The 4.7 Movement organizes a meeting and training day to deepen the challenges of education for global citizenship and sustainable development
On the occasion of International Education Day (January 24), the meeting “Advancing towards Goal 4.7: The challenge of Global Citizenship as a common and shared public policy” was held in Madrid at the La Corrala Cultural Center. The objective of the meeting was to establish a cross-sectoral dialogue on the different policies, themes and competencies addressed by Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship, which are included as a specific target to be achieved (target 4.7) within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The event, organized by Movimiento 4.7, was opened by Cristina González, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, and Miriam Ciscar, representing theSpanish Agency for International Cooperation. The participants also included public administrations from different areas (local and regional), university experts, social, environmental and youth organizations, as well as members of the educational community in general.
The opening dialogue featured Sara Garrido, head of the Global Citizenship Education Unit at the Barcelona Provincial Council, and Vicente Manzano, Professor of Psychology at the University of Seville .
Vicente Manzano highlighted the importance of movements and alliances such as the 4.7 Movement, emphasizing their capacity to generate levers for change and establish meaningful alliances. However, he pointed out the difficulty that administrations have in channeling these proposals and also the challenge that exists in terms of measuring results when we talk about social transformation processes.
Sara Garrido emphasized the crucial task of bringing realities closer together, giving a voice and establishing meaningful links between the local and the global. He also highlighted the role of facilitators that public institutions should play in promoting citizen participation, emphasizing the importance of accompanying and facilitating these processes, especially in local contexts. According to her, the 2030 agenda facilitates discussion and action on these issues, despite the limitations of human and economic resources that administrations have to work on this approach.
Among the main conclusions reached at the working groups, mention was made of the need to build a common policy for citizenship education issues, which are currently distributed fragmentarily in different areas of the administration and in different work sectors. Proposals were also made regarding the building of alliances and the development of specific training programs in these areas (also for teachers and public officials). In addition, the importance for our societies, essentially for the younger generations, of the need for training in values such as peace, inclusion and environmental justice in order to improve the critical, committed and supportive spirit of our societies was pointed out.
The day ended with the second plenary meeting of the 4.7 Movement. A platform promoted by four organizations in the field of international cooperation (Alboan, Entreculturas, Intered and Ongawa) that today operates with its own autonomy and has expanded to more than 30 institutions of different types, including NGOs, educational centers, citizens’ movements and members of the educational community.
