Arigatou International has released its annual report from 2020 from its Ethics Education for Children initative: With Children at the Heart of All We Do. The report covers the organization’s work from April 2020 to March 2021, a year marked by COVID-19, pandemic-related isolation measures, and unparalleled challenges for families across the world.
Ethics Education for Children is one of Arigatou’s key initiatives. Last year, 715 educators from 71 countries joined this program, which aimed to empower children and amplify their voices to boost their social, emotional and spiritual well-being.
The Annual Report focuses on several key facets of Arigatou’s programming over the last year, including contributing to children’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on education and healthy development; advancing the transformative role of education at the Global Week of Faith in Action for Children; the organization’s virtual exhibition, Faith in Action for Children; Learning to Live Together: An intercultural and interfaith programme for ethics education; the Peace and Resilience Building program, a collaboration to prevent violent extremism through education in Africa; and much more.
“During this year we focused on listening to children, we provided safe spaces for them to share their fears, dreams, aspirations, and recommendations. Their voices echoed the much-needed hope, resilience, solidarity and change they want to see.”
One example of this was Arigatou’s virtual exhibition, Faith in Action for Children, which took place in November of 2020. Through this exhibition, more than 150 children and young people from 33 countries made their voices heard by producing messages, art, and multimedia projects in six different languages. The exhibition was made up of four rooms, with each examining a different topic, such as what it means to be a child amidst a pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 on children, and the role of adults in supporting children.
“The children invite us to remain faithful and united as one human family, despite the challenges we all face. They urge us to join them in action to overcome this crisis and build a better world for all children.”
The organization also placed children at the center through the Children’s Solutions Lab, a project that brought children together to discuss, learn and take action on the issues they cared about. Launched in September of 2020, the project – which was organized by two Arigatou initiatives, Ethics Education for Children and End Child Poverty – gathered children to discuss the negative effects of poverty and come up with solutions to overcome those challenges. Children in 23 countries submitted 37 ideas on this topic. Five finalists from Cuba, India, Kenya, Peru and Kenya were selected to showcase their solutions. Ultimately, these ideas were converted into projects, with over 30 children reached through a digital education project in Cuba, 300 students engaged in a Children’s Parliament in India, and 40 packs of school supplies and equipment distributed to children in Serbia, among others.
On top of that, children’s voices were also amplified in Arigatou’s Learning to Live Together program, an interfaith ethics education initiative that was implemented by partners in Guatemala, India, Kenya, Romania and Uganda. Through a series of workshops online and on-site, facilitators engaged over 1,760 children in discussions about school closures, mental health, physical health, and emotional well-being, creating safe spaces for children to explore these issues with a trained moderator.
“We need to see children as partners in our work, not just as beneficiaries, intentional opportunities to encourage child-led actions can transform us all.”
Learn more about the impact of Arigatou International’s work by exploring the Ethics Education for Children annual report.
