The Earth Charter Initiative - Values and Principles for a Sustainable Future

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Mission

The mission of the Earth Charter Initiative is to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace.

Previous ECYG Activities

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Earth Charter youth activities in the Youth Blog

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Earth Charter Youth / Student Groups
around the world have organized and carried out a large number of activities in their communities. These activities have included many diverse actions such as seminars, workshops, local capacity building, raising awareness and teaching people about the Earth Charter and Earth Charter principles. These activities and others can be found by reading ECYG profiles from the Earth Charter Youth Group wikipage.

The following is a list of previous ECYG activities arranged by topics:

Justice, Nonviolence and Human Rights 
  • ECYGs have worked for and raised awareness about the rights of children, rights of women, social justice, non-violence, tolerance, peace building, reconciliation, reconstruction, good governance, democracy and human rights 
  • Workshop on the roles of civil society organizations in the promotion and protection of human rights 
  • Non-violent conflict transformation workshop based on the Earth Charter principle to promote “comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflicts and use collaborative problem-solving to manage and resolve … conflicts and other disputes” (Principle 16b). 
  • Workshop on “Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution in Africa”

Health 
  • “Lead-Empower-Deliver” -rally to celebrate World AIDS Day  
  • HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaigns in schools, colleges, communities, churches and other youth groups 
  • Various hygiene and sanitation activities according to community needs 
  • Providing clean drinking water

Employment and social inclusion 
  • Working to stop youth poverty and unemployment  
  • Emergency relief program for earthquake victims
 
Youth Leadership Training
  • Workshops on the roles of youth leaders in the promotion and protection of human rights during elections 
  • Promotion of Youth Leadership for Sustainable Development based on values and principles of the Earth Charter
  • Election awareness program and monitoring/reporting on the presidential elections 

Outreach to Schools and Communities
The Earth Charter urges us to “empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood” (Principle 9b) and to “provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development” (Principle 14a). To work toward these principles ECYGs have:


  • Provided books and school materials to primary school students 
  • Organized discussions about the Global Week on Education in schools 
  • Held lessons on the Earth Charter in schools and churches 
  • Organized sporting events and other recreational activities for youth, e.g. football matches and music concerts
  • Translated the Earth Charter into their language

Environmental Protection 
  • Environment & Culture: Promote the realization that a peaceful community needs a clean and safe environment. 
  • Work for protection of the ecosystem and a wise exploitation of its resources 
  • Environmental programs and sanitation awareness campaigns 
  • Promotion of clean public areas/cleaner school environment 
  • Waste management/installation of garbage bins 
  • Green lifestyle campaign 
  • Providing clean drinking water 
  • Campaigns related to over-usage of plastic bags 
  • Defining the existing environmental problems 
  • Participating in Earth Hour

Media Programs 
  • Media campaigns  
  • Postings on websites 
  • Radio talk shows on youth engagement/participation 
  • Training skills regarding the use of radio for advocacy, awareness and activism on sustainable development through the participatory production of radio programmes 
  • Youth projects on digital media

Networking 
  • Communication with other youth groups/organization, agencies, local and international organisations 
  • Organization of global and regional youth co-operation 
  • A video conference on global citizenship



These activities have all been successfully undertaken by other youth groups and you are encouraged to take inspiration and ideas from this list.



Can you do any of these in your community?
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