Lesson 3: Tolerance day
Recommended size of the group: 6 to 20 people
Aim of the Lesson: Understand that mutual respect between people and communities, is essential to build a global society united around common values. Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence
Objectives/ Learning Outcomes: Understand the importance of tolerance attitude in the world citizenship enhancing
Raising awareness on acceptance, on tolerance, on how people should behave towards others.
To perceive everyone as equal and accept everyone as part of the society without prejudices.
Promoting this topic will only do good for the society, broadening the perception of people and making them understand that acceptance is the key to a more peaceful, healthier world.
Recourses needed:
- Handouts
- Projector
- Computers
- ·Colourful markers
- Pens
- Paper
- Flipchart paper
- Spacious training room with enough space to have people working in groups
Teaching methods:
- Presentations by trainer and trainees
- Discussion
- Group work
Introduction
International Day of Tolerance is celebrated on November 16
The United Nations is committed to strengthening tolerance by fostering mutual understanding among cultures and peoples. This imperative lies at the core of the United Nations Charter, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is more important than ever in this era of rising and violent extremism and widening conflicts that are characterised by a fundamental disregard for human life. In 1996, the UN General Assembly (by resolution 51/95) invited UN Member States to observe the International Day for Tolerance on 16 November. This action followed up on the United Nations Year for Tolerance, 1995, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 at the initiative of UNESCO, as outlined in the Declaration of Principles on
Tolerance and Follow-up Plan of Action for the Year. 1995 was chosen by the UNESCO to mark the year for tolerance as well as the 125th birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in order to promote the tolerance and nonviolence. Across the world, societies are undergoing deep transformation, just as globalization is accelerating. This is opening vast opportunities for dialogue and exchange. It is also raising new challenges, sharpened by inequality and poverty, enduring conflicts and movements of wasted by ignorance and sometimes hated. We see others being scapegoated and repressed. We see terrorist attacks designed to weaken the fabric of common society. In this context, tolerance must be more than indifference and the passive acceptance of others. Tolerance must be an act of liberation, whereby the differences of others are accepted as the same as our own. This means respecting the great diversity of humanity based on human rights. It means reaching out to others across new bridges of dialogue. This means standing up to all forms of racism, hatred and discrimination, because discrimination against one is discrimination against all. All cultures are different, but humanity is a single community, sharing values, a past and future. All people are different, and this is a strength for all societies, for creativity and innovation. There are seven billion ways of ‘being human,’ but we stand together as members of the same family, all different, all equally seeking respect for rights and dignity.
The International Day for Tolerance is a time for people to learn about respecting and recognizing the rights and beliefs of others. It is also a time of reflection and debate on the negative effects of intolerance. Live discussions and debates take place across the world on this day, focusing on how various forms of injustice, oppression, racism and unfair discrimination have a negative impact on society. Human rights activists also use this day as an opportunity to speak out on human rights laws, especially with regard to banning and punishing hate crimes and discrimination against minorities. In the workplace, special training programs, talks, or messages from workplace leaders about the importance of tolerance are utilized on this day.
International day for tolerance and peace 2018
In collaboration with YouTube, the United Nations hosted a screening of videos from YouTube’s 2018 Creators for Change Impact Project. Four of the creators and a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) participated in a discussion with the audience, and students selected from among the 750 high school participants made presentations. The Award Ceremony of the 2018 Edition of the Prize took place on 16 November 2018, on the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay awarded the 2018 edition of the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-violence to filmmaker Manon Barbeau (Canada) and the NGO The Coexist Initiative (Kenya). An international jury recommended the two laureates in recognition of their work in human rights, promotion of tolerance and inclusion. Manon Barbeau, an innovative social entrepreneur and filmmaker, was awarded for her defence of human rights and tolerance through the art of cinema and a wide range of activities that she develops through Wapikoni Mobile Studios, amplifying the voices of indigenous people.[1]
Task - Campaign International Day of Tolerance
Description: Participants will submit Internet campaign about the International Day of Tolerance
Duration: 60 minutes
Procedure: Divide the participants into groups. The purpose of each group is to create an Internet campaign, with 1 to 3 minutes long, about Tolerance Day. Ask participants to describe the TV ads that most captured the attention. Promote a "brainstorming" on the main characteristics of a good ad (example: the type of phrases, sound effects, music, etc.). Join the class again to exchange the different ideas that have come up, asking each group to explain the idea to create the ad. If they are prepared, they may even show your ad.
Evaluation
After each presentation and/or action, promote creative feedback and suggestions by asking the participants:
- Do you consider this idea appealing to the adult target audience?
- Was the message clear?
- What did you like most about these ideas?
Each group should have an opinion about the work produced by the other groups, so that a consensual final result is reached, and the message of the lesson is more easily understood by the trainees.
As this is a lesson in raising awareness of tolerance issues, the trainer should assess whether the trainees, after the lesson, have been able to assimilate the message they are intended to convey.
What is truly important is that trainees are aware of the importance of the theme in the social context in which they are inserted.
General tips for the trainer
The trainer should take into account the cultural context of the group and possible physical difficulties in order to carry out the Ice Break exercise, possibly replaced by another one of the exercises (of the other lessons) if the trainer judges more appropriate in the context of the group.
In case there is no possibility to use the computer for the presentation of the lessons, we can use the posters (made by the trainees with the help of the trainer), with the message of the lesson.
The lesson duration is about 90 minutes.