Your Home: Our World
Tasmanian School Forums on Child Rights

A unique opportunity for students around Tasmania to connect with young people from developing countries and contribute to the achievement of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

Poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom. Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Make poverty history…
Nelson Mandela

Your Home: Our World is a project of the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning in partnership with Bahay Tuluyan. It is funded by AusAID as part of the Australian Government's Community Call to Action initiative.

Since 2006, the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning (TCGL) has hosted the Tasmanian leg of the challenging and informative Kids View tour of Australia. Kids View is presented by two former street children and an Australian volunteer based at Bahay Tuluyan in the Philippines. The tour aims to empower young Australians to make a difference for children all over the world.

As the result of a grant from AusAID, the Tasmanian leg of the 2010 tour has been  extended to include 5 full-day forums in regional areas and to support participating schools in an ongoing project.

The Your Home: Our World project is now in its second stage. In April 2010, five Child Rights Forums were held around Tasmania - hosted by Huonville High, Rokeby High, Gagebrook Primary, Kings Meadows High and Ulverstone High - and attended by 15 other schools. Thank you to the host schools for providing great facilities, food, and assistance which resulted in five highly successful forums!

At the Child Rights Forums students watched a presentation from Angel and Nonoy, two former street children now living at Bahay Tuluyan in the Philippines. This powerful presentation showed what life is like on the streets and that it was the individual choice of Angel and Nonoy to take control of their lives and seek assistance from  Bahay Tuluyan. Both Angel and Nonoy are now completing school, have hopes for their future, and are helping other street children to achieve their dreams. They are presenting their story to Australian children to encourage them to understand that 'change begins with me' and that they too can help children around the world.

Following the presentation by Angel and Nonoy, students participated in workshops about the Millennium Development Goals. These gave them a real life understanding of what it is like to survive on $1 a day. The workshop kits will shortly be available for purchase from TCGL.

Schools have now begun work on their ongoing project: all are committed to taking what they learnt at the Forum to develop a project based on one of the Millennium Development Goals. Most schools will be completing their projects in term two. The schools will be supported in this by the MDG Champions and the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning.

All the participating students will come together again in Anti-Poverty Week (October 11 - 15) to showcase and celebrate their project achievements.

Schools and their projects are listed below:

School	Class	Project	Progress
Brooks High	Grade 10
Burnie Primary	Grade 6
Dover District High	Grade 6
East Derwent Primary	Grade 6
East Derwent Primary
Gagebrook Primary
Geilston Bay High
Geilston Bay High
Herdsmans Cover Primary
Huonville High
Huonville Primary
Kings Meadows High
Lindisfarne Primary
Margate Primary
Montrose Bay High
Penguin High
Riverside Primary
Riverside Primary
Rokeby High	Grade 7
Rokeby High	Grade 8
Smithton High
St James Primary
Trevallyn Primary
Ulverstone High

To find out more contact:
The Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning
4 Battery Square, Battery Point, 7004
Ph 03 6223 1025 or 0400 824 261
Email: mary@afairerworld.org

 

Millennium Development Goals

In 2000, world leaders including Australia’s Prime Minister signed the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of targets to be reached by 2015 – these are the Millennium Development Goals. The eight goals – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and the world’s leading development institutions. Find out more abut the UN MDGs and the Millennium Campaign.

MDG Champions

These are young Tasmanians (18-25 years old) selected for their passion for social justice and for making a difference. They have volunteered to be a part of Your Home Our World in 2010 under the guidance of the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning. Their commitment is to assist and inspire Tasmanian students to connect with young people in developing countries in support of the Millennium Development Goals.

Bahay Tuluyan (“house of welcome”) is a non-profit organisation based in the Philippines that empowers street children to look after themselves and fellow children. Bahay Tuluyan offers opportunities for young Australians to volunteer at its Centres and each year brings two former street children to tour Australia to tell their incredible personal stories. The tour aims to promote children’s rights and has already inspired hundreds of Tasmanian students to learn more. Find out more about Bahay Tuluyan Philippines and Bahay Tuluyan Australia.  

AusAID is the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid program. The objective of the aid program is to assist developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest. Find out more about AusAID.

Community Call to Action is a pilot initiative of the Australian Government that supports activities to raise awareness about global poverty and the Millennium Development Goals. Find out more about the Community Call to Action initiative.