We are living in a time when the world is surrounded by menacing problems like Climate change, oil wars, genocides, etc. Even if we forget the global problems, our own country is trapped in fatal issues such as communal disharmony, mob-lynching, and intolerance towards human beings. A very essential element responsible for human existence is completely missing from our lives, and that is PEACE.
During this ultra-stressful time, it is our duty to make this world a better place to live. In order to do that, we need to ensure that our lives are still driven by kindness and compassion. A peaceful and hassle-free life is everyone’s right, but during this treacherous time, it all seems like a Utopian dream.
Since the topic of peace is being discussed here, a very innovative campaign that is related to peace sharing should be presented to the world. The UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development has started a campaign called Kindness Matters Campaign. The campaign aims to spread kindness and peace in the world by urging people, especially the youth, to share their kindness stories.
The main motive is to empower the youth to build peaceful and sustainable societies around the world. Through the campaign and conferences organised by the UNESCO MGIEP, the institute objectifies to equip young learners with competencies of empathy, compassion, mindfulness and critical inquiry.
#VirtualGandhiMarch campaign is a part of the Kindness Matters campaign, which commences on the UN International Youth Day, August 12, 2019, and runs until the International Day of Non Violence/Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, October 2, 2019. The virtual march is part of a wider mission, #KindnessMatters for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a first-of-its-kind international youth campaign on kindness with the goal of mobilizing the world’s youth to achieve the 17 SDGs through transformative acts of kindness, compassion, care towards self, others and the environment.
Speaking on the significance of #VirtualGandhiMarch, UNESCO MGIEP’s Director, Dr. Anantha Duraiappah, says, “In a world full of rising intolerance, apathy, indifference, social exclusion, fear, gender-based violence, climate change and extremism, we believe that apart from catering to students’ academic needs, it is equally important to hone their social and emotional capabilities to nurture rational, empathetic and compassionate citizens. #VirtualGandhiMarch provides a platform for young people and youth-driven organizations to share positive stories of change, highlighting the powerful forces of compassion, care and kindness. The campaign is youth-centric but does not exclude non-youth participants from sharing their stories”. He further adds, “Research has also proven that practising kindness can be a transformative process. Kindness is a prerequisite for achieving the United Nations SDGs. One of the most important lessons from decades of research in the field of sustainability is that rational thinking isn’t enough anymore. The need of the hour is to foster an environment of giving. In line with UNESCO MGIEP’s social and emotional learning framework, the #KindnessMatters campaign draws from research in the neurosciences, which has clearly demonstrated the benefits of kindness not only for recipients but also for providers.”
Wondering how the #KindnessMatters campaign works? Have a look at the following:
• Young people have been encouraged to share stories on social media about acts of kindness they’ve experienced or something kind they’ve done.
• Each poster will nominate/tag at least 3 more people to share their own stories/experiences.
• Posts sharing photos/videos/text will use #VirtualGandhiMarch & #KindnessMatters to spread their message.
• UNESCO MGIEP will be reposting/sharing these global stories on social media channels.
As many as 4,659 stories have been submitted by people around the globe and 79% of them are from the age group of 18-35 years.
Some of the kindness stories are given below:
Meet The Period Man Of Pune, Pravin Nikam (26 Years, Male, India)
It was a study tour to Assam in the year 2011 that exposed Pravin Nikam to the social issues and taboos around menstrual hygiene among the locals. This inspired Pravin to dispel the many myths around menstruation and work towards empowerment of women on issues around menstrual health management, reproductive health rights, and life skills. He founded Roshni Foundation, a Pune based NGO that actively works towards issues of gender, sexuality, menstrual health management, sexual and reproductive health rights and improving health conditions through educational tools and storytelling. His efforts fetched him the National Youth Award by the Government of India for the year 2015-16
17,000 Km For Awareness About Injured Armed Forces Veteran, Mitsu Chavda (27 years, Female, India)
Mitsu Chavda started her solo journey ‘Ride for Soldiers’ to raise awareness about Paraplegic Rehabilitation for injured Armed Forces veterans. She covered 17,000 kms, 102 cities in 65 days during which she also raised funds to be donated to Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre for Armed Forces. During her trip, she visited schools and colleges and gave lectures on the sacrifices of paraplegic soldiers, talking about young jawans who suffer injuries while on duty.
#KindnessMatters: Saving Turtles From Extinction
There is a widely believed superstition in Assam that couples that offer turtles to the temple are blessed with a child. Because of this, the turtles are on the verge of extinction in this area. Things changed when a group of students got to know about this, and they decided to spread awareness among the community.
These are just a few stories, more such kindness acts have been shared and this depicts that people still have compassion in their hearts.
World Youth Conference For Kindness
As a part of the Kindness campaign, UNESCO MGIEP is organising the first World Youth Conference on Kindness in New Delhi, India, on the theme ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World: Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’. (Link to register)
World Youth Conference on Kindness: August 20 – 23, 2019, New Delhi, India.
The entire purpose of writing this post is to make the public aware of the Kindness Campaign. People, most notably the youth of our country, have the right to know about issues that concern our lives. They have the right to know about the solutions to certain problems.
To conclude, all that can be stated is that we can’t ignore the fact that kindness is the need of the hour. Humanity can only be saved by showing some kindness and by becoming tolerant.