Advancing Peace and Resilience Through Education in Africa
Since 2017, the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) has spearheaded an educational movement throughout 28 African countries to foster peace, build resilience and prevent violent extremism.
The program’s overarching goal is to equip education ministry offices, teacher training institutes, and universities with the capacity to deliver high-quality, inclusive, and relevant peace-building education at both the higher education and school level.
Supported by the government of Japan, this initiative has equipped 10,000 teachers and education lecturers to integrate a transformative pedagogy approach into their teaching practices. The key concepts of the Ethics Education Framework of Arigatou International are at the core of this initiative.
This year, we continued to work together with UNESCO IICBA in the development of a national consultation, a capacity-sharing workshop and a teacher’s guide in Burundi. We shared our takeaways at a special webinar held during the International Day of Education and worked together to further this collaboration.
Catalyzing the Power of Transformative Pedagogy for Peace and Resilience Building in Burundi
As part of the collaboration with UNESCO IICBA, a two-day national consultation with young people took place on 20-21 November 2023 in Bujumbura, titled “Understanding Peace and Violence Prevention to Strengthen Resilience in Burundi.” A group of 38 young individuals active in civil society organizations and youth groups attended the consultation.
The consultation aimed to analyze the main challenges related to violence in the country and its root causes. The initiative not only gathered young people’s perceptions but also provided them with analytical tools to understand violence deeply, introduced key concepts of the transformative pedagogy approach, and helped identify a concrete set of recommendations.
Following the consultation, a capacity-sharing workshop on the Transformative Pedagogy Approach for Peace and Resilience Building was held from 23-25 November 2023, for curriculum developers, administrators, and academia. Participants analyzed the national context regarding peace consolidation, resilience, and violence prevention, and validated proposals from the youth consultation.
The workshop strengthened the capacities of educational supervisors to deliver transformative pedagogy. Participants developed an action plan and discussed creating innovative and participatory spaces for children and youth to connect.
After the workshop and consultation, Arigatou International, IICBA, and the Ministry of Education of Burundi formed a working group to customize IICBA’s Teachers’ Guide for Burundi. The draft guide is currently under approval.
Learning for Lasting Peace: Lessons from Africa
Ms. Maria Lucia Uribe, Executive Director of Arigatou International – Geneva, was invited to speak at the webinar “Learning for Lasting Peace: Lessons from Africa, organized by UNESCO IICBA to commemorate the International Day of Education 2024.
Ms. Uribe addressed the current state of the world, emphasizing the critical role of education in preparing and empowering children and young people amid multiple crises.
“The current crises demand a transformation of our education. Education for children and young people needs to be transformative. This means it should go beyond the transmission of knowledge to empower learners to transform themselves and contribute to the transformation of their communities.” – Ms. Maria Lucia Uribe, Executive Director of Arigatou International – Geneva
During the webinar, UNESCO IICBA also launched its most recent study on Transformative Pedagogy for Peace with contributions from Arigatou International.
Study: Transformative Pedagogy for Peace, Resilience, and the Prevention of Violent Extremism: Lessons from Recent UNESCO IICBA Projects.
UNESCO IICBA launched a study supported by the Government of Japan, titled “Transformative Pedagogy for Peace, Resilience, and the Prevention of Violent Extremism: Lessons from Recent UNESCO IICBA Projects.”
The study draws lessons from the projects on peacebuilding and preventing violent extremism through education from 2017 to 2022. The study describes the transformative pedagogy approach, analyses survey data to assess the project’s performance, and highlights interviews with nine project participants, from Ministries of Education and other participating institutions such as universities.
The analysis primarily relies on a lessons-learned survey conducted by Arigatou International and an end-of-project evaluation executed by the external consulting firm. Ms. Eleonora Mura, Head of Partnerships and Organizational Development at Arigatou International is one of the four authors of this relevant study.
