The project, Trailblazers of Global Bildung, is coordinated by Fingo. The project aims to strengthen the holistic understanding of global Bildung in line with the UN Agenda 2030. The project brings together actors for peer-learning in order to develop ways to promote a globally sustainable and just future through education, culture and civic engagement. The project kicked off in early August 2021 and will end in May 2022.
The project is funded by The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra’s Bildung+ -project. The project aims to emphasize and bring forward a global perspective and globe-wide causal relationships on the debate on Bildung and the future. The project calls in a wide range of actors to share their expertise and develop ways of encouraging people of all ages to participate in building a sustainable future.
Trailblazers of Global Bildung (Globaalit sivityksen edelläkävijät in Finnish) inspires civil society organisations and education and training professionals to reflect on the role and transformative power of Bildung in building a sustainable and just future. The project will explore approaches to transformative learning, global citizenship education, and systems and futures thinking, and together build new ways of thinking and operating.
Project objectives
- To promote the advancement of global Bildung, societal debate and cooperation between actors working on the topic, in line with Agenda 2030.
- To strengthen the understanding and capacity of civil society actors, organisations, educators, and the general public on the themes and means of global citizenship education.
- To raise awareness on the expertise of civil society organisations, the significance of global citizenship education, and to disseminate tools and good practices.
A core concept in the project the Finnish word sivistys. It could beroughly be translated as education, but the word carries more connotations than its English equivalent: including but not restricted to self-cultivation, scholarship, critical thinking, open-mindedness and empathy. The closest approximation would be the German word Bildung, which covers the with its Humboldtian roots carries majority of connotations that the word sivistys does as well.
What is the project about?
The project will establish a polyphonic network on global Bildung, bringing together stakeholders to build a shared understanding of the concept of global Bildung, and how to push the solution forward in our society. The network will support peer-learning and the sharing of good practice among those working on the themes. The network contributes to the societal debate and provides perspectives and content for project events and communications to the general public.
- Events – The project will organise discussion events and hackathons, inviting actors and change-makers in the field of education and culture to peer-learn and develop together. Events will be organised throughout the year. The topics will cover global citizenship education, the future of learning and sustainable future skills for social change.
- Consensus Conference – The Consensus Conference will be organised in cooperation with Vapaa Sivistystyö ry, an association for liberal adult education in Finland, and the programme Freedom and Responsibility of Liberal Adult Education in early 2022. The Conference will discuss themes regarding the future of global Bildung and eco-social justice in a polyphonic and participatory manner through workshops.
- Article series – The project include publishing articles, podcasts and videos where civil society organisations and education experts and researchers will reflect on global development issues and sustainable futures.
- End seminar and final publication – The end seminar will bring together ideas and methodologies generated by the processes to inspire reflection on questions pertaining to global Bildung. The publication, which is to be launched at the end seminar, will bring together lessons, good practices and methodologies of the project for different actors’ use.
Who is the project aimed at?
- Education and training professionals, civil society organisations, researchers and others interested in promoting a globally sustainable and just future through education, training and civic engagement. The project invites actors to network, share their knowledge and jointly develop ways to advance global Bildung in line with Agenda 2030 in their own activities.
- Civil society organisations: The project provides arenas for organisations to showcase their expertise on global issues and network with new actors.
- Anyone and everyone: The project provides information and tools on global Bildung and learning in line with UN Agenda 2030. The achievement of UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 requires that by 2030 everyone should have the knowledge and skills needed to promote globally sustainable and just development.
Partners
The project, led by Fingo, is a collaboration between several different parties. The partners and experts in the project are the CSO global citizenship education network, Vapaa Sivistystyö, Finnish multicultural network Moniheli, AGORA for the study of social justice and equality in education, Kudelma – a network for comprehensive and sustainable systemic change, the OKKA Foundation and the University of Helsinki and University of Oulu research project Pedagogy of Concreate Utopias.
Through the project partners, the core themes of global Bildung are combined: global citizenship education, social justice, systems thinking, planetary education and concrete utopia as building blocks for the promotion of a sustainable future.
The project is funded by Sitra’s Bildung+ project.
How to get involved?
The project welcomes wide range of stakeholders interested in promoting a globally sustainable and just future through Bildung, education, culture, and training as well as civic engagement. The network and events are open to professionals in the fields of Bildung, civil society organisations and education, as well as to actors in the arts, culture, and other change-makers.
We welcome you to learn, make an impact and develop together!
Join the network on the Facebook group for the project at Globaalin sivistyksen edelläkävijät and stay up to date with the project on the Globaalikasvatus Facebook page and the blog (in Finnish).