Shared values, cultural diversity and education :
What to learn and how ?

Children write a book at school

Several countries of the world
Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius Islands, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Norway, Basque Country, Paraguay, Portugal, Rwanda, Sweden, Tunisia, Yemen.

A primary school in each country ratifying the Children's Rights Convention has taken on the artistic creation of a book. The students write in class a 24-page text based in one or several articles of the Convention, and create a story of their own with their own illustrations and in their own words. The written books are symbols of peace, universality and diversity. Children, from all over the world, show their capacity to dream, create and be surprise. A new part of the project is currently working in order to be present at the World Conference on Racism (September 2001), developing ideas around the subject. It may be well said too that it is a reading and writing sensitizing program, carried out by P.A.U. Education.

P.A.U. Education gets in contact with schools in each country, around the whole world, and provides information on how to develop the project (content and techniques). The participating schools have been selected by the UNICEF Local Committees and offices. In their diversity, they reflect the wide range of educational possibilities existing in the world: private, public, rural, urban, formal, informal, in-prison, or refugees' camp's schools. Computerized means are used in the preparation of books and the UNICEF offices and committees have helped the schools in their organization.

The program is implemented so that it can prepare the presentation and points of view of children, from different schools of the world, on the subject of Children's Rights. Their participation and position-taking to express diversity is the central core of the project.

Paul Fenton
P.A.U. Education (a publishing company based in Barcelona and specialized in educational projects and pedagogical publications).
Barcelona, SPAIN
34 93 363 26 65/7
paul.fenton@paueducation.com
www.paueducation.com
The virtual library is found on:http://www.educared.net/asp/global/portada.asp

Institutional Partners
The project was born thanks to an agreement signed between P.A.U. Education and the UNICEF Spanish Committee.
NGO s and schools in the participating countries.
The European Teachers Training Commission.

Since 4 years ago (1997)
The first 100-book collection has been exhibited on November 20th, 1999 at the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Children's Rights.

UNICEF