In the afternoon of Monday, November 15, 2021, during the 41st session of the UNESCO’s General Conference, the non-governmental organization New Humanity took the floor in the General Policy Debate to share the commitment and the work that children, youth and adults have been doing in terms of global citizenship, through the reading key of a united world, that is, fraternity.

“We would be taking a step forward if we all strive to love each other’s country as our own; if we all commit to an integral ecology by taking respectful and caring actions towards our fellow human beings and towards the nature on which our lives depend. This concerns us all, regardless of our beliefs. Whether we are young or old. Whether we have power or not”.

(pdf document – New Humanity NGO speech)

New Humanity NGO at the UNESCO’s 41st session of the General Conference 

The 41st session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) opened at the Organization’s Headquarters in Paris on Tuesday, 9 November 2021 and its work is expected to conclude on Wednesday, 24 November 2021.

The General Policy Debate took place from Wednesday, 10 November morning to Monday, 15 November afternoon which was followed at the end by the reply of Audrey Azouley the reelected Director-General.

Why was this participation important?

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in official partnership with UNESCO had the possibility to send their organization’s representative(s) to the General Conference as observers at the session, and some NGOs requested to address the plenary meeting of the General Conference. New Humanity was one of the NGOs who asked to present a statement on matters within their respective competence during the General Policy Debate, and had also a statement to be presented on the SHS commission, with the consent of the presiding officer. 

To have the floor is important because it allows not only to present the relevant actions of the organization itself, but also to know the work of other organizations or projects with which synergy can be created, in order to fulfill together the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

On this occasion, New Humanity presented three general projects that are carried out by a particular promoter (children or youth), but that at the same time are built on the basis of intergenerationality, an indispensable characteristic for the organization.

1. #ZeroHunger, in collaboration with FAO
2. Pathways for a United World as a commitment with UNESCO and the Sustainable Development Goals, and
3. Together for a New Africa, where the training in politics and a culture of fraternity and leadership of young people creates solutions from their own reading of the territory, the country and its culture.

A special invitation

At the conclusion of New Humanity’s speech, an invitation was extended to the Global Citizenship Forum, which will be held on December 6 and 7, 2021.

The NGO Liaison Committee of UNESCO, which gathers more than 400 NGO partners of UNESCO like New Humanity, organizes Forums on themes of interest to UNESCO. New Humanity is fully committed to Global Citizenship and after 2 years of work, with UNESCO and other NGOs interested in the subject, a Forum will take place online on December 6 and 7, 2021 from 2:00 to 6:00 pm. 

More information and registration form can be found here: http://www.ngo-unesco.net/forum_global_citizenship.html 

L'articolo Global Citizenship, pathway to a United World proviene da New Humanity.

On Monday, March 15, 2021, Justus G. Mbae from Kenya, Dr. Letizia De Torre from Italy, Adélard Kananira from Burundi, and Wanjiru Kabury from Kenya attended the “Peace and Citizenship. Education For Encounter and Solidarity” event representing Together for a New Africa Project of the New Humanity NGO. It was the second of five webinars offered by the Global Compact on Education in collaboration with LUMSA University to analyze projects and best educational practices from around the world.

Together for a New Africa

Adélard Kananira, a student, began the presentation of Together for a New Africa (T4NA), telling the story behind the project that was begun in 2014 among his colleagues at Sophia University Institute. “T4NA’s mission,” he explained, “is to enable young Africans to face the key challenges of their continent by promoting and developing a culture of unity suited to the African context through lived experiences, training, mentoring and networking. Our goal is to look to the past and learn from history in order to understand what is favorable and to avoid making the same mistakes again.

Wanjiru Kabury, author and promoter of T4NA, added: “The discussions, reflections, presentations and guidance given at Together for a New Africa summer schools are what I would call the right kind of education that speaks to the heart, transforms minds and inspires people to take action. What we lack is the transformation of the mind through the right kind of education. This is the awareness that has brought us together today in this conference and which has led to conversations in many seminars around the world.”

T4NA participants from different countries are now actively engaged in their communities. Kabury stated: “One of our participants from Tanzania worked with girls to empower them and she also ran for parliament on one of the special seats for young people”. Others attest that the program has helped them find their voice and challenged them to take on leadership roles even in times of pandemics. In fact, many of them have been at the forefront of spreading the messages of the World Health Organization, helping to raise awareness of the various guidelines and also supporting them with the procurement of masks, disinfectants, food, clothing and asylum.

Justus Mbae, representative of New Humanity in Nairobi and Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University of East Africa suggested that thanks to the work they are carrying out with T4NA it is easier to believe in the possibility of recreating Africa. “We can change, reform, transform Africa and with this change the whole world as well,” he said. “We have a lot of hope, especially in our young people, because they can break with the things they have done so far and start new ones. We must encourage them to move forward, to transform the world.”

Other participants in the webinar included: Vincenzo Buonomo, Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University; Flavio Lotti from Local Bodies for Peace, Prof. Franco Vaccari, founder of Rondine, Citadel of Peace; Elisabetta Murgia and Guido Barbera from Vides Internazionale, and Prof. Monica Lugato, from LUMSA University. The latter opened the webinar summarizing the aims of the event, that is, “to give visibility to the value of peace as a pivotal part of university education and academic activity, and to keep attention on the social responsibility of “university institutions for building peace.”

by Anita Martinez

L'articolo Global Compact on Education – Peace and Citizenship, Education For Solidarity and Encounter proviene da New Humanity.

The yearly meeting of the New Humanity central Governing Council and representatives from other countries just ended. It worked on a review of the 2018-2020 strategy and the response that the NGO can offer to meet some of the greatest current challenges in the world, among which: fighting hunger, the migration issue, the engagement of young people and of the African continent.

Dialogue with the Civil Society. As a follow-up to the conference on Co-Governance co-organized by New Humanity last January, this year’s assembly included an afternoon of reflection with Fanny Bava and Luca Moser, heads of the New Humanity Movement for active citizenship (part of the New Humanity umbrella), and Mario Tancredi, who is reponsible for the Dialogue with  Contemporary Culture in the Focolare Movement.

Openness and Active Citizenship. Important contributions and ideas from all over the world were presented on how to continue a shared path of openness to society and practices of active citizenship inspired by the spirituality of the Focolare.

2020 Strategy. The meeting also gave the opportunity to review the progress on the implementation of the New Humanity strategy, especially the promotion of a Sustainable Development, the full protection of all Human Rights and Education to the culture of peace at international level, in the New Humanity offices in Rome, New York, Paris and Geneva.

Current challenges. The sharing and reflection highlighted the main challenges that the NGO is facing this year, as well as the initiatives that New Humanity is promoting in order to meet them.

•    Fighting hunger in the world. Since last year, New Humanity and the Youth and Teens for Unity Movement have been collaborating on the FAO Zero Hunger initiative. Thousands of children and teenagers from all over the world who are members of the Movement participate in awareness and commitment programs on how to reduce food waste. New initiatives are being studied for the current year.

•    Migration and Human Rights. New Humanity is continuing its commitment to promote the respect for all fundamental rights of the human person – with priority for the weakest and the migrants – and the collaboration with the NGO Committee on Migration that recently highlighted the New Humanity Host-Spot Project among the good practices mentioned in the report on “Polices, practices and partnerships to promote the implementation of the global agreement on migrations”.

•    The Yoth and Africa. New Humanity continues to give great priority to the involvement of young people in international decision-making processes, with particular attention to the African continent. A series of initiatives are being studied, with the involvement of the young people of New Humanity in view of the UNESCO 2020 Forum on global citizenship and on peace. Another project that is receiving an increasingly great international support and attention is Back to Africa, promoted by some young African leaders.

Report on the Activities. The members of the General Assembly also submitted the 2018 Activity Report and planned the future activities together.

Guests and special mentions. During the Assembly, Marco Aquini, a historic pioneer of New Humanity who left us recently, was remembered in a special way. The Assembly also welcomed some representatives of the “European Focolare” project in Brussels, who are exploring ways of sharing the priorities and inspiring principles of the Focolare and New Humanity in the European institutions’ environment

L'articolo New Humanity 2019 Assembly: Open Dialogue on our Work for a New Humanity proviene da New Humanity.

Read the Report
Read the card of the 9 projects presented by New Humanity

40 Good Practices and Policies. “We believe – the Report reads – that the time is ripe to circulate a compendium of good policies and practices that relate directly to Compact goals and that Member States, Civil Society and other actors have already implemented with shared interest, effort and commitment.”

The Host-Spot Project is presented as an international initiative funded by the European Commission, promoted in 2016-2017, with the purpose of “spreading a culture of understanding and of promoting respect for human rights”. The project engaged “young volunteers from 9 countries volunteering at welcoming centers in Jordan” where they experienced “face-to-face encounters with refugees and what they experienced each day”.

Goal 17. The report also highlights how the documentaries on the stories of migrants produced by the young people involved in the project helped spread real-life stories of refugees at a European and international level, thus contributing to “eliminating all forms of discrimination and promoting a public debate based on factual data in portraying the phenomenon of migration”, as envisaged in Goal 17 of the Global Compacts for Migrants and Refugees.

Contribution to SDGs. The report also highlights how the Host-Spot Project contributes directly to the achievement of Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and it is in agreement with paragraph 8 of the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants (NYD) and paragraph 84 of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).

The other projects presented by New Humanity although not present in the final version of the report are Back to Africa, Together for a new Africa (Africa, 2018-2021), Interfaith Welcome Coalition (San Antonio, USA, 2014 to today), Sewing Peace (Syria, 2012), Creating a system – Beyond the Initial Welcome (Italy, 2016), The Village of Joy (Seoul, South Korea, 2003-2016), Africa’s Friends (Freiburg, Switzerland, 2002 to today), Maison Notre Dame (Lebanon, 2005 to today), Social Cooperative “Missione Famiglia (Italy, 2018).

L'articolo The HOST SPOT Project of New Humanity Among the Good Practices Promoted by the NGO Committee on Migration (CoM) proviene da New Humanity.

9th Forum of the NGOs partners of UNESCO

Four members of New Humanity NGO took part in the 9th Forum of the NGOs partners of UNESCO in Tunisia, last 26-27th September. About 200 people gathered on “A different look at human migrations”.

The four representatives of New Humanity, besides being fully involved in the works, also created various bonds with other NGOs:  interesting opportunity for future cooperation with them.

 Read the final Joint Recommendations

Melchior Nsavyimana’s testimony on the  « Back to Africa» Project raised great interest and positive reactions among the audience.

Marie-Annick and Pierre Benoit, are still involved in the post-forum pilot project. Africa is indeed the overall priority for UNESCO policies, and the Forum follow-up might include “Back to Africa” – along with other projects aiming at the future of that continent.

The event also gave Maria Chiara Humura the chance to successfully complete her 3 months training session at the Paris Delegation of New Humanity.

Sept. 28 was dedicated to the Day of Peace and Sept 29 to the 70th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec. 10th, 1948).

The Arab Institute for Human Rights in Tunisia welcomed these events, thanks to its president, Dr Abdelbasset Ben Hassen.

L'articolo Africa at the center of New Humanity participation to the Forum of the NGOs partners of UNESCO proviene da New Humanity.