Guest blog written by:
Aida Lorenzo Perez, teacher from Nuestra Senora De La Paz, Torrelavega, Spain.
In simple terms, a global citizen is a person who identifies himself as an integral part of an emerging world community, who thinks about the problems that are affecting our planet, in a global way, contributing to the welfare of humanity. Those of us who consider ourselves global citizens belong to diverse national and international communities, in an effort for shared values and we build governance structures to support our beliefs, values and practices, which help create a better world.
Nowadays, the advance of communication technologies, transport and, mainly, the Internet, has made possible the emergence of a global identity, which surpasses the local and that impels us to connect with the rest of the world to, of this way, to respond to the economic, political, environmental, religious and social needs that are afflicting us and that we must overcome for the well-being of future generations.
The biggest challenge we face is to build a community based on sustainable values. But what are these values? Neither more nor less than Human Rights, environmental protection, religious pluralism, gender equality, sustainable growth, sustainable education, eradication of poverty, prevention of conflicts between nations, humanitarian aid and preservation of biodiversity, among others.
We, the school in Nuestra señora de la Paz, Torrelavega, Spain, thanks to the "In Other shoes" project we are trying to make our students, these future "global citizens". They have been doing a series of activities which are helping them to understand, clarify their doubts and develop those concerns they have regarding this issue, receiving a really positive feedback from them.
After experimenting with our activities we have believed that in the end to be a global citizen, you simply need to be a flexible person, open to transformational, creative, reflective and proactive change. Without a doubt, we want to add more citizens to find much more sustainable ways of seeing life and connecting with those of us who share a common humanity.
These are pictures of some of these activities ...