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>Young people travelled 20 days across Europe and Asia to send out a signal against the division of Korea – and for peace in the country which has been split in two for 63 years.</em></p> <p><strong>“They’re coming, they’re coming,”</strong> shouts a young women, looking toward the train pulling into platform 6 at Busan Station. When the doors open, people get off with large suitcases. They look tired – yet incredibly happy at the same time. They’ve travelled from Berlin to Busan, 20 days across Europe and Asia. Their objective: to send out a signal against the division of Korea – and for peace in the country which has been split in two for 63 years.</p> <p><strong>The “Peace Train”, as the project is called</strong>, is part of a peace initiative of the National Council of Churches in Korea which aims to raise awareness of the East Asian country’s continuing division and to campaign for its reunification. Around 120 participants covered a distance of some 10,500 kilometers en route to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches taking place in Busan from 30 October to 8 November. The project was supported by several national church organizations.</p>
<p><em>When transparency and integrity lead to unexpected solutions. The courage of a group of workers connected to an NGO in Angola makes them a reference point of reliability and honesty.</em></p> <p><strong>«I’ve been working in an NGO since 2008</strong>. I started out in this job coordinating an area under the direction of the executive director. Then, in the end of 2010 I took some holidays. When I returned to work, I found that the executive director had offered her resignation and I was asked to take her place. When I began, I found things that were left suspended and among them something rather delicate.</p> <p><strong>It had to do with theft.</strong> During 2007 and 2008 the ex-director had stolen the taxes from the salaries of the workers and from the NGO, and had not paid them to the State. And so we had to pay a fine of some 75,000 dollars, which was an enormous amount for our organization. Perhaps to cover up what she had done, the former director had paid a certain amount on behalf of each worker that corresponded to the amount that had been deducted from their salary in those years. And she kept for himself the amount that the organization was expected to pay to the State.
<p> </p> <p><em>Working for strategic recommendations 2015-2012 at the second day of the Forum. We follow the work from Paris with the Youth for a United World .</em></p> <p><strong>30 of October - Day 2</strong>. " Here at the Forum we will continue to work on recommendations for the Operational Strategy on Youth 2015-2021. We talk about the review of policies of UNESCO , capacity development for the transition to adult life and civic engagement .</p> <p><strong>"During the work session</strong> on the third theme (civil commitment , ndr.) we began to share some of our concrete experiences in this field. Soon after some others joined to tell the deeds done. At this point the moderator has proposed to suggest the creation of a mapping of good practice.</p> <p><strong>"It's a bit ' late</strong> and at this point the ' team ' greets you and we’ll update you tomorrow , the day when the final recommendations will be adopted and put on the final document ."</p>
<p><em>From 29 to 31 October 2013, the Youth for a United World are participating with the United World Project to the eighth edition of the event promoted from the Organization of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The expectations and hopes for the start of the Forum. The commitment to the fraternity. From the headquarters in Paris the story of this first day</em></p> <p><strong>29 of October - Day 1</strong>. "Today we were all together and we did four hours of work. We covered several topics concerning the ' UNESCO , the NGO New Humanity and what we could bring to the Forum.<br />" We toured the headquarters of UNESCO : revolutionized to set up the organization of the Forum, invaded by young volunteers who prepared the whole event.</p> <p><strong>"We feel that the biggest responsibility is</strong> initiating this path and understand more about how to bring our contribution for a united world. The UN and UNESCO organizations are animated by our own dreams of a united world. And we do not believe in the brotherhood because we like the idea, but we live it , see it , why we believe it. The fragments of fraternity and the Genfest are experieces of fraternity.
<p><em>The commitment to work for unity, an aspiration written on the human heart, opens new trails and generates relief from pain. This is an experience <a href="http://giovaniperunmondounito.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">Youth for a United World (Y4UW)</a> group from Egypt working with refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.</em></p> <p><strong>Hearing of a jail for “special cases,”</strong> the <a href="http://giovaniperunmondounito.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">Y4UW</a> decided to look further into the situation. At the jail they found men, women and children, mostly Christians from Eritrea. Their story was one of incredible pain. In an attempt to seek a better place than their own land, they discovered instead that they had fallen into the trap of human organ trafficking and would soon be among the anonymous dead. When they realized this, they fled over the border and took refuge in Egypt. Without documents they were arrested and jailed. This is where the Focolare <a href="http://giovaniperunmondounito.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">Youth for a United World </a>met them waiting for a way back to Eritrea.</p> <p><strong>Abdo who is a firsthand witness, recounts</strong>: “With the help of a missionary and the <a href="http://giovaniperunmondounito.blogspot.it/" target="_blank">Y4UW</a>, we were able to go into the jail. We were enthusiastic about offering help, but we never imagined the suffering we would touch with our own hands. There was a scarcity of food and hygiene; and medical care was non-existent inside the jail that had once been an army barracks.</p>
<p><em>Young people all over the world submit their plans to turn ideas into action. From 29 to 31 October 2013 at the UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris.</em></p> <p><strong>For the first time in its 12-year history</strong>, the outcomes of the 8th UNESCO Youth Forum (29-31 October 2013) to be presented to the UNESCO General Conference (5-20 November 2013) will include, besides strategic recommendations, 15 youth-led action projects (3 projects per each of the 5 UNESCO regions) that represent innovation and enterprise in youth action across the five regions of the world (Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean)</p> <p><strong>The UNESCO Youth Forum is</strong> an integral part of UNESCO’s General Conference. It was initiated in 1999 to create synergies between UNESCO’s work on youth, youth organizations and public institutions working on youth. More than an event, the Forum is a process that enables young women and men to submit strategic recommendations to representatives of 195 Member States and to engage in their implementation.</p>
<p><em>According to Save the Children NGO report from 1990 this nation implemented nutritional programmes and access to free care for pregnant women and children</em><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Niger has made the most progress worldwide</strong> on reducing child mortality since 1990, according to a study out.Also among the top 10 nations that have made the greatest strides in tackling such deaths are Liberia, Rwanda, Indonesia, Madagascar, India, China, Egypt, Tanzania and Mozambique, Save the Children found.</p> <p><strong>On the more problematic end of the spectrum</strong>, those making the least progress were Haiti, Papua New Guinea and Equatorial Guinea, said the non-governmental group's report. The rate of deaths of children under five still remains high in Niger. But it has been reduced by a dramatic two thirds: plunging from 326 in 1 000 back in 1990 to 114 out of 1 000 in 2012.
<p><em>In St. Peter square from more 75 countries in five continents for the Year of Faith</em></p> <p><strong>Vatican, Oct 27 -</strong> We all know that families, and young families in particular, are often in a rush with a great many things to do, but do you ever think that this rush could also be a rush of faith, Pope Francis asked families from more than 75 countries in five continents who had gathered as part of the the Year of Faith.</p> <p><strong>In his extraordinary homily</strong>, the Pope said that Christian families were missionary families, leading everyday lives, doing ordinary things, sprinkling the salt and yeast of faith as they went.</p>
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
Every year, from May 1st to 7th, the United World Project support, together with the Focolare Movement and Youth for a United World (Y4UW), the United World Week, a global action where many people promote events and initiatives worldwide to foster dialogue, unity, and peace.
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
Here’s the key: knowing that we do not know. No one possesses the absolute Truth, and by engaging in dialogue with everyone we can grasp aspects or fragments of truth that help us reassemble a shattered vase that we can restore only if we are “together”.
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.
Art & Social Commitment
Celebrated Marvel and DC artist Gabriele Dell’Otto invites us to consider the people who are working to build peace as the real superheroes of our world. A profound discussion on responsibility, citizenship, and the challenge of doing the extraordinary in our everyday lives.
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