Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>It will take place in the Permanent Mariapolis of <strong>Loppiano</strong>, in the province of Florence, Italy, from April 29 to May 1, 2017, on the theme of Peace.</em></p> <p>The title is provocative: "<strong><a href="http://www.primomaggioloppiano.it/">Change your Heart. Change the World</a></strong>". That is, begin with your own heart and change the world around you.<br />The <strong>Meeting</strong> is conceived as a journey of discovery of the thousands of actions in which the <strong><a href="http://www.y4uw.org/en/">Youth for a United World</a></strong> are already committed to building a future of peace in the most various areas, along with <strong>other movements, associations, and groups</strong>, including: Nuovi Orizzonti, Rondine, Centro internazionale La Pira, Non dalla guerra, Living Peace, Istituto Universitario Sophia, Dancelab, EcoOne, Economia disarmata, Barbiana, and Sportmeet.</p>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;"><em style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri Light', sans-serif;"><strong>For most people, holidays are a time to "escape from reality", to rest, to do what one likes. Some even seek to get away from people so they can rest. But some people are different ... and these people decided, therefore, to live "different holidays".</strong></span></em></h4> <p>January 5 through 15 in San José, a small town located in the heart of the <strong>Calchaquíes Valleys</strong> of the Province of Catamarca, in the Northwest of Argentina, 60 young people and adults from Paraguay, Uruguay, Guatemala, and Argentina gathered to challenge the ordinary logic and organize a rest without being governed by "what one wants" but based on "building it with the other."</p>
<p><em>10th Edition of ReGENerate not to be missed!</em></p> <p>For 10 years now, young people involved or connected in the <strong><a href="http://www.focolare.org/gb/">Focolare Movement</a></strong> across <strong>Great Britain</strong>, <strong>Ireland</strong> and <strong>Western Europe</strong> have been coming together, once a year at the Focolare Centre of Unity in Welwyn Garden City, to ReGENerate.</p> <p>From the 24th-26th February 2016, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/regenerate2017/"><strong>ReGENerate</strong> </a>will once again come to Welwyn Garden City for what Conleth Burns, one of the young people in the Focolare states will be a "very special weekend."</p>
<p><em style="background-color: transparent;">Morocco in its natural family: a step towards the unity of the continent</em></p> <p>So often African news is about a suffering Africa. On January 31, 2017, Africa became an Africa that sings thanks to the return of <strong>Morocco</strong> to the African Union family after more than 30 years outside the continental organization.</p> <p>Indeed, the <strong><a href="https://www.au.int/">African Union</a></strong> is a continental organization created by the African leaders in Addis Ababa in 1963 to strengthen the unity of the continent and lead the peoples of the continent towards an African renaissance.</p>
<h2>The RImPRESA Project started off!</h2> <p><em>It is aimed at offering a support to the recovery of many small productive, trade, and tourism businesses affected by the earthquake in Central Italy, in the areas along the Via Salaria, in the territory between Amatrice and Ascoli Piceno, in the Val Nerina and in the Abruzzo Region. Rural areas, whose economy was mainly based on agriculture and sheep and cattle livestock, and whose customers were their same population along with tourists who came in summer and for the weekends.</em></p> <p>It all started after the earthquake that last August destroyed the town of Accumoli, in the Province of Rieti, Central Italy.</p> <p>A few days later, Federica left her home, in the Southern Province of Rome, officially:<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">«T</span>o go and check the condition of the house inherited by my husband<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">». I</span>n fact, as she adds <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">«B</span>ecause Roberto and his family were from Accumoli. After his death, we created an association of social promotion called<em> </em><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/abbraccioplanetario/">Abbraccio planetario</a></strong><em> </em>(Planetary Hug) to carry out actions that promote the values in which he believed, such as the care and love for our neighbours, especially the weakest. I went to Accumoli because I wanted to see with my own eyes the actual situation and what we could do to help them<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">».</span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">International Photo Competition 2017</span></h2> <h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Show that the world is full of sustainable alternatives in food and energy!</span></h2> <p>The campaign <strong><a href="http://www.cidse.org/rethinking-development/change-for-the-planet-care-for-the-people.html">Change for the planet - Care for the People</a></strong> has launched it’s first <a href="http://www.cidse.org/articles/rethinking-development/photocompetition.html">International Photo Competition</a> inviting participants to submit photographs of inspiring, citizen-led sustainable initiatives around food and energy.</p>
<p>1100 people from 49 countries, involved in the Economy of Communion, will meet Pope Francis on Saturday, February 4, 2017.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><em>The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere, on January 18 – 25, offers an opportunity to highlight not only many events that are taking place around the world, but also the daily dialogue of life among ordinary Christians, aroused by Chiara Lubich's charism.
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
More than 170 events across dozens of countries brought United World Week 2026 to life through initiatives, meetings, and concrete actions dedicated to peace, fraternity, and the building of a more united world.
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
Economy & Work
Active Citizenship & Politics
After thirty years spent in some of the world's most challenging environments, Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, reflects on child protection, hope and the humanity that endures even in the midst of war.
Active Citizenship & Politics
Stefano Zaffino, author of Fraternità e Profezia (Fraternity and Prophecy): The Thought of Igino Giordani in the Wake of the Encyclical Fratelli tutti, reflects on fraternity as a response to the conflicts and divisions of the contemporary world.
Economy & Work
Anna Granata, professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, reminds us that teaching peace is not an abstract utopia. It is something that happens every day in Italian classrooms among children with diverse stories, languages, and backgrounds.
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