from the 2015 World Assembly here (in English) and

GCE Constitution below.

Download the GCE Constitution in Español
Download the GCE Constitution in Français
Download the GCE Constitution in العربية
Download the GCE Constitution in Português

Path to Dignity – The power of human rights education

From the network - 29th April 2019

“Human rights education can make a real difference in people’s lives – whether a woman in Turkey, a police officer in Australia or a child in India, as we see in this film,” says UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay in her introduction to a 28-minute movie entitled A Path to Dignity: The Power of Human Rights Education.

Path to Dignity – in English | Français | Español | عربى | 中文 | 日本語 | русский

The movie presents three case studies illustrating the impact of human rights education among school children in India, law enforcement agencies in Australia and women victims of violence in Turkey.

From Tamil Nadu, in Southern India, Maria Soosai Selvaraj, National Programme Coordinator for the Institute of Human Rights Education says that “each child can make a change through practising human rights values.” In addition to learning about the Indian Constitution, the children develop an understanding of the rights of the child, and the principles of non-discrimination and equality, and how these apply to their daily lives.

In Victoria state, Australia, a human rights project monitors all aspects of policing and educates Victoria Police employees on human rights. “Human rights training forms part of our foundation training programme now,” explains Charlie Allen, an inspector. “Recruits marching into the academy or going into the academy for their training phase do initial education in human rights.”

In Turkey, the human rights education programme for women consists of weekly workshops. Women learn about their human rights and the laws that protect these rights. Mujcan Guneri, a human rights trainer, says that “the women they reached through this training programme, who have come to realize their value as individuals, have all taken steps forward. They begin to see the next step. They engage more with people and take better advantage of the opportunities offered by the State.” “Some go back to school. Some return to work life,” she adds.

The movie has been jointly produced HREA, Soka Gakkai International (SGI), and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

The film is available in English and is subtitled in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

This article was first published on the website of HREA.