A Digital Story from the Experiment in Mongolia

Michael Roberts, an Experiment in International Living group leader to Mongolia in 2008 and 2009, recently created a digital story about his experiences in Mongolia. This video is part of the Experiment in International Living digital storytelling project, a project where Experiment alumni are invited to create and share stories about their experiences. Email alumni@worldlearning.org to learn more.

World Learning Commemorates World Day Against Child Labor 2009

Photo by Azra Kacapor

This year’s theme, “Give Girls a Chance: End Child Labor”

Today World Learning issued the following statement in commemoration of World Day Against Child Labor and the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the International Labour Organization Convention No. 182, which addresses the urgent need to work toward the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor:

By commemorating the tenth anniversary of this historic international agreement in defense of children’s rights, World Learning celebrates the substantial progress made toward the convention’s critical goals while recognizing the tremendous challenges that remain. This year’s theme, “Give Girls a Chance: End Child Labor,” resonates deeply with our development priorities and approach. World Learning is committed to the removal of all children from hazardous work environments and recognizes the unique systemic threats that exist for girls who are exploited for their labor.

Photo by Azra Kacapor

Across the world, an estimated 62 million girls are out of school and 100 million girls are involved in child labor. Poverty and lack of education too often force girls into some of the worst forms of child labor, often in hidden, unhealthy, and dangerous work situations. In many countries, girls’ labor is deeply entrenched in cultural practices and gender norms and takes place behind closed doors, removed from public scrutiny and concern.

World Learning’s approach to the elimination of child labor focuses on increasing access to quality and equitable education. Our work is broadly designed to address the worst forms of child labor, with a key focus on reaching those children involved in invisible forms of labor and ensuring they have access to quality schools. Through projects in Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Peru and Guatemala, World Learning works with parent-teacher associations, Ministries of Education, and Girls’ Education Advisory Committees (GEACs) to ensure girls’ access, retention, and performance in schools. To address social barriers to girls’ education, World Learning’s programs help establish the school as the locus of community resources and influence. Through schools, community partners can unite and mobilize to tackle gender bias and protect girls from exploitation within their communities.
For examples of World Learning’s work combating child labor through education, see a video from our Wiñari project in Ecuador, entitled “Erika’s Story.” Also see a video from our USAID-funded CASCAID project in Ethiopia about a girl orphaned by HIV/AIDS who’s been given a chance to stay in school.

World Learning believes that educating girls is the single best investment that can be made to combat child labor and tackle the root causes of poverty. Our community partners daily witness the transformative power of girls’ education on the wellbeing of their communities when young women who have received education go on to reinvest in their children and their communities. More resources need to be mobilized to improve the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. This investment will pay global dividends for generations to come.

Read more about World Learning International Development Projects.

Carol Bellamy video: Fighting for Children

In fall 2007, World Learning President and CEO Carol Bellamy was interviewed for one of several trailers that were intended to run in advance of the Hollywood film, “Lions for Lambs.” The film, which hit theaters in November 2007, was directed by and starred Robert Redford (along with Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise) and dealt with the war in Afghanistan and other contemporary political themes. To underscore the film’s theme, “If you don’t stand for something, you might fall for anything,” the producers commissioned a series of short trailers featuring world leaders speaking out about global issues that stir their passions and merit our attention.

Other luminaries profiled included SIT alumna and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Jody Williams, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ralph Nader, Mohamed El Baradei, and Amartya Sen. Unfortunately, we were never told when the trailers were completed nor where they ran, but Carol’s nevertheless stands as a powerful statement of the need for world leaders to make the hard choices necessary on issues affecting the future of children.

Algados: film about Brazilian youth by SIT Study Abroad alum

I first came across Grupo Cultural Bagunçaço and the community of Alagados in the fall of 1999 while on SIT’s Brazil: Culture, Development, and Social Justice study abroad program. Over the course of the semester, we put in many miles traveling around Northeastern Brazil (an area roughly the size of Western Europe!) and getting a first hand look at the way people’s daily lives were effected by the huge inequality of wealth distribution and a legacy of colonialism and slavery. Professor Bill Calhoun guided our discussions as we delved into issues such as racism, poverty, land ownership, infant mortality, and the rich Afro-Brazilian culture. As we began to get a better understanding of the dynamics at play, I became increasingly interested in how development effects youth.

When I arrived at Bagunçaço, (a grassroots NGO focused on alternative arts education for at-risk youth) for my ISP, I was immediately struck. I was struck both by the extent of their poverty and social problems, but also- and more importantly- by their incredible vibrancy, musical expression, joy for life, and grassroots effort to help themselves. After spending a month working with them, I felt like I had barely skimmed the surface and I kept coming back to the question of how I could do something that would have a positive impact on this community.

After returning to the US, the inspiration of their energy and smiles and the memories of a people who have so little and give so much stayed with me. I had the persistent feeling that the world needed to see what I’d seen, and that in an increasingly inter-dependent world, global awareness and dialogue between people from different backgrounds is becoming more and more important. The idea that had been planted during my SIT semester grew into a much bigger project, and in the fall of 2005 I received a Fulbright grant to go back and spend a year in Salvador, Brazil. This time I would be seeing the community of Alagados through their eyes by teaching photography to a group of young girls, and making a short documentary film that would allow one of the youths involved in Bagunçaço to tell their own story.