• Essential Guide to Global Citizenship
• Global Citizens Project
• YouthSpeaks Project

Essential Guide to Global Citizenship    

The Essential Guide to Global Citizenship introduces the concept and responsibility of global citizenship, institutions of global cooperation and governance, international trade institutions, and people's organizations.

In this site, you'll find what you need to start becoming a global citizen. There's information about how the world works, and you'll also meet Global Heroes - people who are improving the quality of life on this planet. You'll be presented with many perspectives, but it's up to you to draw your own conclusions. After all, critical thinking is an essential skill for any global citizen. Background information, case studies, action ideas, and resources are provided for dealing with coffee markets, International Monetary Fund loans, AIDS TB & Malaria, global poverty, agricultural subsidies, global warming, consumerism, the World Trade Organization, Talisman Energy and the Sudan, and religious violence in India.

Click here to see the Essential Guide to Global Citizenship

Global Citizens Project    

Everything we buy has a story behind it—and that story is too often associated with economic exploitation and environmental and social destruction.

The Global Citizens project is focused on educating Canadians about issues related to the globalization of production, trade and consumption.

The emphasis is on the exploration of various related themes, including global economics and trade, international cooperation, civil society and democratic development, human rights, environment and sustainability, food security, and gender.

The project motivates people to move along the continuum from awareness to education, analysis, empowerment, and informed action on global issues. The objective is to offer available and concrete choices that empower individuals to make a difference in their everyday lives.

As part of this project, VIDEA published a series of booklets and a Teacher/Facilitator Guide, aimed at secondary school students and the general public. They are designed to provide basic information in order to assist consumers in making ethical choices about what they purchase. The booklets are based on travelling through the mall, with a focus on clothing, shoes and toys, as part of our Sweatshop series.

The most recent publication in this series is Deceptive Beauty: A look at the Global Flower Industry. To complement this resource, VIDEA has also published a paper entitled Fair Flowers, Fair Trade and Informed Consumers: Building on European Strategies for Public Engagement. This paper analyzes how European fair flowers campaigns could be applied in the North American context.

    

YouthSpeaks is about global citizenship, youth empowerment, and sustainable societies. The project provides pre-employment training and career counselling to a team of youth participants between the ages of 18 and 29, focusing on work experience and the design and delivery of educational programs.

Participants are linked with selected Victoria community organizations and schools. Project participants develop practical skills in community organizing, group facilitation, project management, entrepreneurship, leadership, and communications technology.

VIDEA's YouthSpeaks project combines interactive learning, innovative methodologies, and practical work experience with the opportunity for youth participants to apply their skills and knowledge in a mentorship relation with peers and educators. In engaging their peers as facilitators, YouthSpeaks provides students and teachers with opportunities to integrate issues of global sustainability, food security, community economic development, consumerism, fair trade, and local action into the classroom.

This project develops important links between experience, learning, action and employment. Typically the program runs for 6 months of the year. The current YouthSpeaks project has wrapped up. Check in June for information on the next project.