Blogs
August 12, 2020 • 3 min read
Written by: Niamh Flynn and Declan Keane, representing the GOAL Global Youth Programme
"We, the GOAL Global Youth community, want your path to becoming a Global Citizen to be fun and engaging. We hope that you are inspired to work for positive change in the multitude of communities that you are a part of."
GOAL’s Global Youth Programme has been an amazing adventure so far. We got started at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, an uncertain time for so many, but the programme brought us together for a common purpose. We are a motivated community of like-minded peers from all over Ireland and Africa who are passionate about making our world a better place.
GOAL’s Global Youth Programme have been meeting virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are working together to create a development education resource for young people across Ireland and the wider world that supports discussions on Global Citizenship. Last month, we shared Part 1 of our Global Citizenship Resource, which focused on opportunities to question and reflect about the connection between values, perspective, and action. We really enjoyed delivering these activities during our first round of mini-workshops. This opportunity to work with participants during the development process was an essential step in finalising Part 1. The mini-workshop participants’ feedback played a key role in how the activities were adapted.
Launching ‘Part 2’ of the Global Citizenship Resource
Now, we are ready to share Part 2 of our Resource which is focused around ‘Community’. We are looking for young people across Ireland to participate and give feedback on the second phase of activities through a series of mini-workshops!
Community has been central to our journey. Collectively, we have volunteered locally and internationally, and so appreciate the importance of environments that foster growth and learning. Below, you’ll find a description of the activities in Part 2 of our resource and their central themes.
Activities one and two explore the question ‘Who is a Community?’. Both activities work in different ways to consider what community means to the individuals within them, observe the intersections between different communities, and how they all fit together to make positive change.
We believe communities are special because they bring together so many unique people with different skills and strengths. We have witnessed first-hand how the combined strength of a diverse community is vital in overcoming challenges. It may not always be easy, but by working together we can find a solution to the issues currently facing our planet.
The third and fourth activities ‘Community Map’ analyse the power and strength within communities and how best to act on these in order to create effective and sustainable change. This requires us to look outside of ourselves to think about the communities and individuals who will be partners in achieving change. We have found that in order to make a difference in the world, we will need as many people as possible to work together.
The fifth activity, and the last one in the resource, explores how storytelling can be used to communicate by developing and appealing to empathy. We think this is so important, particularly for communicating across communities that, at first glance, can seem very different.
All the same, being a Global Citizen is hard work. Keeping it up can be tough! It’s important that change-makers are mindful of their own health and wellbeing. That’s why self-care and sustainable change is a part of every activity in the resource. We, the GOAL Global Youth community, want your path to becoming a Global Citizen to be fun and engaging. We hope that you are inspired to work for positive change in the multitude of communities that you are a part of.
So how can you help?
If you are between 14 and 18 years old (or know someone who is), click here to sign up to one or all of our mini-workshops taking place from August 24th – August 28th.
If you have questions or would like more details, please contact GOAL’s Youth Engagement Officer, Aislin, at alavin@goal.ie.
