By Fay Pretty | PeaceJam UK Coordinator & Youth Team Leader
This academic year, with the support of our GlobalGiving donors, PeaceJam UK partnered with Girl Guides UK to deliver a skills-building programme at two Dixons academies. The students, from Dixons Sixth Form and Dixons Allerton, attended workshops at the University of Bradford, run by staff and students from the Peace Studies department.
The trained university student mentors also ran a weekly PeaceJam club in school. The pupils were able to explore the issues they were concerned about addressing, including homelessness, the war in Gaza, water access and the rights of women and girls. They examined how charities working in these areas communicate effectively, and the pupils worked on their own storytelling, presentational skills, and fundraising ideas. The sessions also involved a lot of fun with creative methods — poster-making, poetry writing, Lego, playdough, sewing — which are a great way to relax and chat about serious topics.
Additionally, because of the support of our GlobalGiving donors, PeaceJam UK can expand and adapt the delivery of our life-changing programmes, including running online opportunities, to increase our reach to young leaders from deprived areas. PeaceJam UK ran an online youth panel of inspirational changemakers for 250 Year 10 students at Smithills School in Bolton this month. Students were able to take part in an extensive Q&A, which included discussions around the impact of youth taking action and various issue areas including nuclear disarmament, hidden disabilities, and reducing barriers to education. Participants were then inspired to plan social action projects, which included a campaign to change the timings of the school day and a plan to organise a fundraising football match. Students are excited to return in September and turn their ideas into action.
Continuing to reach further schools through online outreach, PeaceJam UK will be hosting an Online Conference led by youth, for youth, on 20 November. Thank you for making this possible.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
