Building Global Citizenship Amongst American Students

In March of 2015, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Community Engagement Fellows Fariha Alam (Washington, DC) and Katie Barcy (Nashville) came together in Washington, DC to attend the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) conference. This year’s theme revolved around Ubuntu, a global humanist education for empowerment. The week-long event was filled with presentations, workshops, and discussions surrounding the issue of education in a global context. In attendance were practitioners, scholars, and students whose work touched on various themes within education.

Fariha and Katie hosted a workshop for conference attendees on TeachUNICEF, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s suite of educational resources for PK-12 students on global issues. The topic of their workshop was building global citizenship among American students using TeachUNICEF as a resource. The workshop included an interactive walk-through of a TeachUNICEF lesson and open discussion on the multiple creative uses of these resources. Workshop attendees included teachers, administrators, and non-profit professionals who will be able to apply this knowledge in their communities.

The Fellows also attended a variety of workshops and presentations related to important issues in education impacting children worldwide. Some of these included sessions on innovations in education in conflict zones, transitional justice, and workshops on UNICEF’s Learning For Peace program. Through these workshops and presentations, the Fellows expanded their knowledge and understanding of global issues in education and explored interesting ideas, innovations, and programs to support children worldwide. While at CIES, the Fellows had the opportunity to connect and interact with UNICEF staff, learning valuable information about UNICEF’s education programs from the field to share with their respective cities and regions.

To learn more about The U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s global education resources, please visit teachunicef.org.