ENGAGE · 2020. 4. 28. · ENGAGE Price £1.00 ISSUE EIGHTEEN The ST EVE SIN NOTT FOUN DATIO N...

ENGAGEPrice £1.00 ISSUE EIGHTEEN

TheSTEVESINNOTTFOUNDATION

Supporting Access to Learning Worldwide

“Those who exude hope andoptimism generate the energy and stimulate the progress that

we in education work for.”Steve Sinnott

Foreword

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The 5th of April 2018 is the 10th anniversary of Steve Sinnott’s untimely passing.Sadly, increasing numbers will never have known Steve. However, the Foundation isproud to be able to flourish in keeping his legacy alive and promoting the values heheld so dear – especially that the provision of quality education for all would be thegreat global liberator.

This sixteenth edition of ENGAGE has a heavy emphasis on tolerance and whatneeds to be done to break down the barriers that are stopping progress to the goalof education for all. The articles emphasise the importance of learning to livetogether, cherishing differences and diversity so as to achieve a tolerant globalsociety. These are the crucial components to achieving progress.

No less an obstacle is the failure so far to establish universal human rights but thepositive news from Ethiopia shows that progress is now being made there inchallenging discrimination against girls with their access to education.

The article about the Windrush generation has some interesting insights especiallyhow that generation has, eventually, been instrumental in bringing about change inspite of oppression by police and unequal access to education. Persistentcampaigning has resulted in a white Britain changing, becoming more tolerant andhaving one of the biggest mixed race populations in Europe.

Jerry GlazierChair, The Steve Sinnott Foundation

To comment on this article, [email protected]

This magazine could not bepublished without its designers andprinters at Paragraphics and atRuskin Press. Their expertise andpatience is extraordinary. They donot just do the business for us, theyare friends of the Foundation andsupporters of our work. Ongoingthanks to them.

The STEVESINNOTT FOUNDATION

Front cover: © Monkey Business Images

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FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S DESKThis year is the 10th anniversary of the death of Steve Sinnott. He isremembered for his international, as well as his national work tosecure the best for children and teachers. Steve believed that everychild, everywhere, should have access to quality education. Hecampaigned during his lifetime for this to become a reality for allchildren. The Foundation was set up following Steve’s death tocontinue to build upon the legacy he left behind. We maintain hisvalues and continue to work alongside some of the world’s mostmarginalised people. We have established a great team of people,working hard towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 and wesincerely hope that Steve would be proud of our achievements sofar.

The theme of this edition of ENGAGE is tolerance. Tolerance is tome a very odd word in so much as it can be surprisingly difficult todefine. The dictionary definition is: the ability or willingness totolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes ordisagrees with.

For me, opening our hearts and minds and embracing andcelebrating differences would be a much better definition of whatwe should all be striving for. Surely finding common ground withothers, ways of learning from each other and understanding eachother would make the world a better and fairer place. I feel I am ina very privileged position as I have been able to travel a fair bit andthis has afforded me no better education in terms of opening myeyes to the possibilities in others and learning from them. In Haitiand Cuba recently I met the Unesco Aspnet coordinators and theyshared with me invaluable lessons through the work they arecurrently doing which we can replicate here in the U.K.

Education should encourage children to have an open mind, becurious, questioning and accepting of people’s right to havedifferent views and to be different. Tolerance is not just aboutaccepting differences in race, religion, gender, ability or class. Anyone or all of those things can come into play. We all haveunconscious biases, whether we are aware of them or not, based onour values, upbringing, education and life experiences. We shouldbe consciously questioning ourselves about how we see the world.Is this right? Is it real? Is it fair? Such questioning is all the moreimportant today in the world of social media and fake news, butlet’s not forget that fake news has always been around. It’s justmuch more accessible now. Educating to challenge prejudice andinjustice and to foster understanding amongst people is certainlynot a new idea. Aristotle said, “educating the mind withouteducating the heart is no education at all”. Educators understandthat when the mind and heart are educated humanity can flourishin all its diversity.

Intolerance can beexperienced in manyspheres; in the classroom,workplace and even in thehome. Intolerance can bemet by anyone who isdeemed “different” andmay not enjoy the privilegesthat some of us have cometo expect in our lives. Westill have a long way to go inachieving tolerance in theway people are able to livetheir lives and in the rightsthey are afforded.

We do have evidence of how, through education, progress has beenmade. This year sees 100 years of women having the right to vote inthe UK and we have been celebrating the work of the Suffragettes.These women were not tolerated in their time, but their work wasessential for the progress of women today. Their legacy has veryrecently inspired millions of women around the world to march andspeak out to highlight the obstacles and intolerance they still face. Ifeel confident that this movement will impact positively to enhancethe educational opportunities of girls worldwide.

Governments worldwide now know that tolerance andunderstanding are prerequisites of peaceful, equable societies. Someworld leaders, politicians and peace makers have striven to findsolutions to problems surrounding tolerance. Despite all thecontinuing news of conflict, we are making progress to a morepeaceful world and we now have anniversaries of historic peaceaccords to celebrate. As we look back at these events we should askhow these agreements have been achieved? How do we preventhatred in our schools and our communities? Fosteringunderstanding must be the way forward for our children’s futures.

The world is a much smaller place due to improvements intechnology and we are now able to travel to and even see placesand people thousands of miles away without leaving the comfort ofour own home, office or classroom. We can readily share learningand partner with educators on the other side of the world. This iskey to fostering tolerance.

I believe it is by opening our hearts and minds to others that we willaffect change and that is reflected in the way we work at theFoundation. As we all remember Steve, let us follow his belief thatby working together we can win together. Tolerance in its true senseis achievable.

If you would like to advertise in our next edition of ENGAGE please call us on 01923230208

or email [email protected]



Steve Sinnott, a visionary leader of the NUT,deeply committed to international tradeunionism and active in Education International,worked to fulfil the Millennium DevelopmentGoals. Ultimately, the MDG targets weremissed despite some positive results.

Also internationally, in spearheading theformation of the Commonwealth Teachers’Group and the development of theCommonwealth Teacher Recruitmentprotocol, Steve demonstrated his belief in thecollective power of teachers and their unionsto defend and promote quality publiceducation and the teaching profession.

Our worries about the slow progress on SDG4 reflect not only our observations in theSecretariat. They are also based ondiscussions with member organisations,surveys, and debate in governance meetings.They reflect the need to fix what is wrong asrapidly as possible

There are already many obstacles to greaterprogress on SDG 4:

• Domestic funding for education remainstoo low. It has, in fact, decreased in realterms in many countries since 2015.

• Privatisation and commercialisation ofeducation has expanded and intensifiedsince the birth of the SDGs.

• Overall, the status of teachers is low. Insome countries, it is declining.

• Protections of the rights to organise andbargain collectively are rarely in conformitywith universal, international standards. Thevoice of teachers, expressed through theirorganisations, is often ignored. And, yet,who knows education better than thosewho are in the classrooms every day?

• Exclusionary practices, including costs,discrimination, segregation, lack ofsupport, and irrelevant curricula often shutout those in marginalized groups and

undermine the equality function ofeducation. Persons with disabilities,indigenous peoples, those in remote areas,ethnic and other minorities, the poor,women and girls, refugees and otherdisplaced persons are too often left on theside of the road.

• “Reforms” to improve education qualityare often misguided. They have beendeveloped for easy measurement andfocused on numeracy and literacy. Theirassessments of student learningoutcomes and teacher performance tendto improve neither quality norperformance. And, much of whateducation is about gets lost in theexercise; like vital competencies for life,for society, and for citizenship.

• Political interference has forced too manyschools and teachers to use “alternativefacts”, distort content, teaching methodsand policy priorities and interfere withprofessional autonomy and academicfreedom.

Steve Sinnott saw education as “the greatliberator”. At its best, education is, indeed,an enabling right that contributes to theachievement of all the SDGs and helps

people take control of their futures andparticipate in their destinies rather than beinginnocent bystanders in their own lives.

The caring, healthy, and safe learning andteaching environments of our schools willnever be spawned by commercial theories ortechniques. Such market-inspired reforms donot work. They take the fun out of education.And, they compel many qualified teachers toescape rather than practice their professions.

There are no cheap, quick fixes for qualityeducation. Government responsibility forachieving SDG 4 cannot be avoided bycontracting it out. Quality education requirespolitical will, resources, time, and, most of all,qualified, motivated, and valued teachers.

Liberating, transformative education is builton the wisdom of generations of educators.It should be recognised and privileged overthe latest fashions or the interests of thosewho see education as a market rather than a mission.

Albert Einstein maintained that, “it is thesupreme art of the teacher to awaken joy increative expression and knowledge”. Let uscherish that joy and build more decentsocieties and a better, fairer world on thatpassion for learning and teaching.

Writing exclusively for ENGAGE David Edwards, General Secretary ofEducation International, assesses progress onSustainable Development Goal 4, the world’sgoal for education.

TO AWAKEN JOY

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Achieving inclusive and quality education for all as sought by the UN’sSustainable Development Goals reaffirms the belief that education isone of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainabledevelopment.

It also aims to eliminate gender disparity.

Human rights are at the heart of the UN’s Sustainable DevelopmentGoals. In the absence of human dignity we cannot drive sustainabledevelopment.

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 is thefirst international legal instrument that recognises education as a right.It is a not legally binding instrument but it has great political and moralscope. It represents the universal recognition that basic rights areinherent to all human beings, inalienable and equally applicable toeveryone. It is at the heart of the United Nations system and hasinspired the human rights treaties adopted since then.

The education of girls is a primary focus of development efforts in poornations because female school achievement is believed to have long-lasting and far reaching economic effects.

However multiple factors work against girls’ education in developingcountries.

For instance, very little attention has been paid to critical issues likemenstruation management that are vital for the retention of girls inschool, Studies show that due to lack of proper materials for managingmenstruation, a girl will miss an average of 48 days per year during hermenstruation periods.

Our vision therefore is to free girls and women from the disruptionsthat menstruation brings to their lives through diverse solutions. In atypical poor Gambian family, where there is hardly enough money tocater for food, shelter and other basic needs, sanitary products are nota priority. The absence of appropriate sanitary materials to absorbmenstrual flow does not only affect female’s reproductive health buttheir acquisition of education.

Determined to tackle this widespread problem we found an innovativesolution for menstrual hygiene through production of high quality re-usable sanitary pads that are comfortable as well as environmentallyand cost-friendly.

Providing reusable sanitary materials for girls was a life-changer fornumerous reasons including hygiene, health, education andempowerment. Menstruation is considered among the highest ratedfactors for school dropout among girls in the Gambia, with 1 in 10 girlsmissing school due to lack of sanitation products or facilities in schools.

Absenteeism leads to poor academic performance, which eventuallyleads to the dropout rate of a sizeable number of girls from schools.Interventions aimed at providing free and accessible reusable sanitary

pads will go a long way in reversing the negative trend of girls’education, especially in the rural areas.

We explored the opportunity of making reusable and environmentallyfriendly sanitary pads for girls using double absorbent cotton clothmaterial.

The Gambia Teachers Union Status of Women’s Committee withfunding and support from the Steve Sinnott Foundation provided handson training for home economics teachers countrywide on how to makereusable sanitary pads so as to improve girl’s access to effective,sustainable, affordable, eco-friendly and safe menstruation products.One packet of the reusable pads is sufficient to meet the sanitary needsof a girl for over a year.

Interventions aimed at providing free and accessible reusable sanitarypads will go a long way in reversing the negative trend of girls’education especially in rural areas of the Gambia.

Janet Mansal, Gender Desk Officer at The Gambia Teachers Unionhas been personally involved in the sanitary project as a trainer. Hereshe describes its impact.

A SANITARY LESSON



THANKS TO THE BOOKS

Reading in the classroom: The role of books in delivering a qualityeducation

In recent years, there has been enormous progress in enrolling childrenin school. In 1990, just 52% of sub-Saharan African primary schoolage children attended school. In 2012, that number stood at 78%.1

But while enrolment is up, investment in educational resources forschools has not kept pace. In many classrooms, children have only anold textbook that they must share with their classmates – and all toooften children are in school, but learning nothing. In sub-SaharanAfrica, 88% of adolescents will enter adulthood without a basicproficiency in reading.2

There are many factors which contribute to this educational crisis –and one of them is a severe shortage of both text and reading booksin schools.

Our charity, Book Aid International, provides around one million booksaround the world every year. All of the books we provide are brandnew, and hundreds of thousands of those books reach schools aroundthe world. The books we send for children range from picture booksto teen non-fiction to phonics books to enriching subject books.

While we do not provide ministry of education recommendedtextbooks, these books support study and enrich children’s learning.

In addition to providing books, we also work with schools across sub-Saharan Africa to create school libraries and encourage regularreading. In all of our school library creation programmes we provide acollection of brand-new books in English, a grant to purchase localbooks, funds to create a small school library and training for teachersin using books in the classroom. The results can be transformative.

Our Yes to Reading project, run in partnership with the AfricaEducational Trust (AET), supported children in 14 under-resourcedprimary schools in Laikipia County, Kenya by creating school librariesand training teachers. AET ran reading tests before and after thecreation of libraries and found that the average number of wordscorrectly read per minute increased by an average of 52%.

Our largest schools programme, Inspiring Readers, takes place acrosseight countries and aims to bring books into the classrooms of250,000 African primary school pupils by 2020. To date, over 182,000children have benefitted from the project, with 562 teachers trainedand 234,000 books provided.

Almost without exception, Inspiring Readers schools report that pupilsnow read with greater confidence and perform better in other subjectsas well. One head teacher in Malawi told us: “The pass rate hasimproved. We have sent more children to secondary schools. In thepast it was 30/40 children. Now it’s 66. Most of the students that havegone to secondary school were the ones that were using this library.”

Teachers also told us that their classrooms are very different placesthanks to the books and training they received. One Malawianteacher in Lilongwe told us: “Having these books has really changedthe way we teach. Now we bring in supplementary books. It bringsvariety to the learners. There is no variety in the textbooks.”

These results highlight the value of books in the classroom. Childrenwho read broadly and have a variety of books at their disposal are moreable to learn to read confidently and develop a love of reading that canhelp them succeed at every stage of their education. In short, access tobooks helps children receive the quality education they deserve.

To find out more about Book AidInternational’s work or get involved, visithttps://bookaid.org or contact SSF CEO Ann Beatty [email protected]

The charity thanks Thomas Cook Children’sCharity and players of People’s PostcodeLottery for funding Inspiring Readers.

(For more information see From CEO‘sDesk on page 3)

Book Aid International has a mission to provide books, resources andtraining to support an environment in which reading for pleasure, study and lifelong learning can flourish. Head of Communications,Emma Taylor, describes how they work and their greatachievements. The Foundation is currently partnering with BookAid tosupport teaching & learning experiences in The Gambia.

1 https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-4-quality-education.html

2 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41388080


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City of Sanctuary Awards - providing a strategic tool to promote globaleducation in the UK and support people who have been forced tomigrate to access quality education.

All across the UK schools, universities andcolleges are working to make theirinstitutions welcoming places of safety forall. Over 200 schools and 9 universitiesacross the UK have been recognised by theCity of Sanctuary movement through theSanctuary Award.

The award itself has three simple principles:-

• Learn about what it means to be seekingsanctuary and why people leave theircountries of origin and seek safety in theUK

• Embed- take positive action to embedconcepts of welcome, safety and inclusionto ensure equal access for refugees toquality learning opportunities

• Share the vision and achievements withinthe school /university and wider communityto inspire others to promote the vision ofsanctuary for all

One example among many of the schoolsacross the UK to receive the Schools ofSanctuary award is Widden Primary School.Staff, pupils and the wider community haveembraced the school's aim of making it a safe

and welcoming place for all, especially thoseseeking sanctuary.

A refugee mother with three children at theschool said:

“Our children are very happy in school andfeel supported. My husband and I also cometo Widden School to meet with other parents,learn English, share food and this has helpedus to make new friends. Without the school Ithink it was going to take us much longer toconnect with the rest of the community.”

In promoting Schools and Universities ofSanctuary awards, City of Sanctuary UKcontributes to the SDG goal of ensuringinclusive and equitable quality education andpromotes lifelong learning opportunities,especially for people seeking sanctuary whoremain marginalised within the UK asylumprocess.

Daniel, a student at a University of Sanctuarytold us

“As a sanctuary scholar at the University ofWinchester, equal access to education meansrecognising that my innate value does notchange across borders and by welcomingpeople like myself, institutions say we areworth the highest forms of education. I alsohave the opportunity to be a studentambassador to encourage people from diversebackgrounds to overcome any barriers they

face in accessing higher education. “

City of Sanctuary recognises the importantrole education plays in developing welcomingplaces for all, which are proud to offersanctuary to people fleeing violence andpersecution. Every day people are exposed toinaccurate reporting about why people seeksafety in the UK; in working towards theaward the schools and universities providelearning opportunities for children and youngpeople to dispel myths and find out aboutasylum and refugee issues, especially byenabling refugee voices to be heard directly.People seeking sanctuary have shared theirstories within schools and universities and areproviding a lens through which to explorehuman rights, social justice, equality, inclusionand diversity with children and young people.

In addition to the actual awards process, wehave developed ‘Streams of Sanctuary’. Bystream we mean the opportunity to bringprofessional practitioners within ‘communitiesof practices or interests’ together to embedthe concepts of welcome, safety and inclusionwithin their institutions and connect withother interested individuals (including peopleseeking sanctuary), groups and organisations.In this respect our streams work is acollaborative process. For example, Oxfam andothers, including some local authorities, alsowork with schools using the School ofSanctuary award. Our streams work buildsprofessional networks, develops and sharesresources and inspires professionalpractitioners to make a difference.

For more information seehttps://cityofsanctuary.org/about/what-are-streams-of-sanctuary/

City of Sanctuary UK is an umbrella organisation which supports thedevelopment of a network of groups across the UK welcoming people seekingsanctuary. Colleen Molloy, National Development Officer for its Schools ofSanctuary project, describes how the organisation’s awards promote globaleducation in the UK and support people who have been forced to migrate toaccess quality education.

A SAFE ANDWELCOMING PLACE

FOR ALL



I find it hard to believe that it is a decade since Steve Sinnott died. Hiscommitment to education, in the UK and the rest of the world, wasunswerving and I got to know him for his support for a Commonwealthteachers’ conference in 1996, focusing on education and human rights.Including representatives from 27 Commonwealth teacher associations itagreed the Stoke Rochford Declaration which he, I and Christine Blowertook to a Commonwealth Education Ministers’ Meeting in Botswana thefollowing year. This was the origin of a Commonwealth Teachers’ Groupwithin Educational International which has run special sessions atsubsequent ministerial meetings, taking forward the campaigns foreducation for all and improved quality of education.

It therefore seems appropriate to see how the Commonwealth ismeasuring up to Sustainable Development Goal number 4, with itsvarious subclauses. For several member countries failed to reach thetargets set down in the preceding Millennium Development Goals. The Commonwealth Secretariat did produce a status report on theperformance of its membership, in the run-up to the 20th meeting ofCommonwealth Education Ministers in Fiji last year ( 2018 ). But this isnot readily accessible on the Secretariat’s website.

However, in information provided for the Fiji meeting it is clear thatsome Commonwealth countries, and the Commonwealth as a whole,face significant challenges. While the number of out of school childrenat primary level has been dropping in India by over a million a year it isestimated that 17 million primary aged children and 16 million lowersecondary aged children are out of school in the Commonwealth.According to Unicef roughly half of these out of school children can beaccounted for by Pakistan alone, where 22.8 million children aged 5-16are out of school – 44 per cent of the population of that age. In theprovince of Balochistan 78 per cent of girls are out of school.

Gender and regional disparities are still huge. In northern Nigeria,affected by the Boko Haram insurgency which is hostile to westerneducation, literacy rates among women aged 15-24 are around 30 percent, compared with some 90 per cent in the country’s southern states.What is concerning is that world-wide school attendance, which hadimproved dramatically between 1995 and 2005, then bottomed out andif anything has got slightly worse.

During the period of the Labour Government, 1997-2010, Steve Sinnottwas a player in successful campaigns to persuade the United Kingdom

to put money into education for all, and to abolish school fees in thedeveloping world. NGOs were assisted to campaign locally in a numberof Commonwealth developing countries. After he left office the UNSecretary-General recruited Gordon Brown to be his ambassador topromote education and, in this role, Brown paid visits to Abuja andother Commonwealth capitals where targets have been missed.

In what is a worrying context it is not reassuring that theCommonwealth Secretariat, whose budgets have been cut, has only aminiscule education capability. The Commonwealth has announcedvarious initiatives – a Commonwealth Education Hub, a CommonwealthKnowledge Alliance, a Commonwealth Education Ministers ActionGroup – but it is unclear that they are having much impact at groundlevel where poverty, prejudice and sometimes warfare continue todamage children’s lives. The wonders of the digital world, and thechallenge of an overheating planet losing biodiversity very fast, requirean educated citizenry in the 21st century.

Richard Bourne is Adviser to the Ramphal Institute, a think-tank fordevelopment in the Commonwealth

STILL MANYCHALLENGES

Richard Bourne is Adviser to the Ramphal Institute, a think-tankfor development in the “Commonwealth of Nations”. He’s also avalued friend of the Steve Sinnott Foundation. Here Richard reflectson progress towards Education for All in Commonwealth countrieswith concerns for the future.


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As cyclists, we choose our challenges. We don our lycra, wheel out thebike, and decide how far we shall go – we make distance our challenge.Time is then a limiting factor as to how far we can cycle. We arechallenged by time and distance – but it is our CHOICE.

In many remote areas of the world, people are challenged by the barrierof both time and distance. They chase the sun from the moment it risesuntil it sets. So, time and distance is also their challenge – yet the choiceis not theirs, for they have only ever walked. The provision of a simple,robust bicycle which is easy to maintain can totally change their world.

World Bicycle Relief is a global organisation which has provided over470,000 robust and sustainable bicycles to students, healthcare workers,and other individuals in developing countries, providing a crucialresource to people for whom transportation options are limited. Ournumber-one goal is to see quality bicycle transportation as a legitimateeconomic empowerment tool for those who have walking as their onlytransportation option. With a special focus on girls, WBR plays a vitalrole in getting young women to school.

Education is the key to sustainable development, improving overallquality of life and securing a successful future. Despite achieving goals ofgender equality in primary education, many countries continue tostruggle in implementing it at all levels of education. An estimated 57million children don’t attend school, and more than half live in sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, over 100 million youth lack basic literacyskills, and most of them are female.

The United Nations’ ‘SDG4’ aims to ensure inclusive, quality educationfor all and to promote lifelong learning. As with most developmentissues, a push for universal education particularly impacts girls.Throughout much of Africa, girls face more barriers to completing theireducation. Yet getting girls educated is essential to raising the socio-economic status of their communities. Not only are there enormousbenefits in completing one’s primary education, but girls who completesecondary education are six times less likely to marry as child-brides.

According to UNESCO, when girls receive an education, theiropportunities for employment are greater. They are also more likely toclose the gender pay gap as well as less likely to become pregnant asteens. Their chances of mortality during childbirth are lower. These arejust some of the many benefits of educating girls. UNESCO’s data alsohighlights that in poorer areas, girls are even less likely than boys to goto school. Thus, the system perpetuates itself, as girls not getting aneducation makes them more likely to be poor for the rest of their lives,and girls in poor families are less likely to get an education to begin with.

When we break this cycle, there will be long term benefits. The biggestbarrier to girls receiving a consistent education is often the physical actof getting to the school. Tasked with many more unpaid responsibilities,

including collecting water and firewood, girls fall behind because of thecultural obstacles they face. In rural regions of the world, girls also facechallenging, long walks to get to school after their household duties.Girls arrive to school tired if they even arrive at all.

Over the past ten years, World Bicycle Relief has mobilised students,especially girls, who face long, difficult journeys to school. We believe asimple, sturdy bicycle has the power to change lives. By giving a girl away to get to school safely, you can empower her to stay in school andget her education, breaking the cycle of poverty with a bicycle.

The Sustainable Development Goals represent ambition built onwomen’s progress. However, there is still much needed to ensure thatwomen and girls around the world are able to move forward. With thehelp of our supporters, World Bicycle Relief is making an investment ingirls. We are confident that the power of the bicycle can play aninfluential role in progress for girls and women in sub-Saharan Africaand around the world.

There are no limitations to what a girl student desires to achieve with theextra time and energy a bicycle can afford her. Before and after school,she has time to study. With this strong and reliable vehicle, she also hasthe power to transport water, food, and pedestrians. In her spare time,she can dream and achieve. The bicycle is a tool for empowering andmobilising her to follow her own path in life.

We believe in the Power of Bicycles! Do you?

www.worldbicyclerelief.org

World Bicycle Relief is mobilizing peoplethrough the power of bicycles, envisioninga world where distance is no longer abarrier to education and opportunity.Allison Dufosee is its CEO.

BREAKING THE CYCLE



NOW MORE THAN EVER

Quality education is a vitally importantsafeguard against the kind of intolerance thatprevents people with different views,experiences, backgrounds and identities fromliving and working together valuing andrespecting each other’s lives, hopes and feelings.

At Send My Friend to School we work tofacilitate campaigning for global education byyoung people in the UK. We want to see the264 million children who are currently missingout getting to go to school and we believe thatempowering young people to campaign insolidarity with others creates invaluableunderstanding and tolerance across borders.

In 2017 Send My Friend ran its Missing Piececampaign calling on the UK government toinvest more in education around the world.More than 300,000 young people got involved– creating messages for their MPs, holdingevents, contacting the local papers and much

more. Also in 2017, in partnership with theSteve Sinnott Foundation, we selected twoyoung women from the Gambia to act asYoung Ambassadors for the campaign. Theyvisited the UK for two weeks. It was fantastic towatch them build links with the UKcampaigners and engage in powerful reciprocallearning. Back in the Gambia, they’re sharingtheir experience and helping to stimulate moreyoung people in the international drive forquality education for all.

In January of this year we launched our newcampaign for 2018. We’re calling it MakeSchools Safe.

Schools should always be safe havens, but formillions of children around the world affectedby armed conflict, there is still the daily risk thattheir schools may be places of violence anddanger. Tolerance is needed now more thanever.

So as we campaign to Make Schools Safe,thousands of young people in the UK will becreating paper safety signs and presentingthem to their Members of Parliament to call onthe UK government to sign the Safe SchoolsDeclaration. This is an international politicalcommitment to do more to protect schoolsduring armed conflict. The declaration hasbeen signed by 72 countries including the UK’s allies, France and Canada. The UK has notyet signed.

With 264 million children experiencing someform of school violence every year, we need asmany schools, teachers and young people toget involved as possible so that our message isheard. Our Teachers’ Pack contains lots ofinformation to bring the campaign to life in theclassroom including videos, case studies andactivity sheets. It’s available for download atsendmyfriend.org/take-action.

In these uncertain times, it can feel like theworld is getting less and less tolerant. Whenthis gets me down, I think of the Send MyFriend youth campaigners working togetherand creating change for the better – if ourfuture is in their hands my confidence isrestored.

Ema Jackson is Campaign Manager of Send My Friend to School – a UKcoalition of international development NGOs, teachers’ unions and charitiesjointly campaigning to demand quality education for all children across theglobe. The Steve Sinnott Foundation is a key member of this coalition.

A message from our friends at Think GlobalIS A TEACHER AT YOUR SCHOOL THE 2018 GLOBAL EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR?Do you know an educator who has found creative ways to engage young people inglobal learning? Has this person raised awareness about the UN’s SustainableDevelopment Goals amongst their students and/or the whole school? Have theyinspired students to take action on a certain issue? If the answer is yes – then you should nominate this person to win the Global Educator of the Year Award 2018! It’s time we celebrate teachers and the amazing work they do to create our world’s future global citizens. Those whoteach young people are important role models and can have huge influence, motivating and encouraging action forpositive social change. Teachers who integrate global learning and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) intotheir everyday work are equipping young people with the understanding, attitudes and behaviour that will allow fortheir success in a global facing Britain, and enable them to contribute fully as global citizens.

GET INVOLVED AND NOMINATE!We welcome nominations of classroom teachers, teaching assistants, school governors, head teachers, and anyonewho works in the broader field of education.Go to the Think Global website: https://think-global.org.uk/our-work/schools-teachers/global-educator-of-the-year-award for more information and to download a nomination form and send to [email protected] by Friday11th May 2018. • Winner and runner up will be notified mid-June. • Award presentation ceremony will take place in July at a central London location.

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There are many ways to change our world for the better. Somespeak up for Clean Water - something that would save countlesschildren’s lives everyday. There is no doubt that vaccinating allchildren in the poor world under the age of 5 would also betransformatory. But for me educating girls would have the biggestimpact on the future of all of us.

In the Conservative party, we learnt from our Project Umubano inRwanda - which saw nearly 800 Conservatives take part indevelopment projects in one of the poorest countries in the world. I spent two weeks teaching teachers of English from 8 in themorning until 5 at night. While exhausting, it was also exhilaratingand bolstered my life-long respect for those who teach, mostespecially in the development world where, devoid of many of theclassroom assets we take for granted here in the UK, they educatethe next generation of children. Who knows whether one of thoseyoung people in school today in Africa may be the person whodiscovers the cure for cancer or is destined to become a worldleader?

Educating girls is a win-win achievement, a girl who’s had thebenefit of education is likely to marry later and not fall prey to thecurse of early marriage. She is likely to educate her own children,she is likely to be economically active and above all boost theimpact and respect which is held in her family, her local communityand beyond. Thanks to girls’ education we now see woman inprominent elected positions in Afghanistan.

When I was the International Development Secretary, I set up theGirls’ Education Challenge Fund (GECF). This taxpayer fundedvehicle was designed to secure education for 1 million girls in themost difficult parts of the world - places where the state’seducation writ did not run and where brilliant NGOs, charities,philanthropic organisations and indeed the private sector couldbring the miracle of education where it had not previously been.The fund has been a great success, typified by the work ofCAMFED, the amazing Cambridge based UK charity which hasfound an extraordinarily successful formula for getting girls into

school and measuring the added value they achieve. For inspirationthat will make your day, visit CAMFED online and see for yourself.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contactRt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP at 020 7219 1799 or email [email protected].

Former Secretary of State for International Development AndrewMitchell M.P. reveals his passion and commitment for girls’ educationand his lifelong respect for teachers.

THE BIGGEST IMPACT

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Tolerance is a strange word and often weneed to make a distinction between livingnext to each other and living together. Inmany ways ‘tolerance’ is simply living nextdoor or side by side with those with differentcolours and cultures. This year is the 70thanniversary of the arrival of SS Windrush toTilbury docks. This was Britain’s first exampleof post-world war mass immigration, whenBritain invited workers from the Caribbean tocome to Britain to help in post war recovery.

In many ways this was a ‘botched’ socialpolicy. The British government activelyadvertised in the Caribbean for these workersto come to the ‘homeland’ but made nopreparation to receive them. They wereexpected to make their own way, in terms offinding jobs and housing. They also faced anintolerant host population who saw them asa threat. The host population were notprepared for this new migration andCaribbean people were given no orientation .

The social history of this period has been onethat has rightly focused on the negativenarrative of a downtrodden Caribbeancommunity facing an intolerant local whitemass, who wanted them to go back home.However, what is often missed out is howwell that Caribbean community ‘integrated’into mainstream British society, yet stillretaining their own culture and identity.

What is remarkable is that in terms ofpopular culture and social tolerance we sawblack and white living together rather thanside by side. There were key reasons why thiswas possible. The new immigrants spokeEnglish, were mainly Christian and everyone

danced to their music of Ska and Reggae.The other point was sex. They were alsosleeping together and having children. Wenow have one of the largest mixed-racepopulations in Europe.

This was a far cry from a multi-culturalnirvana. Black men continued to beoppressed by the police and Black youthwere kept in the bottom of their schools. Itwould take a lot of fighting and campaigningto bend Britain into a more tolerant flower.

However, white Britain began to change andwould never be the same.

Recently I bought a group of Jamaican dramaschool students to the UK. They visited theWindrush landing site in memory of theirancestors who left Jamaica in 1948. Theyperformed a Shakespeare play at a local highschool, which was predominantly white. Itwas appropriate as the audience was beingseated to play ‘Exodus’ by Bob Marley. Oncethe high school children heard the tune theybegan to dance, as if this was their themetune. It was clear that this new generationhadn’t lost its appetite for matters Jamaican.Their connection would be through theinternet, they were the consumers of brandJamaica. Unlike their ancestors they are more‘tolerant ‘ of a diverse culture.

A THEME TUNE FOR TOLERANCE

Dr. Tony Sewell CBE is Chief Executive of Generating Genius anorganisation which supports young people from disadvantagedbackgrounds to realise their potential in STEM (science, technology,engineering and maths).

COPY TO COME


Dr. Kishore Singh is an International Law Expert and also the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right toEducation.

Mark Edwards is one of the few environmentalcommunicators to have personally witnessed theglobal issues that are defining the 21st century.Assignments for magazines, NGOs and UnitedNations agencies have taken him to over 100countries. One of the most widely publishedphotographers in the world, his pictures are collectedand exhibited by museums and art galleries in Europe

and the US. UNESCO ASPnet and the Steve Sinnott Foundation isexcited to partner with Mark Edwards on the forthcoming exhibition.

July 1969. I got lost in the Sahara Desert. A Tuareg nomad rescued meand took me to his people. He rubbed two sticks together and madea fire. We had a cup of tea. Then he warmed the batteries in an oldcassette player and turned it on. Bob Dylan sang “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”.

Armstrong and Aldrin were on the Moon, planting an American flagin a lunar crater. Dylan provides the close up – the dark side of ourplanet and its people; “Sad forests”, “Dead oceans”, “Guns andsharp swords in the hands of young children.

I had the idea to illustrate each line of the song. Over the next 30 yearsI travelled to more than 100 countries to photograph our headlongcollision with nature for magazines, NGOs and UN organizations. Lineby line, Dylan’s song came alive in the viewfinder of my camera.

Eventually Dylan’s team saw it and gave me permission to make anexhibition and a book. It launched at the Eden Project in Cornwall in

2006 and went to UN Headquarters in New York and to over 200large outdoor displays reaching some 15 million people in botanicgardens, city centres and universities on every continent.

In Hard Rain, every line of Dylan’s poetic masterpiece, “A Hard Rain’sa-Gonna Fall” is illustrated with a photograph that brings alive theproblems defining our age; “Where the people are many and theirhands are all empty/Where the pellets of poison are flooding theirwaters/…/ Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten.”

At the end of the song Dylan asked: “What’ll you do now…?”

It took governments and their people – or people and theirgovernments – more than half a century to reply. But when it camethe reply was radical. On 25th September 2015, 193 governmentsagreed to 17 global goals, which can be summed up as protecting theplanet and ensuring dignified lives for all.

Meeting the SDGs will require spectacular global co-operation bygovernments and the active support of citizens.

We are now working on a new exhibition: The Goals – A Manifestofor Survival. It is designed to give school students a platform toencourage their political leaders to deliver the SDGs they signed up to.

The heart of the exhibition adopts the metaphor of a maze to animatethe path toward a sustainable world. Art works by school studentsshown along the uncertain path through the maze illustrate life-stylechoices that underpin security for this and future generations.

Displays in the cul-de-sacs show how our problems will escalate if wecontinue with governance, business and living as usual.

Our partners are UNESCO’s Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) andthe UK Commission for UNESCO.

We are on the point of contacting schools to invite their students totake part in the exhibition. We will provide teachers’ notes so you canbring alive the issues which will inspire your students to show the kindof life style changes we all need to make if we are to underpinsecurity for their generation. I do hope UNESCO ASPnet schools fromaround the world will take a leading role in the project.

TELL IT AND THINK IT ANDSPEAK IT AND BREATHE IT



RAISING FUNDSOf course we need money for our work. Here are a few examples ofhow our enthusiastic supporters help us to raise funds.

The Denham Divas are now singing to raise funds for musicalinstruments for Haiti, Sahbi Benzid and Stanborough school havedeveloped robotics kits for Haiti. Nefa Nessa ran the marathon, ColinPowesland and Steve Ryan cycled 100 miles, Ingrid Khedun and AnneLane swam the Serpentine and our friends at the Cardiff branch of theNational Union of Teachers did a sponsored walk. Huge thanks to all ofthem and to our teacher organisation supporters in the UK.

So there are lots ways to get involved and support our work.

And it doesn’t have to involve stamina.

You can be a regular supporter by becoming a Friend of the Foundationwith a standing order completed on our website atwww.stevesinnottfoundatin.org.uk or by downloading a form from thewebsite or requesting one by email or post.

You can also make single donations through our website or simply bytexting EDFA 16 to 70070.

Sign up your school to become a Steve Sinnott FoundationEducation for All Awareness school.

Sign up your school to sing and record our Education for Allcampaign song “A Better Place to Be”. Download the song from ourwebsite.

Help with teaching resources, lesson plans etc to be supplied toschools through the Resource Centres.

Follow us on our social network platforms and contribute your ideasand share our posts to help spread the word – details below.

Join our storytelling programme and share tales about the positivepower of education around the world.

And much more – whatever you can think of..........

Please follow us and like and share our news with your friends onour Social Media Platforms

On Instagram: ssfoundation

On Twitter: SSFoundation

On Facebook: http://facebook.com/stevesinnottfoundation

OnTumblr: http://stevesinnottfoundation.tumblr.com/

On YouTube: http://youtube.com/sinnottfoundation


[email protected]

STANDING ORDER MANDATEPlease complete and return to The Steve Sinnott Foundation, Arnold House, 15 Clarendon Road, Watford WD17 1JR Title: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . First name or initial(s): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Surname: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Phone Number: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Email: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I (we) plan to make this contribution in the form of:

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now monthly quarterly yearlyTo support the Steve Sinnott FoundationBank Name:.................................................................................Bank Address:................................................................................................................................................................................Account Name(s):.........................................................................Account Number:.........................................................................Sort Code:....................... Start date:.........................................

Signature:........................ Date:................................................Please pay the amount indicated above to:HSBC, Payee Account name: The Steve Sinnott FoundationAccount Number: 22207052 Sort Code: 40-45-27

email: [email protected]: 01923 230208

CHARITY GIFT AID DECLARATION – MULTIPLE DONATIONBoost your donation by 25p of Gift Aid for every £1 you donateGift Aid is reclaimed by the charity from the tax you pay for the current tax year. Your address is needed toidentify you as a current UK taxpayer. In order to Gift Aid your donation you must tick the box below:I want to Gift Aid my donation of £______________ and any donations I make in thefuture or have made in the past 4 years to: The Steve Sinnott Foundation I am a UKtaxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax thanthe amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations in that tax year it is myresponsibility to pay any difference. My Details: Title_____First name or initial(s)______________ Surname:_________________Full Home address_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Postcode_________ Date___________________Please notify the charity if you: want to cancel this declaration change your name or home address no longerpay sufficient tax on your income and/or capital gains If you pay Income Tax at the higher or additional rateand want to receive the additional tax relief due to you, you must include all your Gift Aid donations on yourSelfAssessment tax return or ask HM Revenue and Customs to adjust your tax code

BECOME A FRIENDThe Steve Sinnott Foundationruns projects in the UK, SierraLeone, Haiti, Nepal, TheGambia, Ethiopia andColombia.For as little as £3 a month, you can becomea Friend of the Foundation, support ourwork, receive our quarterly magazine and bethe first to hear about the ways we areworking to broaden access to educationaround the world.

ENGAGE · 2020. 4. 28. · ENGAGE Price £1.00 ISSUE EIGHTEEN The ST EVE SIN NOTT FOUN DATIO N...

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