Solidarity Youth at the 27th International Conference of Buenos Aires

Sixty-two young people from secondary schools were part of the Solidarity Youth Meeting, which was in the spotlight and provided a different kind of closure to this year’s conference.

‘We learn much more when we are the ones who get down to work and implement projects and activities based on addressing real problems in the community,’ said the students in their conclusions.

The message, addressed to the conference participants and all educators, is entitled ‘Together we transform realities. Sharing experiences that serve a more participatory, fraternal and solidarity-based culture,’ which is the result of previous work in schools that apply or have applied the solidarity service-learning approach, at CLAYSS’ initiative.

Students from these institutions met two weeks before the conference to discuss service-learning, student leadership and solidarity in school life using audio-visual material. Their conclusions were compiled by the CLAYSS organizing team and the results were used as a starting point for the dialogue during the meeting.

In their conclusions, the students stressed the lack of real listening to their proposals and their commitment to listen to and learn from their peers, school administrators and communities they work with. Among other things, they suggested implementing service initiatives with the solidarity service-learning ‘way of learning’.

The following participating schools and institutions are state and private, secular and of different faiths: Escuelas ORT Argentina, Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini (UBA), Colegio Universitario Santo Tomas de Aquino (UCA), Escuela Marista La Inmaculada, Colegio Esclavas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and the institutes San José de la Palabra de Dios, San Román, San José (Villa Devoto) and Macnab (Bernal).

In addition to the joint document, the Solidarity Youth Meeting was a special feature for another reason: a group of students from EMEF Badra, a state-run school in Sao Paulo (Brazil), performed a show of breaking dance and ‘spoken poetry’ written by themselves.

Full article [in Spanish]: https://seminario.clayss.org/2024/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Mensaje-final-jovenes_2024.pdf