Explore initiatives & stories from UNESCO networks.

NCJWA Vic offers a set of programs for seniors which encourages social interaction, improve health and provides inspiring experiences for older women and men. The programs are inclusive and offer a sense of community and family. The Golden Age Clubs are open to Holocaust survivors from the former Soviet Union living in social housing. Participants are offered exercise classes, discussion groups, visits to different places of interest and a way to connect with their Jewish heritage through celebration of festivals. The Golden Age Clubs take place now virtually, using telephone conferencing. The meetings are held in small groups and are facilitated by our program coordinator. The meetings include guest speakers, educational programs, and discussion groups. We have also introduced the initiative ‘NCJWA Vic Sessions’, for Seniors Program volunteers also offering group discussions and guest speakers via Zoom. NCJWA Vic has the ability to evolve as situation changes, we are constantly updating the ways in which we operate to meet the current needs of our community. We will keep supporting those who are in need, while adapting to the reality and identifying new opportunities to work within the current environment.

The Jam Project is a teenage - buddy program matching girls aged 14-16 years with a female 'buddy' aged 21-28, with the goal of promoting the empowerment of girls, while helping to build their own sense of self-worth, self-belief and autonomy. Ordinarily, this is achieved through secure and reliable fortnightly catch ups for up to a period of a year. In addition monthly group sessions bring the girls and buddies together for workshops and activities that enhance their mindset and promote their curiosity, resilience and autonomy. The girls and their buddies now catch up weekly on phone or Facetime and staff are in regular weekly contact with them. The program offers ad hoc activities for buddies and girls in Zoom while maintain the monthly group sessions. We also introduced a weekly newsletter for the Jam Family (girls, buddies and parents) which provides discussion topics and stay at home activities that the girls and buddies can share.  

Caring Mums is a confidential, non- denominational program providing emotional support to mothers and pregnant women. It matches trained volunteers to new mums with the goal of developing secure trusting relationships. Through up to 12 months of regular weekly meetings, mums’ feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression decrease, while their parenting confidence, sense of belonging and connection grow significantly. In response to the COVID- 19, NCJWA Vic quickly adapted the program to operate in the on-line environment. Our priority was to keep offering our service as we understood the impact this reality could have on vulnerable and isolated populations. Face to Face weekly catch ups between the participant and her volunteer were replaced by Facetime calls, often accompanied by small acts of kindness such as a take away coffee left on the participant’s door step. Sometimes the volunteer accompanied the participant virtually (via Facetime) on a walk. Our Caring Mums team have maintained fortnightly supervision sessions for volunteers via zoom and are always available by phone. New intakes have continued with staff matching new mums to volunteers. We continue to train new volunteers to meet demand. All volunteers receive 20 hours of training. Usually this takes place over 5 weeks in a face to face setting. The most recent training was interrupted by the pandemic and quickly switched to an online platform. To counteract the enhanced isolation many of our participants were experiencing we introduced a new virtual mothers’ group ‘Caring Mums Together’. The group is facilitated by Michelle Kornberg (Caring Mums Coordinator, educator, family counsellor, parenting, relationships and grief specialist) and meets weekly. The group are in regular contact between sessions via WhatsApp. In addition, we have initiated a fortnightly Caring Mums newsletter for all Caring Mums stakeholders with interesting parenting articles, podcasts and Ted Talks.

In the first of two articles, teacher educators Kate Coleman and Abbey MacDonald share practical examples of how visual arts teachers transformed the ways they connected and communicated with students, and each other, during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure a continuity of learning.

In the first of two articles, teacher educators Kate Coleman and Abbey MacDonald share practical examples of how visual arts teachers transformed the ways they connected and communicated with students, and each other, during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure a continuity of learning.

This is a document that collects a series of art education practices that have taken place in Portugal since the beginning of the lockdown. To celebrate the International Arts Education Week 2020, Arte Central launched this project called "Set of Art Education Practices: visual arts in pandemic times". We invited teachers from all levels of education to participate by sharing the activities they are working on with students. We received 30 generous contributions, here collected, but teachers continue to send us material, so that we might have to launch a second edition, with more activities. As a member of the International Society for Education Through Art (InSEA) and of the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE), Arte Central has decided to mark that special week by becoming an aggregating element, making the bridge between these teachers, sharing their practices, in order also to understand what is happening in Visual Arts in our formal education system.

The International Association of Universities called into life by UNESCO in 1950 and with Associate Status with UNESCO and ECOSOC Accreditaion responded to the disruptions caused by the pandemic at the level of higher education around the world. As unique global Association, IAU immediately reacted to the disruption caused by the pandemic and launched a monitoring mechanim, a global survey on the impact of COVID-19, dialogue on the topic connected experts from around the world and fosters international cooperation buy facilitating strategic meetings with key education stakeholders from all five continents.

Abstract for the report Catholic schools serve 62.2 million students globally at the preschool, primary, and secondary levels. As the largest non-governmental school network in the world, the schools play an important role in efforts to achieve SDG4, especially in lowincome countries. This report documents some of the contributions of Catholic schools globally, as well as some of the challenges they face in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis. The potential impacts of the crisis and responses implemented by Catholic schools globally are documented considering both developing and developed countries. (OIEC Website).

The International Council of Associations for Science Education (ICASE), in collaboration with the Texas STEM Coalition (T-STEM) and the University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler), created the COVID-19 Engineering Challenge to provide students of all ages with a platform to identify and design solutions to challenges and world-wide problems related to the pandemic. Students are encouraged to identify areas of need, brainstorm and design solutions, and communicate their designs to their classmates, families, and community members. Teacher instructions and a sample student project are available in the six United Nations (UN) languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) plus Japanese, Portuguese and Turkish, on the project website. Teachers are asked to respond to a short survey summarizing the work of their students and will be provided with participation certificates to personalize for their students, a world-wide map displaying the countries represented by Challenge participants, as well as a summary of all design project titles submitted by the end of each round of the Challenge. Round 1 of the COVID-19 Engineering Challenge will take place from March - December 2020; Round 2 will take place from January - December 2021. For more information see link below and join the fun!

The Commonwealth Creativity & Innovation Challenge is for girls and boys, in school and at home, aged 8-16 years. The impact of COVID-19 means that more than 1.5 billion children are currently out of school. Lockdown has shown us new possibilities where children might be able to access education using tech. Designed and run by the Commonwealth Businesswomen's Network (CBWN), Flow In Action and the GSMA, the Challenge invites young people to imagine and share their innovative ideas to solve UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030. The Challenge asks children and youth, “What if...a mobile phone was a school?” It invites them to think about and explore how a mobile phone can be used offline (and/or online) to learn wherever they are in the world. They will are using their problem-solving and creative thinking skills to come up with ideas and develop their digital skills as they create their design, to share with other young people around the Commonwealth. In response to the Challenge, they create a poster of their concept and share it with the organisers to display in the online Commonwealth Gallery, which will open in June 2020. This Challenge is designed and run by a team of women involved in innovation, education and enterprise who are passionate about giving young people opportunities to unleash their creativity using design thinking and technology to be problem-solvers for people and planet.

In response to COVID 19 “learn at home” initiatives, Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) is mining our Resources for Rethinking database (R4R.ca) to identify easy to use, hands-on activities, connected to curriculum, that parents can do with their children at home. Linked to our Step Outside Guides and the Sustainable Development Goals, we are developing a weekly email with activities K-12 that teachers and parents can sign up to receive. While we support learning both inside and out, we're putting a special emphasis on outdoor nature activities to help kids develop an affinity with the earth and support positive mental health outcomes that experiencing nature provides.

Government of Québec (Canada) Québec state's official online learning platform for K12 education levels, including resources in English and in French divided by subject area.

Mise en place par le Gouvernement du Québec (Canada) et conçue dans un esprit ludique et développée dans un format accessible, la plateforme offre des ressources variées permettant aux parents et aux élèves de réaliser des activités de différentes natures, et ce, dans plusieurs matières et à tous les niveaux scolaires. Ces activités, qu’elles soient scolaires, sociales ou physiques, contribueront à parfaire les connaissances et les habiletés des élèves dans nombre de domaines.

As an Art Center, we seek to promote encounters, learning, creativity, expression and the creation of favorable environments that contribute to the quality of life of our community. At the end of March 2020, we created the PAINTING AT HOME Project, an open and free virtual meeting space for the elderly, which consists of proposing various pictorial activities weekly, which the participants carry out at home. These experiences are shared through a virtual platform, in which we can comment and generate communication spaces, as an accompaniment for the days of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nous souhaitons résoudre la question du délaissement des apprenants à eux-mêmes en raison de la fermeture des écoles. Pour cela, nous avons conçu une plateforme sur laquelle nous mettons en ligne des cours donnés par des professeurs des lycées et collèges à l'adresse des enfants. Notre innovation réside dans le fait que l'apprenant peut suivre le cours autant de fois qu'il le désire et au moment où il le désire. Il peut entrer en contact avec le professeur et poser ses questions de compréhension auxquelles le professeur répond très rapidement.

Nous souhaitons résoudre la question du délaissement des apprenants à eux-mêmes en raison de la fermeture des écoles. Pour cela, nous avons conçu une plateforme sur laquelle nous mettons en ligne des cours donnés par des professeurs des lycées et collèges à l'adresse des enfants. Notre innovation réside dans le fait que l'apprenant peut suivre le cours autant de fois qu'il le désire et au moment où il le désire. Il peut entrer en contact avec le professeur et poser ses questions de compréhension auxquelles le professeur répond très rapidement.

The current global pandemic means university graduates entering the workforce will face an unprecedented employment landscape. It can be tough, but we want to help you! The Misk remote Internship Program was designed to support Saudi students and fresh graduates secure an internship at an international organization in the career field of your choice. As organizations embrace remote work, we too have modified our program. Students will now complete an 8 – 12-week internship remotely, while still benefiting from an unparalleled hands-on learning opportunity.

The Calligrapher platform is the first online platform to teach Arabic calligraphy and the ornamentation online, in cooperation with the Saudi Ministry of Culture and by a handful of professional calligraphers who have been carefully selected to share their experiences through training courses. It is one of the winning initiatives for the year of Arabic Calligraphy 2020, as the platform has become open to all with free courses and lessons.

What is the Ithra Connect initiative? Time is everything. And we have had no time to waste in the launching of a new initiative by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra). The new Ithra Connect initiative provides an online platform for transforming the hours of anticipation and waiting brought on by these exceptional circumstances with an outlet for productivity and self-development. The Ithra Connect initiative includes diverse interactive programs and educational media for all segments of society through Ithra’s website and social media outlets such as YouTube and Twitter via the #IthraConnect hashtag. The initiative presents knowledge and thought enrichment programs covering the five pillars on which Ithra stands – Creativity, Culture, Knowledge, Art and Community. Why did Ithra launch this initiative? Local and international health authorities agree that staying at home is the most effective approach to keeping families and society safe during our current situation. This has resulted in an abundance of free time for so many of our daily lives since schooling and work have largely ground to a halt. The Ithra Connect initiative is an extension of Ithra’s role in growing knowledge and inspiring new tracks of creativity through the latest teaching methods. The goal is to present exceptional cultural experiences through innovative approaches as part of its dedication to the community and in solidarity with the Kingdom’s efforts to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Through diversified content, Ithra Connect seeks to provide a rich experience for our community and reach new members. The initiative seeks to bridge the gap created by circumstance between Ithra’s offerings and our audience, visitors, participants and members. To achieve this, we are offering this collection of nine interactive programs to engage the interests of family members and each of their age groups.

The project aims to ensure interactivity of the television lessons broadcast by the Ministry of Education and to increase the opportunities for distance teaching in general. The "Virtual School" project is being implemented within the framework of cooperation between the Ministry of Education and “Microsoft” corporation.

Under the UNESCO-Citi Foundation project on Creative Youth at Indonesian Heritage Sites aiming to build the entrepreneurial capacity of 400 youths living in and around famous heritage destinations, a series of trainings on product development, business planning, brand building, storytelling, and social media marketing are to be delivered.

Jordan’s Ministry of Culture art and creative industries online training platform.

Reading has always been a way to stay educated and intellectually active for both adults and young people. Lancelot.education is an online platform created in the Arab Emirates for French-speaking countries in Africa which was created to encourage young people in their reading efforts. The principle is simple, a child reads a book and, on our platform, collects points by answering different questions about the book. By monitoring the number of points collected, parents and teachers can see if a child has understood what it has read and can adjust their teaching and supervision of their children accordingly. Lancelot.education is mainly an educational support tool for understanding books of the school curriculum in French African countries. Additionally, the platform also covers classic French literature books and books for young readers. Lancelot can also support students deprived of education during this difficult period of covid-19. Teachers can use Lancelot as a tool for better monitoring and testing the efforts of their students while at the same time, students feel encouraged in tracking their reading progress. www.lancelot.education

With funding from the Government of Kazakhstan, the UNESCO Almaty Office initiated a Youth for Sustainable Development Project, with training modules developed on Education for Sustainable Development, Biosphere Reserves, Project Planning, Intercultural Understanding and Cultural Heritage, and Media and Information Literacy. These modules will be transformed into online format and focused on the development of online courses to be made available for ASP schools, UNESCO Clubs and Community Media Centres in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

As a part of inter-sectorial response to COVID-19 outbreak, the UNESCO Almaty Office aims to support children and adolescents from the most vulnerable groups through the series of online art workshops that lead by youth artists and members of Kazakhstan National Federation of UNESCO Clubs. In order to improve children’s mental health and emotional state for a better well-being and successful recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, this initiative corresponds with the UNESCO’s global campaign #ResiliArt #ArtConnects dedicated to the World Arts Day.