ESTDEV Funds Four Global Education Projects in Estonia

The Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV) has awarded €100,000 to four global education projects designed to teach children and young adults to be global citizens through innovative teaching methods. 

ESTDEV’s open call for proposals sought projects aimed at helping children and young adults develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes described in the Global Competence model in line with Estonia’s strategic objectives for education.

Kristi Kulu, ESTDEV’s head of Education, said, “Global education aims to raise active global citizens who know what is happening in the world, the causes of events and how they affect us.”

Kulu said ESTDEV-supported global education projects focus on equipping young people with the necessary skills, knowledge and values to face the challenges of the 21st century: “Raising awareness in society at large is important because every individual can make the world a better place by being open, aware and purposeful.”

Four projects from four different organisations won the call for proposals. The winning projects focus on global education and developing innovative global competency teaching methods.

• NGO Mondo’s project “Shaping Knowledgeable Global Citizens in the Estonian Education System (MHK12)” aims to increase the skills of educators and raise the interest and awareness of young people to enable them to contribute to a fairer and more sustainable world.
• The NGO Peipsi Cooperation Centre’s project “Implementing the Global Citizen Competency Model in the Area of Planet Sustainability in Cooperation between Formal and Non-formal Educational Institutions” will develop and test new curricula and digital learning materials.
• Pelgulinna State Gymnasium’s project, “Global Education Conference at Tallinn Pelgulinna State Gymnasium,” will organise a Global Education Week at the school, including a knowledge festival and conference.
• Vivita Estonia OÜ’s project “Ilmapilk — a playful and design-centred toolbox to promote global education” will develop a playful and design-centred creative toolkit for teaching and learning global education in cooperation with teachers and students.

Development cooperation support is targeted at meeting foreign policy objectives. The organisation of the calls for proposals, including the target countries and objectives, is agreed upon in an agreement between the ESDEV and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.