U THANT INSTITUTE

FRIENDSHIP ACROSS CULTURES PROGRAMME

Mission :

To advance peace through education and promote intercultural understanding.

Goal:

To create a network of young students from middle schools around the world who will, through their connections with one another, practice tolerance, cooperation and mutual understanding and realize the value of diversity, as well as address the need to develop a spirit of “One World.”

UN Secretary-General U Thant, in the introduction to his 1970 annual report, stated that “… it is incumbent for us now to help the younger generation prepare itself for leadership in a world for which the young will soon assume responsibility. What better time could there be than this twenty-fifth anniversary year for us to endeavor to overcome our many lingering human afflictions so that we may bequeath to the coming generation a safer and better world.”

The Friendship Across Cultures Programme (FAC) is being developed to provide this “coming generation” with the necessary tools to take leadership and responsibility for the world they will inherit from the current generation.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE

“What we need in our education is a synthesis of values – spiritual and moral as well as intellectual - with the aim of producing a fully integrated human being who is inward looking as well as outward looking, who searches his own mind in order that his nobler self may prevail at all times, and at the same time recognizes his obligations to his fellow men and the world around him. Because while the world is sinking, humanity is multiplying and each of us has to recognize his essential kinship to every other member of the human race. ” U Thant

As U Thant believed education should be spiritual and intellectual, the Friendship Across Cultures Programme endeavors to reflect that vision by creating educational opportunities that promote peace.

The Friendship Across Cultures Programme will connect a school in the United States and a school in another part of the world. Among other activities, these two schools will develop a collaborative project to raise funds for school supplies for a school in a developing country in another continent. This project will not only help young students learn about each other’s cultures, but it will also awaken their feelings of tenderness and empathy toward their global brothers and sisters. It will encourage them to be conscious of their shared responsibilities as citizens of one world.

The Friendship Across Cultures Programme will be an after school activity led by a faculty member who will serve as an adviser. Advisers will receive an activity package that will include suggested readings as well as group and individual projects. During the weekly, hour-and-a-half programme, the adviser(s) will be encouraged to find fun and effective ways to link students at the schools through Internet and video communication. This is a flexible program, so participants can create their own activities based on current events; however, all participants will be asked to collaborate on a project on peace and understanding to be completed by the end of the school year.

All students and advisers involved in the programme will be expected to have some knowledge of the English language. The U Thant Institute will work with Teachers Across Borders to develop “English as a Second Language (ESL)” training programmes for teachers in non-English speaking countries. As the programme expands, schools will be selected based on the criteria established by the Officers, Directors and Trustees of the U Thant Institute.

Students will focus on the issue of peace and understanding found in literature, social science, politics and other disciplines. The U Thant Institute, in consultation with educators from different schools in the United States, will develop and provide a guide and kit for the programme; however, teachers will be encouraged to create their own lessons plans. This kit will include teacher resources such as maps, a short history of each country and some pertinent global issues. The Institute will provide a list of suggested reading and will encourage teachers to use a variety of methods to get the students discussing and thinking about peace and understanding.

ACTIVITIES

The following are some intended activities:

· Literature on Peace and Understanding: Students will be given a suggested reading list based on age and skill level that highlights and emphasizes the theme of peace and mutual understanding.

· Peace Journals: Each programme participant will keep a journal about his/her thoughts on peace as well as project activities and experiences.

· Pledge for Peace and Understanding: Students will sign a pledge to work toward peace and understanding.

· Peace Day: Each student will learn about the events that furthered peace on his or her birthday and will be encouraged to share with their peers what they might do to create peace and gain a better understanding of diverse cultures.

· Exchanging Experiences: Teachers or other advisers will help American and international students learn about each other’s lives and the things they enjoy doing such as sports, books, music, art, dance, customs and traditions, food, clothing, housing, holidays and national celebrations. Through language arts, dance, folktales and games, teachers will offer students a chance to build connections and linkage.

· Collaborative Project: Students will conceptualize, develop and coordinate a project to raise funds and resources for books and computers in another Friendship Across Cultures school in a developing country on another continent.

As of September 2007, the United Nations International School (UNIS), located in New York City, and the Dae-chi Middle School, located in Seoul, Republic of Korea, have paired up as the launch institutions of the pioneering Friendship Project. The United Nations International School, which was founded in 1947 under the auspices of the United Nations, “extends its philosophy that people who work and play together will also negotiate together.” The school has more than 1,500 students from 117 countries around the world. Its middle school, from fifth to eighth grade, has more than 500 students.

Dae-Chi Middle School in Seoul, with more than 1,000 students, has school policies “to foster global networks through education.” These two schools are natural partners for this premiere project.

Because of U Thant’s enthusiastic support of the United Nations International School’s vision and policies, the U Thant Institute is delighted that the first project of this programme is between UNIS and a school in the country of the second Asian

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. A school in Algeria will be the third Friendship school for this collaborative project. Since U Thant took such an active role in the establishment of Algeria as an independent state, it is meaningful and appropriate for the children of Algeria to be the beneficiaries of this first project. Future projects will include schools in Tanzania and Liberia. In later phases, it is anticipated that schools on all continents will participate.

The Institute will use this first year to establish some best practices, to prepare for an expanded programme and to evaluate the experience of our participants. In June, 2009, the Institute plans to graduate its first class of global citizens and hopes to be poised to deliver the programme to many more classrooms - classrooms that will soon be on their way to a better understanding of the “One World” in which we live.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

The U Thant Institute sees much promise in its Friendship Across Cultures Programme and welcomes partners who will help provide the enthusiasm and resources needed to expand its reach into more schools in more countries. To do this, it is looking for contributions that will enable the staff and its Directors to use this first year to evaluate the initiative and provide the supplies and tools necessary to create a productive and successful programme.

As part of the programme, the Institute plans to provide activity guides, books, journals and some supplies, as well as other appropriate materials. Contributions will help to fulfill those needs as well as create an infrastructure that will be necessary to take this programme to the next level. As such, the Institute is looking for donors who are interested in providing the seed money that will enable it to evaluate and assess this first year, create activity guides and help to create the staffing and administrative support that this programme will require. Donors who are looking to direct their funds toward classroom work are also encouraged to get involved.

Those interested in contributing to the programme are encouraged to contact the late Secretary-General’s daughter, Daw Aye Aye Thant, President and Founder of the U Thant Institute, at the Westport Office.

The U Thant Institute is a non-political, non-sectarian non-profit and non-stock corporation. It has a 501c(3) status and donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.