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May 2015

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Welcome to the monthly e-bulletin from Think Global, the UK education charity working to create a more just and sustainable world through the power of global learning.

Buy Right

Join our Ethical Supply Chains workshop

Supply Chainge logoThink Global is hosting a workshop looking at tough questions about the cheap food and clothes we buy from supermarkets. The workshop (on Thursday 28 May) is supported by the European Commission, and is part of our three-year global learning project on supermarket supply chains.

Most of us are aware that many supermarkets produce their own, cheaper versions of popular products – from kitchen towels to stir-in sauces; but you may not know that about 40% of supermarket retail sales across Europe are made up of supermarkets’ own-brand products? Most of these products emerge at the end of long global supply chains – but what do we know about the people and places that make up that chain? Not very much, sometimes - and often a lot less than for big brand products.

Monika Kruesmann, Think Global’s Head of Programmes, said, "We will be exploring these issues, and what can be done about them, during this workshop - looking at some of the latest research from across Europe about the growth and influence of major supermarkets’ own-brand procurement and production processes. Helping people to think critically about the plusses and minuses of complex global supply chains is a good way for Think Global to fulfill our global learning mission.”    
 
The workshop is free to attend but there are only a few places left, so if you know anyone who would like to come, please ask them to sign-up quickly. For more about the wider project, please contact Monika (monika.kruesmann@think-global.org.uk, or 020 3751 3003). 

Global Educator of the Year 2015

Winner announced!

Global Educator of the Year 2015 logoThink Global has chosen Sarah Maile, from Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College, as the Winner of its Global Educator of the Year 2015 Award, announced today. Sarah will receive the £500 prize money, and her school will receive two free places, worth an additional £1,000 on Think Global’s accredited six-week global learning course for teachers. 
 
“This is such an incredible honour,” said Sarah on learning that she was the winner.  “I’ll admit I had a little dance/cry moment.  I am so grateful, humbled and surprised.”
 
Read more about Sarah's fantastic global learning work as well as great stuff being done by all the other finalists for the Award.

UK Public Attitudes to Development: Building New Responses

Think Global hosts 1-day seminar for international development practitioners

Think Global, in partnership with Bond, is offering up to 40 international development practitioners the opportunity to participate in a one day seminar (on Monday 29th June), to explore and respond to recent research into UK public attitudes to development. The way in which international development organisations communicate with the public plays a significant role in how citizens engage with poverty and global development.

Amy West, Programme Manager at Think Global, will lead the seminar. "This is a condensed version of the ‘Building New Responses’ training course that Think Global and Bond previously ran between January 2015 and March 2015. We’re producing a toolkit from that course, which will be available to participants.” The seminar is funded by DEEEP4. 
 
Any international development practitioners can apply for place on the seminar here: www.bond.org.uk/advocacy/building-new-responses. For more information please contact Amy (amy.west@think-global.org.uk).

European Year for Development

Further co-operation with Bond, and a new Global Wallplanner

As part of the European Year for Development (EYD) Think Global is working in collaboration with Bond in order to create some new resources and opportunities for teachers and educators.  

This will include the development of a new Global Wallplanner for the 2015-2016 school year, based on 'development success stories' and EYD themes.  

We are doubling up on the wallplanner print-run this year in order to share success stories with a wider group of people. If you would be interested in partnering up with Think Global and getting a free supply of wallplanners for onward distribution to schools, colleges, youth groups or educators in your network, please contact Moira Jenkins, email: Moira.Jenkins@think-global.org.uk.

News highlights

What does the new Parliament mean for international development?

On the morning after the general election, Tom Baker, Head of Campaigns at BOND, wrote a very useful blog exploring this question.

Global Dimension - exploring the news

Via our Global Dimension website, Think Global supports teachers to explore news topics with their pupils, such as the recent earthquake in Nepal and the issue of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe. We aim to provide links to a wide range of background articles so that teachers and students can read around the topic; as well as suggestions for teaching activities and ways to approach sensitive and possibly controversial issues.

Books with Wings: Practical Support for Students in Afghanistan

Do you have books you no longer use, but which are too good to recycle? Texts that you know so well you don’t refer to them anymore? Or just a few too many copies of some favourites?

If so, you could help thousands of students in Afghanistan to access vital learning materials, through ‘Books with Wings’ – a fantastic initiative that connects good quality, recent books from donors in the UK with university and school students in Afghanistan.

Originally set up in Canada, Books with Wings is now in the UK, and is collecting books for shipment to Afghanistan. The books will be carried securely by the Spanish Air Force, and will make a huge difference to the lives and learning of Afghanistan’s young people.

For more information, please contact Paul Wordley at punch@talktalk.net.
Think Global is pleased to be an official partner of the Sunday Times Festival of Education, running from 18-19 June 2015.

The Festival brings together the very best of education’s most forward thinking advocates, practitioners of change and policy makers. Now entering its sixth year, this two-day festival is held at Wellington College, Berkshire and has become the go-to educational event for teachers and lecturers.
Photo credit: Just Hawthorn by Aske Holst on flickr.com

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