Several religious leaders and representatives from Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office in Geneva and faith-inspired organizations gathered at a conference titled Promoting Peace Together on May 21, 2019, to reflect on the importance of education for peace and interfaith dialogue.

“All of us know what has gone wrong and all of us know what needs to be done to end violence against children, but the question is do we have the courage to do something about it?” With these words, Dr. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman of Bharativa Vidva Bhavan, launched the National Roundtable Discussion on Nurturing

A roundtable discussion on Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence took place on 2 May 2019, bringing together more than 70 child protection practitioners, faith leaders and experts on early childhood in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Learning to Live Together Programme (LTLT) has reached over 300 students and teachers in Sri Lanka and India over the past year, thanks to the efforts of facilitators Kaviya Balaguruswamy and Parthipan Palanisamy. The workshops in Sri Lanka were held in Colombo, Kilinochchi, and Nuwaraeliya, and in Coimbatore in India.

Arigatou International, in close collaboration with the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children (SRSG) and other key partners, has initiated a study which consists of a review of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) from a multi-religious perspective. The primary authors of the study

The Learning to Live Together (LTLT) Programme has reached around 55 students from Macedonia in the past year, thanks to the efforts and commitment of Ms. Irena Fejsko, English Teacher, and Ms. Arbana Pasholli, Psychologist at the “28 November Community High School”.

The International Consortium on Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence against Children, which was launched in August 2018 by Arigatou International and its partners, is continuing its activities with a set of roundtables hosted by various members of the Consortium in different countries.

In February, Arigatou International – Geneva attended the World Innovation Summit for Education, or WISE@Paris, which was held in Paris on 20-21 February 2019. WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate, and purposeful action for new approaches to education, launched in 2009 by the Qatar Foundation.

Following the calls from our network of educators for the adaptation of the Learning to Live Together (LTLT) Programme to middle childhood years, Arigatou International – Geneva is continuing the two-year process of adaptation of the Programme. The first two pilots in this process took place in Lisbon, Portugal, 8-10 February, and Nairobi, Kenya, 18-23

In light of the 40th session of the Human Rights Council, Arigatou International co-organized together with several partners, a side event to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: “Ending Violence Against Children – The Contributions from Religious Communities”, on 6 March 2019. The event was attended by over

“There is no hope for peace without knowledge, which awakens us to our shared identity and connectedness as human beings”, said Mr. Anantanand Rambachan, Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College (US) and Columnist at Huffington Post.