collaboratio helvetica moderates “Education 4 Future” at the IC Forum
This year’s International Cooperation Forum, organised by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), was held in Geneva alongside a vibrant and inspiring group of partners, youth ambassadors, educators, social innovators, and professionals from around the globe.
Nora Willhelm and Awut Deng Acuil (Minister of Education South Sudan)
As part of our new project Youth4Switzerland that aims to build capacity on systems change with youth associations by enabling them access to policy and decision making processes around the SDGs, Collaboratio helvetica’s co-founder Nora Willhelm and Youth4 Switzerland’s coordinator Loukina Tille had the great honour of facilitating the plenary discussions among youth and high stakeholders such as the Bundesarat Ignazio Cassis, Patricia Danzi (Director General SDC), the Honourable Awut Deng Acuil (Minister of Education for South Sudan) and Ursula Renold (ETH Professor in Education Systems).
Loukina Tille with Patricia Danzi (General Director SDC)
“We don't want to talk about young people – we want to talk with them.”
- Patricia Danzi
According to Patricia Danzi, General Director of SDC, education is one of the most important Sustainable Development Goals and yet it is highly underfunded considering its importance in relation to all other SDGs. More on this interesting connection and about the role and potential of education for a resilient and sustainable future can be read in the SDC press release and interview with Patricia Danzi.
Takeaways Day 1:
Education4Future & Working Sessions
The Covid-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges and opportunities in the area of education, as multiple case studies from Columbia and the Philippines have shown. However, the psychological impact of the pandemic on youth cannot be underestimated and should be addressed with appropriate investments in innovative and creative initiatives that foster capacity building in youth, social resilience, and a new humanistic approach. This process includes but is not limited to re-valorizing soft skills, creating opportunities for increased social and personal development - beyond the classical school environment - and finally, paying attention to the ethical challenges with emerging digitalization trends in education and youth.
1MYAC Ambassadors Mohammed Habib Fuseini, Charlotte Qin with Patricia Danzi
Takeaways Day 2:
Breakfast with Ignazio Cassis & Youth4Solutions
During the breakfast and Youth4Solutions session, young people had the opportunity to engage with the federal council Ignazio Cassis and other Swiss Agency for Cooperation representatives.
As many projects show, young people are eager to participate and express the need for spaces and opportunities for self-reflection and informed action to participate in future solutions instead of feeling paralyzed by the widespread phenomenon of Eco-anxiety and powerlessness.
Loukina Tille with Christian Frutiger Ambassador (Head of Thematic Cooperation)
Overall this multi stakeholder event proved itself to raise a strong potential for international cooperation around education worldwide.The forum will be convened again next year with a new theme.
About the author:
Sarah Keller works in fundraising and building strategic partnerships at collaboratio helvetica and is passionate about cross-sectoral and cross-regional collaborations to catalyse systems change. In her role, she is keen to fundraise and support impact-driven projects for social innovation. Sarah has a background in Sustainable Investment through her international work with responsAbility and education management in Switzerland. Currently, she studies Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Zürich, where she researches cultural diversity, social inequalities, decolonization of knowledge, and intercultural dialogue.
