The Global Schools Education Team has been working hard on developing strategies to engage our Advocate Alumnis. Since 2021, the Global Schools Program has supported 4 cohorts of educators completing their Advocate mandates. From these cohorts, we have over 500, dedicated alumni who are still committed to working with the Global Schools Program and promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within their school communities.
As part of our alumni engagement strategy, the Alumni Relation Project Officers, Patricia Bergstrom (based in Canary Islands, Spain) and Sarah Santillan-Isern (based in Zimbabwe), have brought back our Alumni Coffee House networking chats.
Coffee Houses are informal opportunities for Alumni to gather on Zoom to discuss their ESD initiatives within their schools, develop collaboration plans for upcoming projects, and brainstorm solutions to any challenges or barriers that they are experiencing with their advocacy. Alumni are able to network with each other in both smaller breakout groups, as well as a larger plenary group.
During the month of July, the Education Team ran two Coffee House sessions - one on July 6th and one on July 20th. Both sessions were well attended and demonstrated the passion and strong ethic of educators within the Global Schools Program.
“We have such an amazingly passionate and talented alumni community, dedicated to Education for Sustainable Development in a range of different settings. Whether projects are done in your classroom, involve your school community, or spread out into the local community and beyond, everyone’s advocacy is equally important as we need to reach as many young people as possible. These Coffee House Chats provide a beautiful opportunity for our alumni to meet members of the Education Team and other fellow advocates in a more informal setting, providing a safe space for sharing and budding potentials for networking.” - Patricia Bergstrom, Alumni Relations Project Officer, Global Schools Program.
During the first Coffee House, 18 alumni attended including Milton Villarroel (Bolivia), Samreen Munir (Pakistan), Ousmane Diallo (Senegal), Nabuduwa Grace Olive Musingo (Uganda), Marcella Villan (Argentina), Ma. Jonaper Pascual Palmares (Libya), Fasanya Opeyemi Elizabeth (Nigeria), Gilson Tembo (Zambia), and Belgin Oğuzal (Turkey).
During the session, Alumni shared their highlights and ESD journeys in school and beyond. Some examples shared include harnessing support from their school administration and leadership, promoting ESD through gamification and roleplays, securing sponsorships, making sustainable crafts like tote bags, raising awareness, participation in global initiatives, developing school wide SDG clubs, promoting inter-school collaboration, projects relate to gender equality, fighting pollution and littering.
Challenges were also shared. Someof these include the lack of time to map out the SDGs in the school curriculum, aligningESD with the school mission statements, lack of funding and resources, and problems with infrastructures in the community (i.e. electricity cuts) that influence their initiatives. The Education Team has already begun brainstorming how we can support our alumni with these challenges.
“By bringing diverse voices into our conversations, our GSP community enhances our understanding of how Education for Sustainable Development plays a paramount role in today's student learning. Through open dialogue, we provide a space for our educators to share knowledge, skills and expertise across a range of disciplines, based on a common vision to develop solutions for creating a sustainable society.” Sarah Santillan-Isern, Alumni Relations Project Officer, Global Schools Program.
The second session was held on July 20th and had 12 Alumni in attendance including: Shweta Awasthi (India), Mani Ram Ghimire (Nepal), Marti Hendrichs (Austria), Onuh Oyigoga John (Nigeria), Gilson Tembo (Zambia), Nabuduwa Grace Olive Musingo (Uganda), Juliet Ampoful (Ghana), Anthony Bryan De la Rosa Valdiviezo (Ecuador), Samreen Munir (Pakistan), Chitra Subramaiam (India), Richard Bello (Nigeria), Oluwafemi Abayomi Adeyomola (Nigeria).
During the session, Alumni discussed data-driven and research-focused approaches to ESD, inter-continental collaboration opportunities, experiences of public speaking on sustainable development, river restoration and climate change centered projects, giving students special titles to empower their action, promoting all-of-school buy-in, and recommendations for funding.
We are so proud of our Global Schools Alumni and are looking forward to future collaboration and Coffee House opportunities in the future. Stay tuned for our next Coffee House on August 31st!
“First impressions do last! This gathering has impacted my vision of developing community relationships. Coffee House Chat provides a space for our GSP community to share our experiences and expertise in the field of ESD. I am inspired by listening to the admirable stories of our advocates-alumni who continue to take actions for empowering our students' learning experiences. Keep up the amazing work team!” - Sarah Santillan-Isern
“I really look forward to our next Coffee House Chat in August, where we get to meet more members of our alumni community and check in with those who came along to the first two. Putting faces to names and hearing first-hand about our passionate fellow educators’ projects, challenges and success stories, is an inspiring privilege indeed. These informal meetings also provide us with useful information that will fuel our future actions for alumni.” - Patricia Bergstrom.
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