Arigatou International – Geneva, in collaboration with UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) is developing a program on “Youth Empowerment for Peace and Resilience Building and Prevention of Violent Extremism in Sahel Countries through Teacher Development” in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The objective of the program is to develop a Teacher’s Guide and a Training of Trainers workshop based on Arigatou International’s Ethics Education Framework and its expertise in transformative pedagogy. It is expected that the trainers cascade their new knowledge and skills to teachers in the participating countries.
The project is a continuation of the peacebuilding efforts carried out by the Government of Japan in Africa. It was preceded by the “Teacher Training and Development for Peace-building” project that was launched in March 2017 involving several countries in the Horn of Africa, aiming to reach 8,000 educators in the region.
A planning meeting took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the beginning of September 2018 to discuss the main deliverables of the project and define the foundations for the collaboration. Arigatou International staff members traveled to Addis Ababa to discuss the teacher’s guide and the training of trainers’ workshop for the program together with UNESCO-IICBA colleagues and Professor Boubacar Niane, an expert from the region.
The Training of Trainers workshop was held in Dakar, Senegal, from 29 October to 2 November 2018, reaching secondary school teachers on transformative pedagogy for peacebuilding. During the workshop, participants discussed teachers’ understandings of peacebuilding, resilience, and conflict, and built on their capacities as peacebuilders by developing their skills and knowledge on the subject. Participants also expanded their understanding of the ethical principles of teachers and identified mechanisms for including the concepts of peacebuilding, resilience and preventing extremism in teacher training curricula.
We thank our partners at the UNESCO-IICBA office as well as all those who attended the Training of Trainers workshop, for their commitment and enthusiasm.
