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>Together with six other non-governmental organizations, the Catholic section of Chittagong has planted trees for 16 miles on a provincial road frequently used by tourists. This can help avoid landslides during the rainy season and the environment. The thanks of the local government.</em></p> <p>Chittagong - <strong>Planting trees to help protect the environment</strong> and prevent landslides and floods, but also "for a better world to live in together". This was the goal of Caritas Bangladesh, along with six other non-governmental organizations, who have planted trees along 16 kilometers of road in the area of Bandarban. The end of summer, the volunteers explained, "is the best time to plant. They will not immediately suffer the blistering heat and will have time to take root".
<p><em>The Juniper Forest of Ziarat in Balochistan, which is believed to be the second largest of its kind in the world, has been declared as Biosphere Reserve.</em></p> <p><strong>The International Coordinating Council of Man and Biosphere</strong> (ICCMAB) Programme of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which announced the title for Juniper Forest of Ziarat had earlier in 1977, declared Lal Suhanra in Cholistan desert of southern Punjab province as Biosphere Reserve. Thus, the development is considered historic in many ways.</p> <p><strong>According to Pakistan Museum of Natural History</strong> (PMNH), the Biosphere Reserve of Ziarat is habitat to the largest patch of Juniper forests (juniperus excelsa polycarpos) in Pakistan and measures about 110,000 HA.</p>
<p><em>Argentine restaurant employing disabled people leads by example</em></p> <p><strong>For fifteen years a small</strong>, successful enterprise in Buenos Aires has been selling hotdogs, hamburgers and pizzas.</p> <p><strong>It's a restaurant like</strong> many others, but with one significant difference. Most of the people who work at "Discapanch" have a disability.</p> <p><strong>Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/">www.bbc.com
<p><em>Observatory to meet society's ‘real demands’, minist</em></p> <p style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 15.6000003814697px;"><strong>Italy's education ministry</strong> on Tuesday launched a national observatory for the integration of foreign students and interculturalism in the country's schools.</p> <p><strong>The observatory is</strong> mandated to "identify ways of bringing policies for school integration into line with the real demands of a society that is increasingly multicultural and in constant transformation", Education Minister Stefania Giannini said.</p>
<p><em>Poland +3.2%, Czech Republic +2.6%</em></p> <p>(ANSA) - <strong>The Eurozone deals with zero growth</strong>, Italy sees again the recession and even Germany's economy is contracting, but the economies of Eastern Europe continue reach growth. Poland has recorded a GDP growth of 3.2% in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period of 2013 and an increase of 0.6% over the first quarter of 2014. In the same period Czech Republic grew by 2.6% (zero growth in the first quarter), Hungary by 3.9% (0.8%), Romania 1.4% (-1%), Slovakia by 2.5% (0.6%) and Bulgaria by 1.6% (0.5%).
<p itemprop="alternativeHeadline description"><em>Russia and Ukraine "reach ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko announces</em></p> <p itemprop="alternativeHeadline description"><strong>Moscow's and Kiev's positions</strong> on how to end the crisis in eastern Ukraine are "very close," Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. A permanent ceasefire deal brokered by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe could be reached as early as Friday, he said.</p> <p itemprop="alternativeHeadline description"><strong>The 3th of september Ukrainian President</strong> Petro Poroshenko spoke of agreement concerning the steps required to reach a "permanent ceasefire". The statement was later revised, limiting agreement to a "ceasefire regime".
<p><em>Through soccer, youth in South Africa come closer to one another.</em></p> <p><strong>Like many others from my generation</strong>, after graduation I was working part-time while struggling to find meaningful, career-focused work, when I stumbled across an internship opportunity with the Football Foundation of South Africa (FFSA), among other job postings in a newsletter.</p> <p><strong>The FFSA is a nonprofit organization</strong> founded in 2008 that has served the small town of Gansbaai and surrounding communities ever since by offering social integration, education and life skills through the vehicle of sports.
<p><em>Two associations for social development that have been operating in Africa for many years. Testimonies from some of the protagonists, personal and collective stories supported by a strong spirit of brotherhood</em>.</p> <p><strong>The Focolare’s United World Project (AMU)</strong> and its partner in Burundi, Cadre Associatif des Solidaires (CASOBU), are quite a winning team! This is thanks also to co-financing by several Italian state entities with whom they were able to conclude several microcredit projects on the peripheries of Bujumbura and in the Province of Ruyigi, Burundi. In all, 80 microcredit groups have been established. The savings accumulated within each group has allowed 406 people to take part in the first project; and 722 people in the second project to begin a production business that enables them to support their families.
<p><em>A day to remember: the 23th of august the Baltic states marked 25 years since two million people joined hands in a landmark human chain linking up their capitals to demand freedom from the Soviet Union.</em></p> <p><strong>All three Baltic prime ministers gathered</strong> in Riga to commemorate the anniversary of this act of peaceful defiance that spanned more than 600 kilometres (400 miles) across the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian republics of the Soviet Union and became known as the Baltic Way.</p> <p><strong>"The Baltic Way was our way to freedom ?-</strong> a way for our countries to show the rest of the world that we wanted to be free," Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma said alongside her Estonian and Lithuanian counterparts at the national library.
Dialogue & Interculture
New Humanity NGO presented the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW project — co-financed by the Erasmus Plus Program — to the Youth Section of UNESCO in Paris.
Peace & Human Rights
Amid the rubble of Syria, art becomes an act of resistance. Discover the story of Aeham Ahmad, the “The Pianist of Yarmouk”, who defied the horror of war with the invincible beauty of his musical notes.
Operation Mato Grosso is working on over 100 missions across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, all rooted in education, hard work, and solidarity. Jacopo Manara, who has been a volunteer for years, tells us their story.
An interview on communication with Michele Zanzucchi, journalist and writer, former director of Città Nuova, professor of communication at Sophia University Institute and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and author of around forty books.
EN
