In early 2014, Earth Charter International, Amana-Key, and AIESEC in Brazil began a new partnership with the aim of strengthening the promotion and dissemination of the Earth Charter principles in Brazil and the world. Amana-Key, one of Earth Charter International’s partners in Brazil, is a consulting firm for business and executive education specializing in radical innovations in management, strategy, and leadership of complex organizations. AIESEC, recognized by UNESCO as the largest organization of university students in the world, is a global network of young people who seek to develop their leadership potential, management experience, ability to foster social change, and international experience in practice.
As a result of this partnership the “Global Citizen – Earth Charter ” project was born. This is a social exchange project that empowers young people between 18-30 years old to multiply the principles of the Earth Charter in schools (public and private), thus contributing to building to a more ethical, just, and sustainable society. The activities to be carried out during the program were articulated in two phases: 1) training; and 2) experience exchange.
The first stage consisted of an online training course for young people as Earth Charter multipliers, administered through a virtual education platform. The second stage consisted of a social exchange, in which new multipliers were sent to schools and spent six weeks working in classes with children and adolescents and multiplying the principles of the Earth Charter.
In the first edition, held in 2014 in Brazil, the “Global Citizen – Earth Charter” project brought together 110 young people from 33 countries, working with about 7,000 students (10-14 years old) in 26 Brazilian cities. Based on these results and noting its great potential for expansion and transformation, the “Global Citizen – Earth Charter” project has entered its second phase, which will begin implementation in May 2015. In this new phase, AIESEC International will start to make the project global and expand it to other countries in Latin America and eventually around the world.