Feature: Youth and Non-Formal Education and 
          Community Involvement 
           
           
          Education, generally understood as a life long process, is delivered through several 
          channels that are interdependent and complimentary. UNESCO defines formal education 
          as the hierarchically structured, chronologically graded, educational system running from 
          primary through to tertiary institutions. Informal education is the process whereby every 
          individual acquires attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience, such as 
          from family, friends, peer groups, the media and other influences and factors in the 
          person’s environment.  
           
          Non-formal education (NFE) is an organised educational activity outside the established 
          formal system that is intended to serve an identifiable learning clientele with identifiable 
          learning objectives.  Non-formal education can be delivered by governments, UN 
          agencies, trade unions, sports clubs and national institutions but the biggest provider of 
          NFE remain youth organizations, especially volunteer-led youth NGOs, which base their 
          educational programmes on equality, diversity and responsible global citizenship. The 
          importance of non-formal education, as generally practised by youth NGOs and other 
          providers, results from the specific characteristics that are intrinsic to it and which are, to 
          a large extent, not present in either formal or informal education.  
           
          Non-formal education, as provided by youth organizations such as the World Association 
          of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) ensures a holistic approach to educating and 
          empowering young people. Non-formal education not only complements the formal 
          education provided by schools, it can also make up for shortfalls in formal education. It 
          can involve topics not covered by school curricula, such as sexual and reproductive 
          health, and it can also step in when formal education is difficult to access.  
           
          WAGGGS is the largest voluntary movement dedicated to girls and young women in the 
          world operating with ten million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from 145 countries across 
          the globe. Through its Member Organizations and through working directly with girls 
          and young women, WAGGGS delivers high quality non-formal educational programmes 
          and international opportunities that provide girls and young women dynamic, flexible and 
          values-based training in life skills, leadership and citizenship. 
           
          2011 is the centenary year of WAGGGS. There are more than 140 Centenary 
          Ambassadors around the world working hard to shape the centenary celebrations for their 
          Associations and for WAGGGS.  Lilian Itenya is a Centenary Ambassador and young 
          leader with the Kenya Girl Guide Association.  A Girl Guide since age 11, and now 25 
          years old, Lilian represents other young leaders on Kenya’s National Council and 
          Executive Committee. Lilian has been marking the centenary with the Kenya Girl Guide 
          Association (KGGA), and this year is spearheading the project ‘Panties with a Purpose’. 
           
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        “We are calling people to donate panties and sanitary products to underprivileged girls 
        who cannot afford them. Every month a girl misses 156 lessons in school because she 
        cannot afford either a panty or sanitary towels. Every panty we receive means we can 
        offer girls a packet of sanitary towels. We have a box in our Association where we collect 
        donations.” 
         
        As an administrative assistant in a private medical clinic, helping support the health and 
        education of girls is important to Lilian. Through the project girls can now attend school 
        lessons, which they otherwise would have missed. 
         
        This year, says Lilian, one of the main focuses is to grow, create awareness and change 
        lives by working with schools, participating in community projects and attending 
        camping events.  
         
        “We plan to run a centenary camp from 7 – 10 April 2011, have a Caravan in August, and 
        hold the Kenya National Forum at the Kimalel Camp. This year we’re launching a 
        centenary exhibition and running it at our camp in Nyeri. It will help grow Guiding and 
        create awareness of our centenary celebrations – music will attract young women to come 
        over, it will be a way of giving out information and sharing all the activities we do. The 
        National Forum will be a gathering for young women and it will be in August, a month 
        where we celebrate International Youth Day. We’ll be talking about the Millennium 
        Development Goals, sharing our activities and raising interest in Guiding. We will be 
        making greetings cards and T-shirts to take to the event.” 
         
        The 2010 centenary theme of Plant also helped shape many of last year’s activities for 
        Lilian and the KGGA. 
         
        “Last year we young leaders planted trees at Nairobi Pentecostal Academy, visited the 
        Starehe Girls Secondary School and shared the Global Action Theme with them. We 
        planted trees, sang Guiding songs, danced and shared friendly messages. We visited the 
        Kibera Girls Centre, where we shared a lot on planting peace as women. We played, 
        cooked with the girls, and the young women donated clothes to the centre. On 
        International Women’s Day in 2010 we talked about planting peace, as women are 
        important peace makers in society. When there is instability in a country it’s the women 
        who suffer so it starts with us, from our homes and our communities. We said peace is 
        not only absence of war but also of misunderstandings between people and we told them 
        how women in Liberia bestowed peace in their country.” 
         
        Lilian is passionate and excited about her work with the Kenya Girl Guide Association 
        and the impact these projects have within her community. 
         
        “As we celebrate 100 years in the three years, and head towards 2012, we should be able 
        to reflect on the impact of our programmes and activities. They make a difference in our 
        lives and since our lives have changed, we want to make a difference in other people’s 
        lives. This year we grow Guiding and change lives. 
         
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          News from UN offices 
          UNESCO: Youth Peace Ambassadors Implementing Action Plans 
          Many of the 80 trainees from the First and Second UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassador 
          Training Workshops held in Hiroshima (2010) and Phnom Penh (2011) have developed 
          action plans for peace activities across the globe. On 4 June 2011 the UNESCO-
          University of Canberra Colours of Peace Workshop saw youth from over 20 countries 
          around the globe share ideas and experience on peace in Australia. On 30 May 2011, a 
          Peace Concert was organized by peace ambassadors at Eastern Star Bilingual School in 
          Vientianne, with the participation of UNESCO National Commission in Laos, and many 
          public figures. A one week further training a review of the activities will occur in 
          Hiroshima in March 2011.  
          For more information: http://www.unescobkk.org/rushsap/youth/youth-peace-
          ambassadors/ 
           
          UNESCO: 3rd IberoAmerican World Heritage Youth Forum  
           
          This event will be held in Spain. Thirty-nine students (from 12 to 15), will be 
          participating, coming from schools representing selected World Heritage sites in 
          Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay. Activities 
          planned include tours, site visits, meetings, workshops and debates. The main theme of 
          the Youth Forum is "Rock Art". Participants will visit the World Heritage sites and 
          will learn about cultural, natural, intangible and industrial site elements. There will be 
          two live interactive internet connections between the Youth Forum and the World 
          Heritage Committee meeting in Paris. Participants will learn about the work by the main 
          institutions responsible for the protection of heritage, and the the World Heritage 
          Committee will have the opportunity to hear about the concerns and efforts of the young 
          people related to WH preservation and promotion. The outcome of the forum will be 
          presented on 27 June 2011 at UNESCO Headquarters.  
           
          For more information: c.quin@unesco.org or i.yousfi@unesco.org 
           
           
          UNESCO: Round table “Towards Youth inclusive policies and prevention of 
          violence in the Great Lakes Region”  
           
          Recognizing that young people are key actors in the quest for peace and security, 
          UNESCO is organizing a Round table “Towards Youth inclusive policies and prevention 
          of violence in the Great Lakes Region (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya 
          and Tanzania)”, with the support of the Veneto region in Italy. The roundtable will 
          examine the findings of earlier research conducted by UNESCO on the state of policies 
          affecting youth in the four countries in the region and the correlation with violence 
          prevention among youth. It will also allow for exchanges of practices, within a South-
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        South cooperation perspective, with experts from youth development and violence 
        prevention programmes in Latin America. The UNESCO roundtable will be held from 27 
        to 28 June, 2011 at Nairobi, Kenya, and will be hosted by UN-HABITAT 
         
        For more information: youth@unesco.org 
         
        UNESCO: Caribbean Youth Workshop 
         
        Responding to the joint initiative of the Jamaica and the St. Lucia National Commissions 
        for UNESCO, UNESCO is organizing a “Caribbean Youth Workshop”, in St. Lucia, to 
        be held prior to the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum. The workshop will bring together young 
        participants to discuss the most important issues for young people in the Caribbean 
        region and it will focus on the role of youth in the social transformations of Caribbean 
        SIDS. Concrete proposals for action will be identified and submitted to the National 
        Commissions for UNESCO in the Caribbean, to the youth delegates from the region to 
        the 7th UNESCO Youth Forum and to Caribbean delegations to the 36th session of the 
        General Conference of UNESCO. 
         
        For more information: pm.monreal-gonzalez@unesco.org 
         
        UNESCO: Forum of Ministers of Social Development in Latin America 
         
        The Forum of Ministers of Social Development will bring together Ministers from the 18 
        Latin American countries, members of the main Social Sciences’ networks in the region, 
        representatives of UN agencies (UNDESA; UNICEF,ECLAC) and the Organizacion 
        Iberoamericana de Juventud to discuss the theme “Youth Policies and Social 
        Development in Latin America” and. A study on youth policies and social development 
        in the region, developed by UNESCO, will be presented to the Ministers during the 
        Forum (“Politicas de Juventud y Desarrollo Social en América Latina: Bases para la 
        Construcción de Respuestas Integradas”, UNESCO 2011). 
         
        For more information: jcarranza@unesco.org.uy 
         
        UNESCO: Announcing the Power of Peace Network and Friends Without Borders 
        World Youth ‘Peace Champion’ Campaign 
         
        The UNESCO Power of Peace Network (PPN) has partnered with San Francisco based 
        Friends Without Borders (www.facebook.com/friendswithoutborders), to select 8 world 
        youth Peace Champions from countries  and regions challenged by conflict - Israel and 
        Palestine, India and Pakistan, Greece and Turkey, Serbia and Albania. The Peace 
        Champion friendship pairs will act as ambassadors for the campaign by sharing their own 
        story of friendship on video. They will inspire others to engage in friendship and peace-
        building on Facebook in ways that will help progress positive inter-country, intra-
        regional and inter-personal relations. Champions from Israel and Palestine, and Albania 
        and Serbia are currently being selected and video documentaries will be launched in 
        August 2011. 
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