“Children are not a problem to be solved, but a resource that needs investing in.”
~ Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid
What role do you think children have in advocating for their rights and well-being? And how powerful do you think their voices are?
This came to play during the inaugural Africa Children Summit, where children advocated for their rights and well-being and displayed how powerful their voices are, through their participation. The event took place in Nairobi from April 10th to 12th 2023. Mtoto News, a digital and media platform whose mission is to make children visible through curating, creating, and circulating content on children and by children, hosted the summit. Alongside with partners, children from different African countries were brought together (both virtually and physically) to discuss issues affecting them. Countries represented in person at the summit included; Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The summit was an event by children for children. Children moderated the sessions and discussed issues they felt affected them. Among the children at the forum were representatives from Arigatou International – Nairobi. Arigatou International partnered and participated in the summit as it amplified one of the commitments of The Panama Declaration on Ending Violence Against Children through its theme, Seen, Heard, and Engaged. The theme and active participation of children amplified the first commitment; to listen to children with empathy and respect, welcome their wisdom and gifts, and continue to work side-by-side to address violence against them.
The summit was graced by leaders from different organizations and institutions who shared a few words with the children and adult participants. Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, emphasized the need to advocate for children and the importance of having intergenerational dialogue to bridge the gap between different generations. She also committed to making sure that children are seen, heard, and engaged. Hon. Lady Justice Martha K. Koome, EGH, Chief Justice of Kenya emphasized the commitment of the Kenyan justice system to fully implement and comply with the terms of the Children’s Act, 2022. Prof. Philip Jaffé, Vice Chair UN (United Nations) Committee on the Rights of the Child stated, “Every child in this room is part of history.”
Among the speakers at the forum, Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali, Secretary General, GNRC, and Fred Nyabera, Director, End Child Poverty, represented Arigatou International, expressing their commitment to work for and with children.
“We are excited to hear what children have to say and look forward to seeing the impact their ideas have on Africa and the world.”
~ Fred Nyabera, Director, End Child Poverty
“Four things that we must look into and address before we find ourselves at a crossroad of a global emergency are Children, Climate, Conflict, and COVID.
~ Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali, Secretary General, GNRC
Ms. Elizabeth, a social worker stated that the summit was a great forum for children to express themselves as they know the challenges they face and the workable solutions to them.
The summit ended with immense insistence from children to be heard and engaged in all matters affecting them, as they too are important agents of change, through their contributions and insights.
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The post Children as Agents of Change appeared first on Arigatou International.
Sports betting is a great way to add more excitement to your favorite games. It can also be very profitable, if you follow a few simple tips. These include knowing your betting strategy, understanding the odds, making smart bets, and walking away from bad ones.
There is no one-size-fits-all betting strategy for sports, as each person has their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, some people have a knack for betting on hockey, while others are better at basketball or football. It is important to focus on the sport that you enjoy, and to stick to your strengths.
It is very important to set a bankroll when you start placing sports bets. This is a sum of money that you will dedicate exclusively to sports bets. This should be a small amount that you can afford to lose, and it should be separate from your regular income. This will prevent you from getting too emotional and letting your emotions control your betting decisions. It is also a good idea to open a special bank account for this purpose, so that you can easily track your bets and winnings.
Another tip for new bettors is to avoid betting services that promise guaranteed wins. These are called scamdicappers and they can cost you a lot of money in the long run. Instead, do your research and read reviews on the different betting sites before choosing a service. You can even go as far as checking Better Business Bureau ratings and complaints.
You should also remember that it takes time to make a profit with sports betting. This is because the oddsmakers will always tilt the line in their favor. However, if you are patient and persistent, you can still win big over the long-term.
Sportsbooks take a large number of factors into consideration when they post their lines for a game, including the skill level of both teams, past match-ups between them, weather conditions, and more. This information is then used to calculate the odds for each individual bet. If you think that a team will score more goals than the total number posted by the sportsbook, then you can place an Over bet. Conversely, if you think that a team will score fewer goals than the total number posted by the sportsbook, you can place an Under bet.
The key to making money with sports betting is to understand the odds and the mathematics behind them. This will help you decide how much to bet and how often. You should also avoid chasing your losses, as this will only lead to more bad bets and eventually ruin your bankroll. Instead, try to make a series of small bets that add up over the course of a season for a consistent profit. This will take patience, but it is well worth the effort in the long run.
The post How to Make Money With Sports Betting appeared first on www.snvla.org.
The training workshops for teachers under the Ethics Education Fellowship, concluded successfully in Indonesia, reaching 200 participants from five regions. The teachers received specialized training through engaging activities, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to implement ethics education programs in their local schools. It is estimated that these teachers will reach 1,500 students by the end of 2023.
A Collaborative and Multistakeholder Journey
Designed to strengthen the sustainable delivery of ethics education programs for children, the Fellowship invites teachers to prepare and facilitate a learning journey for children. This approach helps learners to develop positive relationships with themselves and others, engage in ethical reflection and dialogue, enhance their ability to learn to live together and develop collective actions to make positive impacts in their communities.
The Ethics Education Fellowship is being carried out simultaneously and collaboratively in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Mauritius, Nepal, and Seychelles. The program operates on a fellowship structure, where dedicated representatives from each country play a key role. These fellows lead the national efforts by organizing training workshops for teachers, ensuring the successful implementation of ethics education programs with children, and advocating for the importance of ethics education on a national scale. Furthermore, the fellows have established a Global Community of Practice to learn from each other, collaborate and support the expansion of the program.
This program is a collaborative effort involving Arigatou International, the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, the KAICIID International Dialogue Centre, the Muslim Council of Elders, and UNESCO, which is represented by the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa and the UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office. The process is supported by the National Commissions for UNESCO of Indonesia and Kenya. The program is being led in each country by the ministries of education, through the fellows, a group of educators and ministry officers, that were trained as teacher trainers back in October 2022.
Empowering Teachers through Training in Indonesia
The training program for Indonesian teachers consisted of two phases. The first phase, a hybrid workshop held in Suravaya in February 2023, brought together 67 participants from various regions. Over three days, participants had the opportunity to share their experiences, discuss critical issues affecting learners, and explore the role of education in addressing these challenges. Key topics included discrimination, stereotypes, violence, and their impact on children’s lives in schools.
Participants explored the Ethics Education Conceptual Framework which is built around three pillars: Relationships, Ethical Reflection and Dialogue, and Collective Action. They reflected on what ethics means in their lives and their interactions with others, and on the ethical challenges they, the children and their communities face. While doing it, participants identified how ethics education programs can foster transformation in children by encouraging ethical reflections and engaging them in dialogue with others.
“The workshop provided extraordinary benefits to me personally. Now I better understand how an educator should be a role model for students, especially in the classroom,” said one of the teachers, while highlighting the importance of learning to respect each other, and accept our differences.
Teachers explored the alignment between the transformative pedagogy approach and the Pancasila principles of the Indonesian Constitution. They also recognized the critical significance of interreligious and intercultural dialogue and its practical implementation in the classroom.
Dr. Itje Chodidjah, Executive Chair of the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Indonesia, emphasized the relevance of the Fellowship during her opening remarks at the workshop. She highlighted the program’s connection to the Pancasila ideology and expressed her commitment to supporting the Fellowship at the national level.
In May 2023, the second phase of the program took place with onsite workshops in five different regions: Sorong Regency, West Java, West Kalimantan, South Sukawesi, and East Java. These workshops focused on building teachers’ capacity to foster positive relationships and empower learners to create inclusive, respectful, and resilient societies. Teachers received guidance on implementing ethics education programs across various grade levels, from kindergarten to elementary, junior, and senior high school.
“For the Indonesian context, the workshop is very enriching because the experiences the teachers had is in line with their needs in the implementation of the Pancasila Students’ Profile Project. The workshop helped teachers understand more about ethics education, and more importantly, it enlightened them to make ethic education more visible and practical in their classroom,” shared Ms. Euis Lesmini Djuanda, School Principal and Fellow.
Looking Ahead
The trained teachers are now prepared to implement ethics education programs in their respective regions, positively influencing the lives of children in Indonesia. The Ethics Education Fellowship remains committed to its mission of nurturing global citizenship, building inclusive societies, and preparing students to tackle ethical challenges as active and responsible citizens.
Our gratitude goes to the fellows and all organizers who have supported the training program for teachers in Indonesia.
The post Indonesian Teachers Complete the Training Phase of the Ethics Education Fellowship Program appeared first on Ethics Education for Children.
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Often, youth lobby for more access to decision making positions and leadership as a step to transforming their role in conflict while neglecting deeper and more meaningful engagement on issues such as economic development and resource governance that would facilitate broader youth development and long-term peace.
It is within this premise that we conceptualized and held the 6thYouth In Action (the second forum under the new cohort) forum in Nairobi, Kenya, from 20th – 24th May 2023. The forum brought together 25 diverse young leaders from 5 countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) discussing the intersection between peacebuilding and youth economic development with an anchor on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB).
While introducing the 6th Youth In Action, Fred Nyabera, Director of Arigatou International – End Child Poverty lauded the young people for their understanding of FoRB, awareness of issues around FoRB including violation and their proactiveness on social media talking about FoRB. He challenged them to be champions of FoRB think about FoRB as an enabler for peace and a prerequisite for economic development.
“You are not here by accident; you were selected because of your influence as young leaders. You need to stretch your boundaries in thinking about FoRB” he emphasized.
In a bid to practically learn and experience youth economic development, the 25 young people interacted with Tetu farm (a dairy farm ran by young people) and EcoBana (a youth initiative producing eco friendly sanitary pads). This was in a field visit organized by the SDGs Academy for Children, in Limuru, Kenya. Through this experience, the youth were challenged to come up with initiatives and take actions towards economic development by using technology and available resources.
“Don’t work in silos, look for strategic partnerships and use what you have to get what you don’t have” echoed Grace, one of the young people after an exciting experience with young entrepreneurs.
Lennox Omondi, young leader at EcoBana challenged his peers to be innovative even within existing spaces and products in order to find their niche; giving example of their unique sanitary pads made from banana fibers.
“You don’t always have to come up with new solutions to problems. Instead, you can work to improve on existing solutions” Lennox Omondi.
While linking this field experience to FoRB and peacebuilding, Michael Adikwu, the Sustainable Development programme lead at End Child Poverty underscored that FoRB and youth economic development related to peace, adding that for development to happen, there has tom be peace and people have to live in harmony irrespective of their religious background. Michael urged the youth to be creative and meaningfully use technology in efforts to stir up development.
“The same technology used to cause or perpetuate violence can be used for sustainability and development” he emphasized.
In her closing remarks, Maria Osula, manager of the Norwegian Church Aid Eastern Regional Peace Programme (under which Youth In Action is convened) also urged the youth to be creative and impactful in their actions towards peacebuilding.
“I have faced many challenges working on peacebuilding but what motivates me to continue each morning is hearing from different people that I have made a difference in their lives”, she gave an example of herself. The 3-day forum was undoubtedly a unique opportunity to tap into the different experiences of young people in peace building and economic development as well as inspire youth to reflect on opportunities that exist regarding increasing their sources of livelihood and diversifying conflict resolution. This way, the forum positioned itself as an exceptional platform for youth peacebuilding.
The post Youth Economic Development and Peacebuilding appeared first on End Child Poverty.
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Dear Family of Dr. Agnes Abuom, the Ecumenical Fraternity and the Global Community of Faith,
We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Agnes Abuom, a remarkable woman whose dedication and passion have left an indelible mark on the world. We at Arigatou International, extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and the entire ecumenical community during this time of profound loss.
Dr. Abuom’s contributions to Arigatou International, as a member of our Advisory Board, were invaluable. Her exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to the pursuit of justice and peace were genuinely inspiring. Her presence and guidance will be deeply missed as we continue our mission to foster a world where the rights and well-being of every child are upheld.
Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Abuom exhibited extraordinary leadership, serving as the Moderator of the World Council of Churches Central Committee, among many other important roles in various ecumenical bodies and the Anglican Church. She was a beacon of wisdom, clarity, diplomacy, courage, humility, and righteousness. Her profound impact reached far beyond her local community, influencing interfaith spaces globally and shining a light on the African faith community.
Dr. Abuom’s passion for justice and her tireless efforts to promote unity and understanding among different religious traditions were a blessing to humanity. She was a true advocate for the marginalized and a symbol of hope for those who yearned for a more just and inclusive world. Her legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.
During this difficult time, know that our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Abuom’s family and the global community of faith. May you find solace in the memories you shared and in the knowledge that her profound impact on the world will forever remain.
With deepest sympathies,
Arigatou International
The post Arigatou International expresses condolences for the passing of Dr. Agnes Abuom appeared first on Arigatou International.
