KOPIN's Schools2Communities e-Newsletter (Edition III / 1&2)

11
Dear friends, Once more, we are happy to launch our newsletter, which is again packed with interesting links, information, up-to-date news and recently launched reports. This time, you will read about the first chance for many GAS2C members to meet on an international level, held in Poland in April. In Malta, the school year is turning to its end, yet we want to give you some insights on the work our schools have been doing - this time, the St. Benedict’s College GJL, St Lucia. Also, we would like to dedicate one page to the current situ- ation of Greek NGOs who are facing difficulties due to the financial crisis. We wish them all the best! And last but not least, we would like to welcome and intro- duce our new team members at KOPIN! WHAT`S NEXT? World Day against Child Labour *12.06.2011 International Day of the African Child *16.06.2011 World Day to Combat Desertification and Draught *17.06.2011 World Refugee Day *20.06.2011 Schools2Communities Arts Exhibition *Mid July! WWW . KOPIN . ORG WWW . SCHOOLS 2 COMMUNITIES . EU Global Action Schools2Communities (GAS II) - Malta Mar-Apr / May-Jun 2011 Year III, Issue 1 & 2 International Workshop, News from the St Benedict College, Situation of Greek NGOs and New Team Members Desertification http://www.un.org/ en/events/ desertificationday/ http:// www.youtube.com/ watch? v=A8nvfttOTF4 Test your knowledge and get your certificate! http:// www.proprofs.com/ quiz-school/ quizreport.php? title=Desertification- Quiz&sid=MTM5M DcwNjc= Animation Climate Change http:// www.youtube.com/ watch? v=_s9dxc_jVlY&fea ture=related Climate Witnesses` stories http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JV1FSbG -DPM&NR=1 Sustainability in 2 Minutes http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Doeb6QWJ5kA Child Labour http://www.un.org/en/events/ childlabourday/ Birth registration against traf- ficking http://plan-international.org/ about-plan/resources/media- centre/press-releases/ invisible-children-more- vulnerable-to-trafficking-and- abuse Children`s rights http://www.timesofmalta.com/ articles/view/20110601/ opinion/Children-s-rights-on- the-EU-agenda.368345 http://www.crin.org/ Day of African Childs http://www.hrea.org/ index.php? base_id=527&language_id=1 JOIN IN on the refugee day http://geomium.com/event/ world-refugee-day-malta- 2011-379185/

description

The GAS2C e-Newsletter is a bi-monthly publication, featuring information about global education, development issues and activities that take place within the frame of the GAS2C project. For further information, visit www.schools2communities.eu

Transcript of KOPIN's Schools2Communities e-Newsletter (Edition III / 1&2)

Dear friends, Once more, we are happy to launch our newsletter, which is again packed with interesting links, information, up-to-date news and recently launched reports. This time, you will read about the first chance for many GAS2C members to meet on an international level, held in Poland in April. In Malta, the school year is turning to its end, yet we want to give you some insights on the work our schools have been doing - this time, the St. Benedict’s College GJL, St Lucia. Also, we would like to dedicate one page to the current situ-ation of Greek NGOs who are facing difficulties due to the financial crisis. We wish them all the best! And last but not least, we would like to welcome and intro-duce our new team members at KOPIN!

WHAT`S NEXT? World Day against Child Labour *12.06.2011 International Day of the African Child *16.06.2011 World Day to Combat Desertification and Draught *17.06.2011 World Refugee Day *20.06.2011 Schools2Communities Arts Exhibition *Mid July!

WWW .KOPIN .ORG

WWW . SCHOOLS2COMMUNITIES .EU

Global Action Schools2Communities (GAS II) - Malta

Mar-Apr / May-Jun

2011

Year III, Issue 1 & 2

International Workshop, News from the St Benedict College, Situation of Greek

NGOs and New Team Members

Desertification http://www.un.org/en/events/desertificationday/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8nvfttOTF4 Test your knowledge and get your certificate! http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/quizreport.php?title=Desertification-Quiz&sid=MTM5MDcwNjc= Animation Climate Change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s9dxc_jVlY&feature=related Climate Witnesses` stories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV1FSbG-DPM&NR=1

Sustainability in 2 Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doeb6QWJ5kA

Child Labour http://www.un.org/en/events/childlabourday/ Birth registration against traf-ficking http://plan-international.org/about-plan/resources/media-centre/press-releases/invisible-children-more-vulnerable-to-trafficking-and-abuse Children`s rights http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110601/opinion/Children-s-rights-on-the-EU-agenda.368345 http://www.crin.org/ Day of African Childs http://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=527&language_id=1 JOIN IN on the refugee day http://geomium.com/event/world-refugee-day-malta-2011-379185/

Education for SD: http://www.desd.org/ http://educationforsustainabledevelopment.com/blog/ http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/ http://www.unece.org/env/esd/ http://www.esdonline.org/ http://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/63861/education_esd_lbriguglio_ppace.pdf http://www.ictliteracy.info/rf.pdf/ict_education_sd_trends.pdf http://www.esdtoolkit.org/esd_toolkit_v2.pdf

www.kopin.org

www.schools2communities.eu

International Workshop 11– 13 April, Krakow

Between 11 and 13 April, KOPIN and its international partner organisations conducted the International Workshop of the Global Action Schools2Communities project in Krakow (Poland). More than 25 students and teachers from Malta, Poland, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic

had the opportunity to meet, work and have fun together! The meeting offered separate workshops for the students and the teachers as well as a number of joint activities in the evenings. The teachers were offered an in-depth training on subjects, tools and methodologies on Global Education and the project topics. During the three day

sessions in Poland, these were then also tested, discussed and evaluated. The teachers were also given the space to present to the others interesting activities and methodologies they them

-selves apply in their classrooms. The students worked on public actions and activity materials related to the project’s focus topics, Climate Change and Fair Trade, besides being

introduced to facts about the subjects. In fact, the young participants also went on the streets of this marvelous city and did actions which involved not only themselves but also residents of Krakow and tourists, raising their awareness on the importance

of Fair Trade and the mitigation of climate change.

Page 2 International Workshop, News from the St Benedict College, Situation of Greek NGOs and New Team Members

Environment day on forests http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38604&Cr=environment&Cr1= High levels of green-house gas http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38604&Cr=environment&Cr1= More on Greenhouse Gas http://www.ghgprotocol.org/ Green refugee camp? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckrouEp1S1I Causes of Climate Change Material https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/resources/4129

Not of lesser importance, the event gave all participants also the chance to network with other teachers and students from other countries. The project team was glad to see that besides professional ties, also friendships developed during the event. Some of the participants have written about their experiences: Marcin Wojtalik – Senior Education Officer (Polish Humanitarian Action)

“For me, it was a Big Day – after five years of on-line cooperation with schools in Europe, I was finally to meet some of them in person and I was a bit anxious! Teachers from Global Action Schools from Austria and Malta – how do they look like? Students from Czech Republic and Slovakia – what are they up to? I had a lot of questions. But just after a few minutes all the anxiety was gone. We were working hard but we had fun too. Unfortunately, before I realized, we had to say goodbye. And again I met a group of people at the entrance of our hostel. But this time I was greeting good friends, and I’m looking forward to internation-al actions in autumn when we will join our forces again!”

Ľubica Šemrincová – National Coordinator in the GAS2 project (People in Peril Association)

“The pupils’ workshop brought together 20 elementary and high school pupils from five European countries for three days full of fun, self-realization and critical thinking. Though it was not always easy to com-municate in a foreign language, all workshop participants worked to-gether on creative assignments, discovered new information or ideas and learned with each other as well as from each other. Each of them contributed to the great results they achieved with their actions in the city. Speaking of the city, Krakow was a great place to be at that exact time – full of spring, local marketers and international visitors, we all felt really welcome. I think I can boldly say that we will remember these days together for a very long time!”

fr.www.wikieducator.org

Page 3 Year III, Issue 1 & 2

Get your lessons plans from PLAN http://www.plan-uk.org/resources/ PLAY Banana Split and QUIZ on Fair Trade http://www.cafod.org.uk/primary/fairtrade Look into eco http://www.cafod.org.uk/primary/climate-environment Teach the MDGs in 8 steps http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/change_the_world_in_eight_steps/?30 Here are the ideas for next school year! http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/schools/sup-port_resources/activi-ty_ideas.aspx

[email protected]

kopin.org

schools2communities.eu

Fair Trade Gold

http://

www.independent.co.uk/

news/uk/home-news/

fairtrade-gold-to-protect-

miners-2213874.html

Fair Trade Footballs

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=-ZM5-FbKeSw

Fair Trade Cotton

www.kapstadt.org

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?

v=8Ev7YTPIKJU&feature=r

elated

COOK Fair Trade!!

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

products/recipes.aspx

Progress on the MDGs http://www.betterbytheyear.org/poverty_trade_debt_goal1.htm Case Studies of public participation methods http://www.peopleandparticipation.net/display/CaseStudies/Home The banana trade war http://www.globalissues.org/article/63/the-banana-trade-war

Amy Debattista, Student (17), Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, Naxxar Why are you participating in the Global Action Schools2Communities project? I started participating the Global Action Schools2Communities project firstly, because I was curious and I continued to participate because I found it interesting. What kind of activities have you participated in? I participated in the MDG programme held at our school and a seminar held by another school supporting Fair Trade products. Your experience at the international workshop: I was interested to participate since the project involves the creation of a better world as we know it and it is fundamental to know what goes on around us. I learned a lot from this experience, it has opened my eyes to see the damages that we cause to create simple products that we take for granted on a day-to-day basis. I really enjoyed teaching people on what I have learned and the satisfaction I got when they showed interest is indescribable, and the work we had prepared wasn’t for nothing at all! I would definitely participate in such an experience again. Why do you think is it important to learn about global issues such as Fair Trade and Climate Change? I think it is important to learn about global issues such as Fair Trade and Climate Change, because these are related to the effects of problems caused by our intolerance on such subjects. Information on Fair trade and Climate Change will help future generations to continue develop their views and, if necessarily, they reduce the consequences. Would you recommend to other students to participate in the project? Why? I would be grateful to recommend to other students to participate in this project! Such an experience would do good for every student and I would guarantee that they would learn and grow in their perspectives towards society.

Page 4 International Workshop, News from the St Benedict College, Situation of Greek NGOs and New Team Members

khaledha-mid.blogspot.com

The Cotonou Agree-ment revised http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/acp/03_01/pdf/cotonou_2006_en.pdf Look at the latest Fair Trade Trends

http://fairtra-detrends.com/2011/01/23/hats-off-to-fair-trade/

Svetlana Bartolo, Sociology Teacher, Giovanni Cumi Higher Secondary School, Naxxar Being the coordinating teachers of Sociology I was given the opportuni-ty to attend to the Global Action Schools2Communities International Workshop organised in Krakow, Poland. I was particularly interested in getting more methodological examples of how to present global educa-tional topics to students in the most interesting way through activities. This for us teachers is the most important asset we can get since it is sometimes difficult to present it to students. During the workshop we were given several examples of how to do so in the most interesting way. Surely would be our pleasure to attend to more workshops when-ever possible. Global Education arises from the fact that modern people today live and interact in a global world. In this regards it is essential for education to provide learners with the opportunity and ability to reflect and share their own views and realise what is their role with this global world as well as to discuss complex relationships of common social, political and economic issues so as to obtain new ways of thinking and acting. In a more simplistic way Global Education is education that opens peo-ple’s eyes and minds to the realities of the globalised world and awak-ens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equality and Human Rights for all. Participating in the project gives students the opportunity to be aware of what is happening on a global level. In my opinion students do lack such knowledge since we are living in a credential society and what really matters (both for teachers and students) is knowledge related to exams syllabus. Such project gives both teachers and students to do something apart from what is expected in exams. I find this a good opportunity to get to know my students well. What kind of activities have you implemented in the frame of the GAS2C project? The Sociology Department participates in the project. We have taken part since the beginning of GAS2C. The Department was already par-ticipating in the previous project Global Action Schools. Activities organised at the school

• Two seminars on the Millennium Development Goals;

• Several talks on fair trade and climate change;

• Students were encouraged to attend activities at other schools or in the community related to the topics of GAS2C;

• Attendance at seminars organised by KOPIN;

• Screending of documentaries about global issues.

Page 5 Year III, Issue 1 & 2

Read about Fair Trade Ba-nanas

http://cnre.vt.edu/lsg/3104/GEOG%203104%20Web%20Project/Bananas/Fair%20Trade%20Bananas.html

allgoodbana-nas.co.nz

World Development Indica-

tors

http://data.worldbank.org/

data-catalog/world-

development-indicators/

wdi-2010

Pictures taken from

http://

www.schools2communities

.eu

Photographers:

Olga Mielnikiewicz

Kamila Tyniec

rnw.ml

drjimsthinkingshop.com Toolkit on Global Justice http://www.adifferentworld-unmondedifferent.org/en

shutterstock.com

Jahel Vancell, St Benedict’s College GJL, St Lucia

“I’m a PSD teacher at St Benedict College, GJL St Lucia, a girls’

secondary school in Malta.

Global Action Schools has been on our school’s agenda since its very

start. Our team of teachers has embarked on this project with the aim of

increasing students’ awareness towards global and social issues in the

world around them. Our strategy has been that of working on a wider

school level, exposing as many students as possible to themes related to

Fair Trade, Migration, Homelessness, Equality Issues, MDGs and Animal

Welfare, mainly through extra curricular activities. This year we have

also succeeded to actively involve groups of students in the planning and

conduction of Fair Trade related activities.

Activities varied from talks delivered by YMCA related to homelessness;

participation in an Equality Theatre Forum; the setting up of a Debate

Group; an Intercultural awareness talk, drum circle activity and hair-

braiding by JRS; a Fair Trade week including the sale of fair trade articles

and an active experiential exercise together with a Fair Trade cake bake

and sale to support child health and education in developing countries.

Making students aware of these issues would help them take action and

contribute towards the eradication of social injustice.

The international workshop held in Poland was a very fruitful and

motivating experience since it really met my aims: that of meeting other

teachers and students actively involved in this project, share ideas of

activities held around various schools and consequently develop new

ideas for possible future projects. I have enjoyed working with different

people from various European countries and participate in the various

experiential practical activities planned out during this workshop.

This training was a very good opportunity for professional and personal

self-growth, which I would gladly suggest to other teachers and re-

experience myself”.

sriks6711.wordpress.com

Page 6 International Workshop, News from the St Benedict College, Situation of Greek NGOs and New Team Members

oriones.com

jl10ll.wordpress.com

toonpool.com

blewbury.co.uk

Maria Bilocca, Student (14), St Benedict’s College GJL, St Lucia “The three day Global Action Schools International Workshop held in Krakow, Poland, was an unforgettable one! I had fun, learned and taught others. During the first day, we mostly had team building activities, these helped us to get to know and learn from each other. The other two days were full of activities related to Global Issues such as Climate Change and Fair Trade. We even had time to plan a Fair Trade related action and make this action happen. In my opinion, it feels really good to know that one can be helpful, and at least if not save the world, one should contribute to spread more knowledge about any global issue. From this experience, I’ve learned a lot. First of all, because we were groups from different countries, we brought with us different cultures. I’ve learned about these cultures and understood exactly what the true meaning of the word ‘diversity’ is. I have increased my knowledge mostly about Fair Trade and Climate Change and what kinds of actions we can take in our everyday life against these problems. Now, back in Malta, I think I’m more trained and have enough knowledge to at least spread what I have learned from this workshop to others. First of all, I am willing, to start my work, in the Debate Group in which I am involved in, in my own school. Possible activities that can be done are similar to the ones we have done in Poland and what we have called ‘The Actions’. First, we should choose what kind of action we would like to do and then we should come up with a plan. An action that was mentioned in the workshop, and which can be easily done at school, is to make leaflets of our own, full of information about fair-trade and give them out to students. A Fair Trade pencil can also be given to students, to show that there is no difference between a Fair Trade pencil and a normal one, except for how fair the deal of the pencil was”.

We would like to thank all the teachers and students who travelled a long way to take part in it. We hope that you all had as much fun as we had, learnt a lot and went home bet-ter prepared for the International Action.

Page 7 Year III, Issue 1 & 2

Aids Infections http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2009/hiv_aids_20091124/en/index.html A means against loosing one`s roots: Memory books http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5thHiTM93A The global play-ground toolkit http://theglobalplay-ground.org/marketing/downloads/Teacher-Toolkit.pdf Bring the World Café into your activities! http://www.peopleandparticipation.net/display/Methods/World+Cafe

brendansglobal-blog.blogspot.com

Child soldier situation in Central African Republic

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38183&Cr=child+soldier&Cr1= http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/williams.html

The International Teachers' Working Groups have started their work! As most of you know, the work in the international teach-ers' groups has now started! Most of you who have al-ready subscribed to this interesting activity have already received an email from the international coordina-tors. However, should you face any problems or have any questions, please send us an email to [email protected] or [email protected]!

For more info about the activity visit http://www.schools2communities.eu/index.php/get-ready-for-action.html!

St Benedict College GJL St Lucia

This scholastic year was full of activities for the GAS2C group at St Benedict’s College GJL, St Lucia. These activities started early in October when a speaker from YMCA talked to Form 5 students about homeless people in Malta. Students were then asked to write a write up on what they have learnt during this activity. These write ups were then put on our school website. In November we grouped with other teachers and organised a car wash day and donations from this activity were given to LAND association. During this month students from the debate group attended the NCPE seminar that dealt with equality issues. December was dedicated to animal welfare. Form 1 and 2 students adopted an abandoned animal by giving a small donation to Tommasina Cat Sanctuary and Noah’s Ark. During the 1st week of March our school hosted a seminar on child soldiers organised by Kopin. Debate Group and Social Studies option students as well as studets from other schools took an active part in this seminar and worked in workshops to come with ideas to encourage more awareness on this terrible issue.

In the 2nd week of March our group together with the Jesuit Refugee Service organised a seminar for Form 3 students to make them more perceptful on the experiences of refugees that come to Malta including their difficult journey to come to our island and how they are integrating in the Maltese society. incoporate as part of next year’s action plan.

WWW .SCHOOLS2COMMUNITIES .EU

WWW .KOPIN .ORG

For further Information please contact us on

[email protected] / [email protected] /

(+356) 2131 5562 / 99 400 407

Fair Trade + Child Labour http://teacher.beecoop.co.uk/?q=node/2 http://www.fairtraderesource.org/learn-up/teaching-tools/ http://www.cafod.org.uk/primary/fairtrade

Teach about Chocolate Making https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/resources/4011 Fair Trade Victory! http://news.change.org/stories/victory-students-convince-university-to-brew-fair-trade-coffee

For news and facts about global poverty, justice, global educa-tion and migration:

Abandoned Animals Mal-ta

http://www.aaamalta.com/

You think there are no homeless people in Mal-ta?

http://www.mir4malta.org/docs/mal-tese_capuchins_and_suret_bniedem.pdf

Real People, not mi-grants: http://suspendedlives.org/ Feminization of migra-tion? http://www.international.metropolis.net/events/11th_lisbon06/Presentations%20Monday/Women/Nicola%20Piper_metropolis2006.pdf Great Toolkit on Teaching about Migration Issues: http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/not-just-numbers-educational-toolkit/lang/en Including DVD!

The 24th of March was Fair Trade Bake Day at our school. Together with teachers and students from the school cooking club we made cakes from fair trade ingredients and sold them to students. The profit from this activity will be donated for child health and education in developing countries. During the month of April Ms. Vancell together with a student from our debate team took part in a workshop organised by Kopin, this seminar was held in Poland with the aim to get to know more schools participating in the Schools 2 Community action plan. This workshop gave us new ideas that we can incoporate as part of next year’s action plan. During the first week of May we organised a

Fair Trade Week during which we sold fair

trade products from ‘L-Arka’. Speakers from

Kooperattiva Kummerc Gust organised some

activities for students during the midday break

to make them more aware about inequalities

between different countries and the importance

of Fair Trade to eradicate such problems. This

also served as the closing activity for Global

Action Schools 2 Communities for this

scholastic year 2010/11.

WWW .SCHOOLS2COMMUNITIES .EU

WWW .KOPIN .ORG

For further Information please contact us on

[email protected] / [email protected] /

(+356) 2131 5562 / 99 400 407

Millennium Development Goals Indicators http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/About.htm Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2010/MDG_Report_2010_En_low%20res.pdf MDG Progress http://www.betterbytheyear.org/poverty_trade_debt_goal1.htm

Promoting Democracy by Con-ditioning Aid? http://www.mafhoum.com/press3/100E18.pdf How to measure poverty http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/a-debate-on-multidimensional-poverty-indices

Make a difference now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkKoO58pV-U Thoughts on bottled wa-ter http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/ Young girl speaks up! http://climatechangeeduca-tion.org/videos/youtube/suzuki_un.html Zero Emission Vehicle - Questions and Answers http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/electric.html?detectflash=false& Prize-Winning Climate Change Education in the UK https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/centres/north-east/climate-change-schools-project Nuclear Power - a debate designed for the classroom! https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/resources/1142

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE? KOPIN's Schools2Communities team is looking for good practice examples about global actions in Maltese and Gozitan schools! Please send us, via email to [email protected], any infor-mation, reports, pictures etc. from your and your students' work on global issues, fair trade and climate change!

WWW .SCHOOLS2COMMUNITIES .EU

WWW .KOPIN .ORG

For further Information please contact us on [email protected] / [email protected] / (+356) 2131 5562 / 99 400 407

The Challange of Environmental-ly Sustainable Development in Africa http://www.africare.org/news/edits/ChallengeofEnvironmentallySus-tainableDevelopmentinAfrica.php Malta's Draft National SD Strate-gy http://www.pim.com.mt/pubs/A%20daft%20Sustainable%20Development%20Strategy.pdf Ethiopia's NSDS http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTETHIOPIA/Over-view/20207639/2002_07_prsp.pdf Enhancing the Role of Indige-nous Women in SD http://www.ifad.org/english/indigenous/pub/documents/indigenouswomenReport.pdf AfriCare: Stories from the field and other readers

• Agriculture & Food Security: http://www.africare.org/our-stories/stories/food/index.php

• Water, Sanitation & Hy-giene: http://www.africare.org/our-stories/stories/water/index.php

• Women controlled income generation: http://www.africare.org/our-stories/stories/women/womenIncome.php

Test your knowledge on…

...EU Development Policy

http://www.quizgalore.com/q/result.php#down

...ECO Footprint

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/ ...Development Economics http://www.ecoteacher.asn.au/devel2/devel2.htm ...Biodiversity http://developpementdurable.suez-environnement.com/en/se-tester/quiz-on-biodiversity/quiz-on-biodiversity/ ...Sustainable Food http://www.sustainablefood.com/sfquiz/susfood.htm ... the MDGs http://www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/mdgs.html Global Justice Game http://www.globaljusticegame.mrap.info/index.html

Sources: www.dev-ngos.gr www.kopin.org www.cityofvalletta.org www.skopmalta.org www.migrantsmalta.org www.futureworldscenter.org www.medevnet.org

KOPIN expresses its Solidarity with its partner European Perspective and other Hellenic Development NGOs The financial crisis in Greece has left its mark on many Hellenic non-governmental organisa-tions. In recent months, the national platform of Greek development organisations, the Hellenic Platform for Development, has lost half of its member NGOs, many of which had to shut down due to the lack of finances to maintain their staff and to continue their operations. Due to the same financial crisis, the Greek na-tional development agency Hellenic Aid is not in a position to honour the financial commitments it has made over the previous years to support the exemplary efforts made by many Greek or-ganisations working in the fields of global pov-erty eradication, development education and humanitarian relief, in Greece and many coun-tries of the Majority World. One of the organi-sations that has been hit hard by the Hellenic crisis is KOPIN’s partner European Perspec-tive. Together with European Perspective, KOPIN, the Local Council of Valletta, SKOP (the National Platform of Maltese NGDOs), the Migrants’ Solidarity Movement, the Cypriot NGO Future Worlds Center and other partners in Greece and Cyprus have implemented a highly successful project entitled MEDEVNET – Mediterranean Development Network. The pro-ject was the first of its kind to build the capaci-ties of and to establish networks between civil society organisations and local authorities in the three countries, to more effectively and, equally important, to jointly contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In fact, the project’s activities saw the participation of over 60 Maltese individuals rep-resenting Maltese development and migration NGOs, local councils, ministries, UNHCR and MEUSAC. Many members of European Per-spective continue working for the organisation despite immense financial and, thus, psycho-logical pressures, and the organisation does its best to continue its operations in Europe and overseas. KOPIN and its members express their solidarity with European Perspective and its members in overcoming these difficult times and wish their Hellenic partners strength to con-tinue their efforts in making this world a more just place.

This newsletter has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of KOPIN and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. The S2C Project is co-financed by Betsson Ltd.

WWW .SCHOOLS2COMMUNITIES .EU

WWW .KOPIN .ORG

For further Information please contact us on [email protected] / [email protected] / (+356) 2131 5562 / 99 400 407

The Earth Charter http://www.youtube.com/ECInternational#p/u/44/ukWI8bMIoQw Climate Change and the Earth Charter http://www.youtube.com/ECInternational#p/u/43/dkLMXsPc5Jw Women and SD http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/sustdev/womensus.htm Women and Sustainable Devel-opment (aspect of Agenda 21) http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=women+and+sustainable+development&aq=f GreenPeace: Bluefin's Final Chapter? http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenpeaceVideo#p/search/1/B3G839hT7NY What if the world had a 100 peo-ple? http://www.developmenteducation.ie/resources/video-animations/100-people.html Water and Sanitation (developmenteducation.ie): http://www.developmenteducation.ie/resources/video-animations/water.html Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Don`t let the fun get too short - play a game! Food Force (download): http://www.wfp.org/how-to-help/individuals/food-force Sustainable housing: http://www.mysusthouse.org/game.html MDGs (download): http://byimplication.com/#wildfire Third World Farmer: http://www.3rdworldfarmer.com/index_test.html Logicity: http://www.logicity.co.uk/ Climate Challenge (18+):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/

hottopics/climatechange/

climate_challenge/

WELCOME TO KOPIN! Lucy Pace Gouder studied Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Malta. She was employed within the Gender Equality Unit at the Employment and Training Corporation and later worked for 2 years within the International Or-ganization for Migration. More recently, she was involved in projects with various NGOs working in the field of migration and anti-discrimination. Lucy joined KOPIN at the beginning of May and is coordinating the activities and events related to the implementation of the project together with the participating schools. WELCOME! Franziska Schmid is working for us as an intern between the end of may and the end of july. Having studied politics and sociology in Stuttgart, Germany, she has a good background to join the S2C Team during this period. WELCOME!

!!! S2C ARTS EXHIBITION !!! In mid-July, KOPIN will launch an Arts Exhibi-tion which will feature the national and inter-national winners of the "Mirror of the World" competition! The official invitation will be launched soon! For more info about the arts competition visit http://www.schools2communities.eu/index.php/mirror-of-the-world.html!