Events

The purpose of this webinar is to engage African educationists on the importance of addressing sensitive issues including hate speech in our classrooms and how that can be done better. 

The African continent has been affected by natural disasters as well as ongoing conflicts and political instability. While progress has been made in some countries and regions, many parts of the African continent continue to suffer from instability and lack of peace and security. The situations in Somalia, South Sudan, Libya, and some Sahel countries have continued to deteriorate in 2019. The Sahel region is the most vulnerable to conflict. For example, there is Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria. In   Cameroon, security forces are abusing their authority and employing excessive force. In Burkina Faso, armed Islamic fighters are expanding their territories. In Ethiopia, ethnic conflict is on the rise. Democratic processes are also facing challenges as Malawi, Nigeria, and South Africa are marked by post-election violence, political violence, and low voter turnout, respectively.  The 2020 AUC agenda of “Silencing the Guns by 2020” aims to end all wars, civil conflicts, gender-based violence, violent conflicts, and prevent genocide on the continent by 2020, but is unlikely to be achieved if no additional efforts are employed.   

The unexpected COVID-19 pandemic is imposing an unprecedented global health crisis, with negative ramifications for social, political and economic relations around the world. Apart from catching the world totally unprepared, the outbreak and spread of the pandemic is negatively impacting African countries, exacerbating the conflicts. 

These countries, suffering from health, economic and social instability, provide fertile breeding grounds for violence, disproportionally affecting young people. This project is urgently needed to address the aforementioned problems in the current situation in order to prevent further degradation.

Objectives of the webinar:

• Articulate why sensitive topics should not be overlooked, but rather dialogued within safe learning environments in classrooms.
• Discuss challenges and opportunities to address sensitive topics including hate speech through education.
• Propose concrete recommendations to develop critical thinking of young people as users of social media and how they address sensitive topics on social media
• Identify strategies to better facilitate learning on sensitive topics including hate speech through formal and non-formal education.

The target audiences for the webinar are Teachers, Educators, Teachers, University Academics, Ministry of Education officials responsible for teacher development and management, government and non-government agents responsible for learning in primary and secondary schools teachers, education researchers, representatives of partner organizations, and UNESCO colleagues.

Related Content

Useful Links

• Register
• International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA)

URL:

https://events.unesco.org/event?id=2838208124&lang=1033