Annual Report written by Arandeep Degun (AIWC Cologne); edited for website publication by Carol-Lyn McKelvey (AIWC Cologne, FAUSA)
Remaining true to the mission statement, “Increasing Awareness of Global Issues in Education,” in 2019, the Education Team continued their reasearch and outreach within four areas of SDG 4: Global Citizenship (SDG 4.7), Literacy (SDG 4.6), Equal Access (SDGs 4.2 & 4.5) and Bridging the Gap (related to SDGs 4.3 & 4.4 ).
The year began enthusiastically with the introduction of two new members: Lindsay Nygren (AC Lyon) and Hollie Nielsen (AWEP). In January the Education Team was happy to announce and promote UNESCO's inaugural International Education Day. Additionally, with the January and February theme being Bridging the Gap, related articles were posted in the Global Issues Digest (GID), including a very informative article on SDG 4.4 (By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship) by Lindsay Nygren: Highlight on SDG 4: Bridging the Gap.
As always, the theme for March and April was Global Citizenship, and we therefore encouraged our FAWCO peers to attend the dynamic SDG Global Festival of Action (May 2-4, 2019) held in Bonn, Germany. It was attended by FAWCO member Stacey Kimmig (AIWC Cologne) as well as Eduation Team Co-chair Arandeep Degun. Additionally, we shared UNESCO’s Global Citizenship Education: Taking It Local and we continued our Education Around the World A-Z series with Q is for Qatar.
Before the summer break we announced the 3rd Annual FAWCO Summer Global Book Read: I Believe in Zero by Caryl M. Stern, and we encouraged FAWCO members to read and to begin planning their club's book disucssion for the fall. In September and in conjunction with UNESCO's International Literacy Day, we offered RESOURCES for Clubs to facilitate conversation around this compelling book.
Continuing May and September’s Literacy theme, Hollie Nielson's Literacy in Saudi Arabia: Striving for Excellence and Keziah Watatua's The Role of Oral Literature on Reading were on point. News related to our theme topic included how mothers in Benin were tackling literacy challenges and how Lego proposed to help blind children read (World Economic Forum). Also in September, we invited FAWCO members to take part in the UN Assembly through the SDG Media Zone (September 21-27, 2019) and the article S is for Syria was posted.
Our theme for October and November was Equal Access. Mary Adams’ excellent article, Mobile Learning for Equal Access, was featured in the October 2019 GID. The November GID also included T is for Tanzania. The News in Brief (NiB) for December 2019 introduced Karen Boeker’s very interesting article, Challenges Abound in Girls' Access to Education. To wrap up the year and the Education Around the World: A-Z series, an ARTICLE with links to the remaining countries (U ‒ Uzbekistan, V ‒ Venezuela, Y ‒ Yemen & Z ‒Zambia) was posted in the December 2019 GID. Thank you to Arandeep Degun for her informative series!
And finally, the end of 2019 also brought Carol-Lyn's and Arandeep's co-chair tenure to an end after five years of service. Their journey was memorable and rewarding, and they are forever appreciative of the enthusiasm, knowledge and dedication of the Education Team members with whom they served. Hollie Nielsen has graciously volunteered to step in as Chair and is seeking an equally passionate partner to help her lead the charge. As always, we encourage you to read on!
"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." ~ Malcolm X
