When used to maximise resources and deliver shared goals, collaboration can be a very powerful tool in improving services and empowering organisations to become more accessible. One local example of such activity is the ContinU Trust consortium of Wyre Forest and Hagley Schools.

 

Every year, the ContinU Trust runs a Global Young Citizenship educational study trip to Geneva, the city hosting the UN's second largest base, situated in Switzerland. This year, I had the opportunity of engaging in this innovative project myself.

 

The five-day programme consisted of meetings with strategic leaders from various agencies that make up the United Nations. This included commissions and agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Human Rights Council (OHCHR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).

 

Currently encompassing fifty-three member states, a key development area for the ECE is its work on environmental sustainability. Through the Committee on Environmental Policy, the ECE provides a strategic collaborative framework and facilitates an open dialogue between various government departments and non-governmental organisations, promoting long-term environmental and social sustainability not only in Europe, but in the world as a whole.

 

In 2015, the United Nations will celebrate its seventieth anniversary of facilitating an open dialogue between various member states. However, the work of the United Nations as a collective organisation is far from complete.

 

Perhaps one of the most powerful tools in helping to promote long-term international integrity and co-operation is education. With a history as rich as the United Nations, it is also one of the biggest organisations working towards encouraging active citizenship on a global platform. The United Nations is an exemplary organisation of how collaborative learning can lead to a shared strategic response in combating real issues facing the world in the twenty-first century.

 

Our challenge, however, is to continue to demonstrate to our young people – the next generation – in just how powerful a tool this can be, both on a global scale, and on a local scale too.

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