Dear friends,

Welcome to the May edition of the Ethics Education for Children newsletter.  

The Fifth Forum of the GNRC under the theme "End Violence Against Children - Faith Communities in Action", is taking place this week in Panama city, bringing together more than 400 religious leaders, representatives of civil society organisations, and children and youth, who have already been part of a preparatory meeting to get ready for a full and active participation.  As the Forum takes place aiming to provide recommendations to religious communities to act now to make ending violence against children a priority. It also aims to foster partnerships with other international organisations and UN agencies to strengthen the work towards ensuring that no child is left behind and that children are at the center of the work, fostering their participation and making them allies in these efforts.  It is my hope that religious communities will also engage in dialogue, prioritise and commit to foster ethics education in their efforts to support communities and families to end violence in child upbringing, and in creating the conditions to empower children and youth.  

In this edition you will find information about the Second International Train the Trainers workshop that was organised in France, as well as information of training workshops organised in El Salvador, Lebanon and Panama, and the work done in Colombia, in the region of Istmina to foster values and spirituality in children.  The newsletter also highlights the work of Ethics Education for Children in providing technical support to the introduction of values-based education in the new curriculum reform process in Kenya, as well as the participation in several international meetings. 

 

Maria Lucia Uribe
Director Arigatou International - Geneva

Perspectives


Fostering Youth participation to Prevent and Protect Children from Violence

By Mrs. María Lucía Uribe 

Director Arigatou International Geneva and Secretary General, Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children

Many years ago I visited Medellin, Colombia to research peace initiatives in the country.  I went to Comuna 13, in Medellin, which used to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world, and a pivotal place for grooming paramilitary, guerrilla and criminal gang groups.  As I was waiting outside a bakery to be picked up by some of my contacts from the local government, I couldn’t help but noticing that there were a few young people wandering around and walking back and forth.  I was a bit nervous as I was told to keep a low profile and not to bring any valuables with me as this might arise curiosity from the members of the gang groups.   As I waited for almost 15 minutes for my contact to arrive, I believe I was already making some of those youth curious, so it was only a matter of minutes until a young boy approached me and asked me if I could buy a bread and a soda for him.

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Stories from the Field

Five enriching months of program implementation in Itsmina, Colombia

Training workshops

A successful Face-to-Face Advance Training carried out in Panama

Arigatou International Geneva, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) through the Office of Safe Social Development, organised an Advanced Training Workshop on the Learning to Live Together Programme (LTLT) that took place in Panama City, Panama from 2 to 3 December 2016. 

The workshop addressed 18 facilitators who in July 2016 were already trained on how to use of the LTLT programme and now are implementing it with children, young people and families in 8 provinces in the country, reaching more than 2000 people. 

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IN MEMORIAM

Dr. Parichart Suwanbubbha (1958-2016), member of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Prof. Dr. Parichart Suwanbubbha on the morning of 6 December 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand after a long battle with illness.
 
Dr. Suwanbubbha was an expert in peace building and conflict resolution, conducted frequent dialogues between groups of military personnel, religious leaders and Buddhist and Muslim villagers in Thailand, where she was originally from. Dr. Suwanbubbha was a Member of the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children of Arigatou International since December 2013, and a Board member of the Globethics.net Foundation from 2009 to 2016. She taught Buddhism, Christianity, interreligious dialogue and ethics for the last twenty years.
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