Global Education Newsletter

July 2009

• New this month
• Calendar
• Resources
• AusAID update
• Global Education around Australia

New this month

Case Study: Saving lives with disaster preparedness, E-Prep in Indonesia

This new Case Study outlines how villagers on islands off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia have developed plans to respond to earthquake warnings and prevent future deaths.
http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/4000

Teaching Activity: Preparing for earthquakes in Nias and the Mentawai islands, Indonesia (UP/LS)

Students examine the effectiveness of emergency preparedness in saving lives in the Nias and Mentawai islands earthquake.
http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/4001

Oz Projects: Planet Earth in Our Hands Project

This project aims to promote student voice and empower students to recognize and engage in responsible use of the earth’s resources. A new resource added to the online project is Trees Are Terrific...Travels with Pierre, to help Lower Primary students gain an appreciation of trees. They are encouraged to write about their favourite tree and upload a photo in the forum.
http://www.ozprojects.edu.au/course/view.php?id=25

Calendar

NAIDOC Week
5-12 July

The National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) invites all Australians to celebrate and promote a greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, ensure that all people have access to the same opportunities and support Indigenous Australians to learn and value their culture. The theme for NAIDOC Week in 2009 is Honouring Our Elders, Nurturing Our Youth.
http:// www.naidoc.org.au

World Population Day
11 July

World Population Day helps us focus on supporting countries to manage population growth through laws and policies to protect the rights of women and girls. This year’s theme is ‘Investing in women is a smart choice’. It focuses on the need to address the global financial crisis with support for women’s health and education.
www.unfpa.org/wpd
Use the global education information and activities about Gender equality www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/517

Schools Tree Day
31 July

Join thousands of volunteers across the country to help ‘green up’ Australia by planting native trees in your community. Trees help to filter water, combat salinity, clean the air and increase flows into water catchments. They also provide food and shelter to Australia’s unique wildlife and are an integral part of our country’s biodiversity. For lesson plans and other ideas visit:
http://treeday.planetark.com/

Resources

Exploring Humanitarian Law

International Humanitarian Law seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by setting out rules on the ways in which war may be waged. It protects persons who are not or are no longer participating in the hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare. The International Committee of the Red Cross’s Exploring Humanitarian Law website has a wide range of teaching resources, workshops, training videos and an online discussion forum.
http://www.ehl.icrc.org/

Amnesty International Report 2009

Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of the world’s human rights highlights the human rights issues around the Global Financial Crisis. The website has detailed country summaries and a number of multimedia features, such as photo montages, video clips, and customizable charts and tables. The Global Themes area includes topical overviews of some of the most pressing issues around the world, including violence against women, death penalty, demand for dignity of people trapped in poverty, and the ethical considerations surrounding counter terrorism tactics.
http://thereport.amnesty.org/

Peace Corps Challenge

The American volunteer organisation Peace Corps’ new educational game helps students to get a taste of life and work as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The interactive game introduces students to village life and some of the complex issues of survival they face. There are supporting lesson plans and resources for each of the challenges on water contamination, sanitation and disease, microfinance, barren fields, malaria, soil runoff, educating girls and agro-forestry. http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/educators/enrichment/wanzuzu/

World Vision Resources

World Poverty for Dummies
This informative book that helps you discover the global building blocks of poverty and what actions you and your community can take is available for a $25 copy. https://trans.worldvision.com.au/wvconnect/worldpovertybook/Register.aspx

Get Connected
This twice yearly magazine making global issues accessible to students is available to purchase as a single issue or class sets. The next edition, Get Connected 6 - Global Citizenship is due out in August, and one free copy is available per school in Australia. Order forms are available from the link at http://www.worldvision.com.au/Learn/SchoolResources.aspx

AusAID update

Hot Topics

23 June 2009 AusAID approach a good model for indigenous communities
19 June 2009 PNG - Australia Ministerial Forum 2009
16 June 2009 Australia Committed to Disaster Risk Reduction
16 June 2009 Leading by Example - Protecting the Most Vulnerable During the Economic Crisis
12 June 2009 Sticking to the Millennium Development Goals
11 June 2009 Operation Open Heart Saving Lives in PNG
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/hottopics

Media Releases

22 June 2009 Australia Increases Support For Trade In Developing Countries
18 June 2009 2009 Pacific Islands Forum Trade Ministers' Meeting
16 June 2009 Assistance to Refugees on the Thai-Burma Border
15 June 2009 Leading By Example in Protecting The Most Vulnerable
12 June 2009 Sticking to the Millennium Development Goals
12 June 2009 Australia to Join United Nations Anti-Piracy Fight
4 June 2009 Visit to Samoa
2 June 2009 Visit to Tonga and Samoa
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/media/latest.cfm

AusAID's response to the Global Recession
How is the Global Recession affecting developing countries and how will Australia's aid program respond? AusAID is working on a number of fronts to respond to the impact of this crisis on developing countries in our region.
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/makediff/gec.cfm

Global Education around Australia

Sustainable Living Challenge
Entries due 30 October

The Sustainable Living Challenge engages young people, teachers and their schools in exploring different approaches to living, with view to making them sustainable. Closing date for entries is October 30.
http://www.sustainableliving.com.au/competition/info/dates.shtml

World Parliament of Religions, Melbourne
3-10 December 2009

The theme, Make a World of Difference: Hearing each other, Healing the earth underscores the opportunity for religious and spiritual communities and all people to act on environmental concerns and take responsibility for cultivating awareness of our global interconnectedness.
http://www.parliamentofreligions2009.org/email/email1.htm

SEAA Biennial Conference, Adelaide
19-21 February 2010

Theme: Learning for Life -Sustainability, Global Citizenship and Social Justice.
Key dates:
1 September: Workshop proposals
30 October: Close of early bird registrations
For details about the program and presenting papers and workshops see the website.
http://www.seaa.org.au

"Writing for Rights" in Indigenous Rights for pre-service teachers

Social Educators Association of Australia (SEAA) and Amnesty International Australia (AIA) invite pre-service teachers to submit an original unit of work about Indigenous Rights by 20 November 2009. Prizes for best primary and best secondary units include membership of SEAA and AIA, conference fees, publication and AIA merchandise to the value of $150 and a certificate. See the flier section for full details.

New South Wales

The Reach Foundation Leadership day 9.30am to 2.00pm Friday 14th August
The Reach Foundation (Reach) believes every young person should have the support and self-belief to fulfil their potential and dare to dream. Reach workshops are unique, they are run by young people empowered to inspire other young people. Led by these diverse, dynamic and experienced facilitators - participants can relate to each other, enabling them to demonstrate an ability to act despite judgment amongst their peers.

Select 20 of your Year 9 and/or Year 10 students and at least one teacher. There is no cost to attend this workshop and a light snack will be provided to students at the workshop.

For Bookings & further information, please contact: Jane Murphy, Program Manager
jane.murphy@reach.org.au

Queensland

Nurturing global education
6-9pm Thursday 23 July

The Global Learning Centre invites teachers to enjoy a meal and conversation nurturing global education through sustainability, social justice and peace.
Venue: Albion Peace Centre, 102 McDonald Rd, Windsor
Cost: FREE
Enquiries: Kate Tunstall or Hilary Macleod
Phone: 07 3857 6666 Email: glc@glc.edu.au

Q150+: Where are we going?
1 August

The GTAQ Conference has a great line up of speakers and workshops. The Global Learning Centre will present a workshop is called A plague on all our houses: exploring the geography of disease which will incorporate sample learning experiences and showcase some of the resources available through the Global Learning Centre to address this issue.
The program and registration details are at http://www.gtaq.com.au/cms/index.php

Western Australia

The Millennium Development Goals and You

Caritas’ Blueprint for a better world is a travelling multimedia exhibition which gives a practical face to the eight Millennium Development Goals.

• Perth: 2nd July - 20th July
  Location: Prindiville Hall, Notre Dame University, Fremantle
  
• Geraldton7th Aug - 13th Aug 2009
  Location: The Catholic Centre, Maitland St, Geraldton

http://www.blueprintforabetterworld.org/

Food Security Workshop
4pm-6pm Thursday August 13

The One World Centre invites Upper Primary and Lower Secondary teachers to a workshop examining the causes and consequences of food insecurity and exploring opportunities for learning about food security across the curriculum. Participants will receive a copy of a teacher’s Food Security Resource
Cost: $25 for OWC members and students, $35 for non-members
Location: One World Centre, 5 King William St, Bayswater, WA
Enquiries and Registrations: Kylie Hosking education@oneworldcentre.org.au