“We have to keep in mind that children on the move are first and foremost children and their rights move with them!” Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children

A webinar series on Resilience and Children on the Move, took place from September to November 2021, gathering more than 350 participants in three sessions. Throughout the sessions, participants shared experiences and best practices to support, protect and nurture the physical, socio-emotional, and spiritual well-being of children on the move.

The recommendations and interventions from children on the move, faith leaders and faith actors, experts, and academic and civil society practitioners highlighted the importance of faith-sensitive mental health and psychosocial support approaches as a crucial factor to foster the resilience and well-being of children on the move, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussions looked particularly at the role of faith communities.

“The opportunities and support offered by faith communities in my host countries India and Pakistan are one of the factors that helped me grow and achieve my goals in terms of education and allowed me to also contribute actively to the society.” Hayat, Refugee from Afghanistan

“Children on the Move” is an umbrella term used to define children who are migrating or are moving due to various reasons that could include conflict, poverty, violence, natural disasters, climate change, discrimination, or lack of access to education or other services. Children affected by forced migration and displacement are one of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Typical mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions do not incorporate children’s spiritual nurture as a pathway to resilience. Faith-sensitive MHPSS approaches play a crucial role in promoting the well-being of children on the move. Faith-sensitive MHPSS approaches can restore connections and relationships among children and adults and enhance a child’s sense of belonging and resilience capacity.

“Mental health and psychosocial support interventions provide children with spaces of relative safety and moments of joy and relief, where children can learn and socialize, where children on the move can just be children”. Ms. Rania Al Ayoubi, Founder Image for Education, Jordan

Building on the exchange of experiences, insights, and emerging practices, a booklet titled Faith Sensitive Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) to Foster Resilience in Children on the Move was developed. The booklet examines specific psychosocial support interventions that support, protect, and nurture migrant children’s physical, socio-emotional, and spiritual well-being.

This resource was designed to raise awareness about the effectiveness of faith-inspired psychosocial support frameworks to support the resilience and well-being of children on the move. It presents the specific mental health and psychosocial challenges affecting children on the move and how an integrated response—including MHPSS, spiritual nurture—might address some of those issues.

The booklet introduces emerging practices from local faith actors and young people that have proved effective to support the mental and emotional well-being of children on the move; and presents concrete recommendations to raise awareness about this topic among governments in host countries and donor governments, as well as humanitarian actors.

The three-part virtual series was developed by Arigatou International, the KAICIID International Dialogue Centre, and World Vision International in the framework of the Sustaining Peace and Health workstreams of the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD).

The organizations are active members of PaRD, a network that brings together governments and international organizations with diverse civil-society organizations that work with faith communities to engage the social capital vested in faith communities for sustainable development and humanitarian assistance.

We thank the distinguished panel of discussants, whose sharing of their research, practices, insights, and concrete recommendations on the topic made the whole process a rich and fruitful learning experience. We also thank the participants for their interest and commitment to children’s rights and well-being.

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A booklet titled Solidarity: Advancing the Role of Education in Fostering Migrant and Refugee Inclusion in Europe, was launched in November 2021 as part of a project to support educators and policymakers working with migrants and refugees in Europe.

This booklet aims to contribute to creating a new narrative of inclusion through education that moves away from the perception of a one-way relationship—whereby migrants and refugees must integrate into the host community—towards creating a reciprocal process of learning that increases the possibilities of harmoniously living together in plural societies. Inclusive education plays a critical role in this process.

The booklet builds on the reflections and recommendations collected during a series of three webinars that were organized in 2021 for educators working with children across Europe. Under the title Solidarity: An Ethical Imperative for Advancing the Role of Education in Migrant and Refugee Inclusion in Europe, the webinars aimed to create dialogue, raise awareness, and build capacity in the transformative role that education can play in enabling children from migrant, refugee, and host communities to learn to live together in solidarity.

A distinguished panel of experts guided and moderated the discussions, enriching the conversations with their valuable insights. The webinars were attended by 192 participants, whose knowledge and practical experiences contributed to the development of this booklet. The recordings of the webinars, resources and reports can be found HERE.

The Solidarity booklet is designed to be used by educators in formal and non-formal education settings working with migrants and refugees; policymakers who would like to learn about successful practices and the best ways to address issues of inclusion between migrants, refugees, and host communities through education, and all those who are interested in finding ways to support inclusive education either through research, advocacy, or informal programs.

The development of this resource aims to invite readers to reflect on the dynamics and main challenges affecting migrant, refugee, and host communities in Europe and to create awareness on the transformative role of education to foster learning to live together.

The booklet provides recommendations for the psychosocial support needed to ensure the social, emotional, and spiritual well-being of children and the creation of conducive learning environments. It empowers educators to use intercultural and interfaith learning through transformative pedagogical approaches that promote children’s well-being, social transformation, and capacity to learn to live together and provides recommendations for educators, schools, organizations working with migrants and refugees, and policymakers.

This project was a collaboration between Arigatou International – Geneva and Synyparxis, an ecumenical organization from the Church of Greece. The project was funded by KAICIID’s platform Network for Dialogue.

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More than 900 educators, children and young people, policymakers, religious leaders, faith-based and civil society organizations, academic researchers, and multilateral agencies gathered online at the global symposium Transforming Education: Ethics Education for Learning to Live Together, which was held from 22 to 23 November 2021.

The Symposium provided a platform for various stakeholders including several Ministries of Education, to share experiences on ethics education programs and policies, and their contribution to peacebuilding and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Through a series of panel discussions and interactive workshops, participants learned from the experience, insights, and expertise of diverse partners working at national, regional, and global levels.

“Children and young people have taught us resilience, and they are also asking us to transform education to address the multiple ethical challenges our societies face and to help them prepare to be agents of change in building a better world,” stated Rev. Keishi Miyamoto, President of Arigatou International at the Opening Ceremony.

The discussions and workshops dwelled on the importance of recognizing the role of education in building safer, equitable, and inclusive societies. Education needs to support children’s sound and holistic development, not only cognitive and physical but also social, emotional, and spiritual. By nurturing in children ethical values, such as empathy, respect, and responsibility, and life skills such as critical thinking and the ability to solve their differences with others, children can learn to live together with people of different cultures, religions, and beliefs.

Participants explored how ethics education can empower children to become global citizens and work together to build peaceful societies.

The Transforming Education symposium was organized by Arigatou International – Geneva, the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, ICESCO – Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, KAICIID International Dialogue Centre, the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO, the Ministry of Education of Kenya, Religions for Peace, Scholas Occurrentes, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, and UNICEF, with the support of UNESCO.

The two days event was streamed in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, reaching participants from 80 different nationalities. More than 50 organizations were actively involved in the event, including faith-based and civil society organizations, multilateral agencies and 11 Government offices.

Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, Secretary General, Higher Committee for Human Fraternity

Child Participation

To enhance children’s meaningful participation, an intergenerational dialogue between children, young people and adults was held on the second day, inviting reflections on how ethics education can help children learn to live together. Children shared their own recommendations about the role of education in enhancing opportunities for their participation and helping them to be part of the solutions to the problems in their communities.

“A school is a place where children grow and develop together with others and therefore it has a very important role in helping children learn about this diversity and appreciate their differences.” Sophia, a child from Indonesia.

This inter-generational session was preceded by a dialogue between more than 40 children from 10 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The session aimed to reflect on how ethics education can help us to learn to live together. During the two-hour session, children had the opportunity to share ideas on how they imagine ethics education. The dialogue ended with the children putting together a manifesto with their recommendations which was shared during the Symposium.

Also, out of the 90 speakers that took the floor during the Symposium, 17 were children. This provided children with a space for safe and meaningful participation and gave participants the unique opportunity to hear children’s recommendations first-hand and to engage with them in dialogue.

Policy Brief: Advancing Ethics Education for Children to Contribute to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

A critical result of the reflections and dialogues held during the Symposium was the identification of the key benefits of integrating ethics education into national policies and programs. The organizers developed a policy brief with concrete recommendations and programmatic actions on integrating ethics education as a core tenet of equal and inclusive education for children.

The policy brief Advancing Ethics Education for Children to Contribute to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, outlines the importance of prioritizing and investing in ethics education in formal and non-formal education systems, to contribute to building more inclusive, respectful, and resilient societies, where children are equipped to respond to ethical challenges and become active citizens.

Ms. Paloma Escudero, Director, Division of Global Communication and Advocacy, UNICEF

Digital Products

As part of the Symposium, a call was open for organizations to share resources, programs, or research papers on ethics education for children, through Digital Products.

The best educational resources and programs to create safe and empowering spaces for children to learn to live together were selected and featured on the Transforming Education website. The selection includes global programs and resources as well as local ones coming from Austria, Bolivia, El Salvador, Kenya, Lebanon, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Launch of the Ethics Education Fellowship Program

One of the main outcomes of the symposium is the launch of the Ethics Education Fellowship Program for ministries of education to build a network of formal education institutions and create a platform for sharing and building capacity within the ministries.

Fellowship Program aims to strengthen capacity on ethics education in formal settings as a key contribution to developing national programs that foster learning to live together, and to promote a sustainable continuation and expansion of ethics education activities in the participating countries.

The Fellowship Program is a collaboration between Arigatou International, KAICIID Dialogue Centre, the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace, Kenya National Commission for UNESCO and UNESCO Office for Eastern Africa. It will be formally announced in the first semester of 2022. A meeting with partners will take place in Geneva on 7-8 March 2022.

We thank our distinguished partners for believing in this project and joining us in the organization of the Symposium. Our sincere gratitude goes to the speakers and facilitators of the workshops who selflessly gave their time and shared their knowledge during each session. We also thank all the participants for their enthusiasm, and particularly children, for trusting us with their genuine thoughts, ideas, and recommendations.

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