Nurturing ethical values and children’s spiritual development can make a difference in the lives of children, their families, and their communities. With this in mind and responding to the needs of our partners in the field, Arigatou International – Geneva adapted its Learning to Live Together program for the middle childhood years. After a two-year-long process, the adaptation of the program was launched on 23 November 2021, during the Transforming Education Symposium.

Learning to Live Together – An Intercultural and Interfaith Program for Ethics Education for Children 6 to 11 Years Old is designed to support educators in formal and non-formal educational settings to carry out transformative educational experiences. It provides them with pedagogical guidelines, tools and resources tailored for children in the middle childhood years. It was developed in collaboration with UNESCO within the framework of Sustainable Development Goal 4 to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,” and is intended as a contribution to the realization and fulfillment of children’s rights.

While the original manual is intended for children between 12 and 18 years of age, this new, carefully adapted publication focuses on younger children allowing an earlier introduction to self-reflection and ethical values.

“Learning to Live Together addresses the need to provide children earlier in life with opportunities to strengthen their sense of self and purpose, to learn to empathize with and respect people from diverse cultures, religions, spiritual traditions and beliefs, and to develop 21st-century skills that empower them to learn to reconcile their differences with others, care for the environment, and transform their communities together.” Rev. Keishi Miyamoto, President, Arigatou International.

This publication builds on 13 years of successful implementation of the Learning to Live Together manual in 50 countries, reaching more than 4,500 educators and 435,230 children.

A Group of Experts formed by specialists on peace education, interfaith learning, child rights, ethics, quality education, teacher training, children and youth participation, and theologians, coming from different regions of the world and different religious and non-religious backgrounds, provided recommendations throughout the process.

The adaptation was developed based on the findings of a series of pilot workshops with children carried out in 2019 in Ecuador, El Salvador, India, Kenya, Portugal, Romania, and Tanzania, with the support of the Global Network of Religions for Children – GNRC. The pilot workshops demonstrated the potential of the Learning to Live Together program and its transformative pedagogy for creating conducive and safe environments for children.

In 2020, the different sections of the manual were developed following the learnings from the pilots, several stakeholders’ meetings, and with the guidance of the Group of Experts.

The content was reviewed and tested in 2021 through additional pilot workshops with children in Bhutan and Indonesia, and meetings with various stakeholders in the United States and the Middle East.

The manual includes the ethics education conceptual framework, important considerations on the spiritual and ethical development of children in the middle childhood years, as well as a user’s guide, a learning module and more than 50 practical activities and additional resources for educators.

The new manual will be translated into Spanish in 2022 and regional or national launches will be held in different locations. A training strategy will be rolled out in collaboration with different partners to build capacities on the use of this new resource.

Learning to Live Together has benefited from the support of many partners and friends. We acknowledge with thanks the many organizations, experts, authors, peer reviewers, advisers, consultants, volunteers, and interns who made valuable contributions.

We thank the Group of Experts for their valuable contributions, the GNRC members and partners, the children, young people and youth facilitators who have participated in the pilot workshops; our partners at UNESCO, and our colleagues from the Arigatou International headquarters in Tokyo, and the offices in Nairobi and New York.

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Dear Friends and Family,

On behalf of Arigatou International’s – End Child Poverty, we would like to wish you a joyous holiday season filled with peace.

As we continue to face the COVID-19 pandemic, we sincerely appreciate your unwavering friendship, partnership, goodwill and support throughout the year. During these holidays, we turn our thoughts and prayers to you, for making our progress and impact throughout the year possible.

Our new reality has galvanized the need for us to put children at the centre of responding to emergencies by supporting, protecting and empowering them. It has been clear to us that children want to be heard and truly, their voices are vital in the change process towards addressing poverty.

Thank you for standing with us as we continue to work towards building a better world for all children. May the season bring rest and good tidings to you and your loved ones.

Best,
Arigatou International – End Child Poverty

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“Elections is like water, it’s very fluid but we have an opportunity to shape the directions”

It is within the view of this captivating statement by Anne Maua, a youth from Coastal Kenya that the ‘Youth for Peaceful Elections’ forum was shaped.

The forum brought together 30 diverse young people from Kenya, aimed at reflecting approaches that can enable young people to meaningfully engage in electoral processes while promoting peace. It was convened by Arigatou International – End Child Poverty in collaboration with Norwegian Church Aid’s Eastern Africa Regional Peace programme and other partners.

Among the approaches catalyzed in the forum was the need for meaningful and actionable civic education among young people. Discussions in the forum revealed that civic education enhances meaningful youth participation and engagement in in governance and public processes. Youth were urged to be zealous about civic education processes initiated by either the government or Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). This would better their understanding and engagement in public processes including elections, thus avoid being used to fuel violence in electoral processes.

“Ignorance about civic education is not an excuse for the youth; they need a better future. They must not be silent, and must participate creatively in the calls to action” Carine Umutoniwase, young peacebuilder.

Young people were further called upon to take stock of the United Nations (UN) resolution 2250 (on youth peace and security) to embolden their engagement and actions towards promoting peaceful elections. They were reminded of the 5 pillars of the resolution (participation, protection, prevention, partnership, integration and disarmament) and how these can be infused as guiding tenets towards peaceful elections.

“Sustainable development is only realised if peace prevails after elections. It is the responsibility of every young person to ensure we deliver on the aspiration of a prosperous nation. We must encourage honesty, transparency and accountability from voter registration to elections” John Musila, youth.

In enabling young people to promote peace amid elections, there was need to promote safe spaces for youth. Such spaces would enable youth to freely express themselves, where they can convene and air out their views and emotions and a space that can address youth needs and interests.

“Youth space cannot be confined by time or scope; it should transcend time age and tribe, a space that is not necessarily homogenous. It should address the youth needs and interest” Stellas Kasura, youth.

This forum was the first in a series of follow up conversations and actions towards ensuring youth promote peace ahead of the general elections in Kenya, 2022. Some of the follow up actions will be radio talk shows as well as social media engegements.

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