Mapping: youth engagement and international solidarity
An overview of organisations working with youth on international solidarity
Today’s youth want to make a difference in promoting greater justice, solidarity, and a sustainable future. BeGlobal therefore wants to map out the activities and experiences of organizations working with youth aged 16 to 35 on international solidarity.
Why mapping youth engagement and international solidarity?
Young people in Belgium are growing up in a rapidly changing world with major social challenges such as polarisation, climate change, increasing social inequality, geopolitical tensions and digital transformation. At the same time, they show a great willingness to get involved and make a difference.
This engagement often arises outside the school walls within what is known as non-formal learning. Think of youth organisations, socio-cultural associations, sports and cultural initiatives, NGOs and local youth initiatives and networks. These actors play a crucial role: they reach young people in an accessible way and are closely connected to their world.
However, there is currently no up-to-date and comprehensive overview of who reaches young people, how this is done and how organisations work on global issues and international solidarity.
BeGlobal wants to change this. This mapping helps to bring together insights from the field and contributes to a better coordinated policy on youth engagement, global citizenship education and international solidarity in Belgium.
What do we want to identify with this mapping?
The mapping is about having an overview of organisations, collectives and initiatives that work within non-formal learning with young people on international solidarity.
With this mapping, we identify:
- who these actors are,
- how they work (explicitly or implicitly) on international solidarity and global citizenship,
- how they raise awareness and mobilise young people around global issues,
- which young people are reached (and which are not),
- what forms of engagement and methodologies are used,
- and what trends, needs and opportunities organisations experience in their work.
Who is included in the mapping?
Everyone who works within non-formal learning with young people aged 16 to 35 on global citizenship and/or international solidarity, in all regions of Belgium, such as:
- Youth organisations
- NGOs and civil society organisations
- Diaspora organisations
- Socio-cultural organisations
- Sports and cultural organisations
- Media
- Private organisations or foundations
- Local, regional and international authorities
How are we going to do this?
Through an online survey or an online (in-depth) interview.
The results and findings will subsequently be available on our website.
Any questions?
Feel free to contact us at mapping@enabel.be
Pilot Project on GCE in Vocational Education
Rochefort-Jemelle Youth Explore Food Sovereignty
Introduction
To build a fair and equitable future for all, critical thinking and global awareness must be taught to today’s youth. BeGlobal seeks to equip young people with the tools and knowledge they need to become conscious and engaged citizens, capable and enthusiastic to actively participate in their communities. Strengthening Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in teaching is one of the relevant initiatives within this mission. As noted in the study conducted by our partners at UCLL, students in vocational education are often a neglected audience in GCE projects.
In cooperation with Entraide & Fraternité (E&F), an international solidarity NGO, and the Athénée Royal Rochefort-Jemelle, a school in the province of Namur, BeGlobal facilitated a pilot project to strengthen GCE skills among young people in vocational education.
Project objectives
With two objectives in mind, the pilot project sought to:
- Adapt teaching materials to spark the interest of vocational education students, and;
- Encourage young people in vocational education to become responsible citizens.
Three indicators of success were established by E&F to assess progress toward the second objective. These were:
- Students became more curious as a result of the project;
- Students are considering futures other than those they had in mind before the project began;
- Students feel their self-confidence has grown.
The theme that was used to explore GCE with the Rochefort-Jemelle students is the concept of ecological and just transition. More specifically, this theme was explored through the lens of food sovereignty.
The “See – Judge – Act” method, which “is the DNA of all projects carried out by E&F,” was used to guide each training session for students throughout the project. This method aims to train individuals in social action and transforming the world based on their personal experiences and by actively involving individuals in their own learning and reflection.
Putting the project into action
The project took place from February to May 2025, in the form of six meetings with the students selected for this initiative. The youth, all between the 4th and 6th years of secondary school, came from different specializations: sales, childcare, masonry, IT, and education.
The project, led by E&F, alternated between participatory thematic classroom sessions, individual reflections, field visits — including an eco-construction site and a local cooperative — and opportunities for sharing.
This multidimensional approach drew on different learning styles and facilitated student participation and engagement.
For example, during the fourth meeting, students were encouraged to think about the ideal world in which they would like to live in 10 to 15 years. This activity was based on the pillars of change explored in a previous session, meaning that students had already acquired the knowledge and resources to participate in this reflection, which took place in small groups.
Following this exercise, the young people visited an eco-construction site and an agroecological farm —visits that allowed them to meet people who had thought about their ideal world and were implementing it with their own hands.
This visit had a profound impact on the group. The students in the masonry program even asked their teachers to take them back after the pilot project ended, inspired by this encounter and by the immersion in the field.
Results
The results of the pilot project are very positive overall. To assess the impact on the students, two different evaluations were carried out.
The first evaluation session, Self-Positioning within Space, was conducted using a self-assessment format. This was carried out with the entire group, and the students were able to see their classmates’ reflections. This public self-assessment format led to a very pronounced group effect. According to this evaluation session, there was only a slight change in the curiosity and self-confidence levels of the young participants.
The second assessment methodology was used to complement Self-Positioning within Space. The World Cafe gave young people the opportunity to discuss topics in small groups, divided by theme. Each discussion station asked students what they thought, did, or plan to do differently after participating in the project. The results of this evaluation were very positive and contradicted several results of the Self-Positioning within Space evaluation. For example, “while no students reported feeling more curious in the first evaluation, the majority reported having researched the topics covered during the project on social media (which they had not done before).”
Overall, many students have changed their habits in their personal lives or are advising their family and friends to change their consumption habits and think about their relationships with more vulnerable people. Several students have indicated that they want to go on humanitarian trips because of the project, something that the youth did not consider before. Teachers and the school psychologist observed changes in the students in terms of self-confidence and the development of curiosity regarding the themes explored with eh use of GCE.
Conclusion
The success of the project can be measured through the achievement of the two key objectives set at the start of the process, but especially through the visible positive effects the project had on the participating students. The cooperation established between BeGlobal, Entraide & Fraternité, and the Athénée Royal Rochefort-Jemelle has had a positive influence on the youth in the program and has demonstrated that TVET students should not be overlooked when developing GCE initiatives to train and support the next generation in Belgium.
Global Citizenship Education in vocational education
As part of the “Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in vocational education” project, two pilot projects were launched during the 2024-2025 school year.
Two schools, each located on either side of the linguistic border, developed and implemented a GCE pilot project in collaboration with NGOs. In Flanders, KTA CLW Bruges collaborated with the Djapo–Studio Globo consortium. In Wallonia-Brussels, a pilot project was also set up: a collaboration between Athénée Royal Rochefort-Jemelle and Entraide & Fraternité.
Would you like to find out more about the two pilot projects?
The two pilot projects put into practice the recommendations that were drafted by our colleagues at the UCLL, who are the authors of the study “GCE in vocational education.”
Would you like to find out more about the study?
Would you like to find out more about the study?
The project thus aims to contribute to the implementation of concrete measures to address global citizenship education with young people in vocational education, in order to motivate them and raise their awareness of the need to commit to a fairer and more sustainable world.
Click here for more information about the study
Citations
Enabel. (2025). Projet de renforcement de l’éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale dans l’enseignement qualifiant – 2024-2025. Rapport d’évaluation. Entraide & Fraternité en collaboration avec l’Athénée Royal Rochefort-Jemelle.
Would you like to stay informed?
Contact Paulien Caeyers at paulien.caeyers@enabel.be
Global Citizenship Education Magazine
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Une publication annuelle pour nourrir la réflexion en éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale
Dans le cadre de sa mission de recherche, de capitalisation et de diffusion des savoirs, BeGlobal publie chaque année un numéro du magazine Global Citizenship Education. Cette publication vise à stimuler la réflexion autour de thématiques clés en lien avec l’éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale (ECM), à partir d’analyses rigoureuses, critiques et ancrées dans les réalités éducatives actuelles.
Le magazine veut faire le pont entre recherches et pratiques, en offrant la parole à des chercheur·ses ou expert·es reconnu·es qui mobilisent savoirs scientifiques, expériences de terrain et perspectives internationales.
Ces publications sont des outils au service des acteur·trices de l’éducation, des institutions, du monde académique, et plus largement de toute personne souhaitant comprendre les thématiques clés de l’ECM, son évolution et ses défis. Chaque édition s’articule autour d’un thème central, décliné à travers quatre contributions.
Une collection pensée pour faire évoluer les pratiques
📘 Édition 2021 – « Les tensions dans l’éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale »
➡ Cette première édition interroge les contradictions inhérentes à la mise en œuvre de l’ECM. Entre universalité des valeurs, diversité des contextes, injonctions institutionnelles et aspirations pédagogiques, quelles tensions émergent ? Et comment les aborder de manière constructive sans les nier ?
📘 Édition 2022 – « Vers une éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale décoloniale »
➡ Ce numéro explore les dimensions postcoloniales encore présentes dans les discours et pratiques éducatives, et invite à repenser l’ECM à partir de perspectives critiques, émancipatrices et plurielles. Il questionne les rapports de pouvoir, les récits dominants et les biais systémiques intégrés dans l’ECM.
📘 Édition 2023 – « 20 ans d’éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale en Europe : et 30 ans à venir ! »
➡ Cette édition se penche sur la Déclaration européenne sur l’éducation à la citoyenneté mondiale (ECM) adoptée en 2022 à Dublin. Elle donne la parole aux protagonistes qui ont façonné cette déclaration et propose un regard sur le passé et l’avenir de l’ECM en Europe.
📘 2024 Edition – « Anchoring global citizenship education in Belgian scholls: where do we stand and what remains to be done?»
➡ This issue provides an overview of how GCE is being integrated into Belgian schools. It explores institutional levers, systemic barriers, and educational initiatives that contribute to lasting change in schools.
📘 2025 Edition – « The contribution of behavioural science to global citizenship education and for a sustainable future »
➡ The 2025 edition investigates how behavioral sciences – social psychology, cognitive science, and behavioral economics – can enrich educational strategies in GCE. It explores how psychological mechanisms influence our ability to understand the world, act, and respond with clarity and responsibility.
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Chaque numéro du Global Citizenship Education propose ainsi une plongée thématique qui éclaire les enjeux contemporains de l’ECM et alimente les pratiques éducatives. Une invitation à penser autrement, à apprendre ensemble et à construire, pas à pas, un avenir plus solidaire.
Envie d’élargir vos horizons et de nourrir vos pratiques éducatives ? Plongez dans la collection du magazine et laissez-vous inspirer !
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