The first ever World Youth Conference for Kindness was held in New Delhi, an initiative orchestrated by UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The conference aimed to inspire, empower, and enable global youth to build long-lasting peace in their communities.
Conference Theme
The theme of the conference, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World’, was put forth in celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Main Purpose of the Conference
The conference endeavored to instill key competencies, namely empathy, compassion, mindfulness and critical inquiry, in young people across the globe. The ultimate goal was to motivate them to transform their own lives and contribute to building enduring peace within their communities.
Key Components of the Conference
The World Youth Conference for Kindness was comprised of several significant components. Intensive youth-led capacity-building workshops were designed to enhance social and emotional learning skills among young people. These workshops focused on fostering emotional competencies including empathy, mindfulness, compassion, kindness, and critical inquiry as they relate to individual identity and global issues.
The conference also provided a platform for the recognition and celebration of inspiring acts of kindness that have effected change in the world. The goal of this initiative was to promote action programming for youth agency.
Simultaneously, a generative space was created to facilitate critical engagement between youth and experts on the concept of peace through kindness and nonviolence. Expert panels and TAGe plenary discussions were instrumental in this exchange of ideas.
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP)
The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, located in New Delhi, holds the distinction of being the first UNESCO institute of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region. This Category 1 Research Institute is committed to promoting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.7, which emphasizes education for building peaceful and sustainable societies across the world.
MGIEP Initiatives
The MGIEP has developed a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum by the name of Libre. This curriculum is designed to build competencies in critical inquiry, mindfulness, empathy, and compassion.
Before proceeding to the last subheading, consider the table below which provides some significant facts related to the MGIEP.
| Initiative | Description |
|---|---|
| Libre Curriculum | A Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum designed to build competencies – critical inquiry, mindfulness, empathy, and compassion. |
| Blue Dot Publication | The flagship publication of MGIEP that focuses on social and emotional learning. |
Blue Dot: The Flagship Publication of MGIEP
Blue Dot is the flagship publication of MGIEP that promotes social and emotional learning. This publication exemplifies the institute’s commitment to instilling important SEL competencies among global youth.
This information was sourced from The Hindu Newspaper.