Since its creation, the organization has chosen an evocative name, symbolizing its roots in the educational world and its core mission: to unite educational communities in building safe, peaceful, and fulfilling environments.
This return to fundamentals is accompanied by a restructuring of priorities around the association’s central focus: preventing school violence, training students and educators, and promoting international standards for positive school climates.
United by Schools stood out in 2024 through several key initiatives.
The submission of fifteen alternative reports to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, written by volunteers and students trained by the association, documenting the educational situation in fifteen countries across four continents.
The continuation of the Young Human Rights Defenders Program, allowing students to explore the mechanisms of citizen diplomacy, and to learn how to research, draft, advocate, and debate within an international cooperation framework.
On the academic front, the publication of the book Diplomacy and Children’s Rights, co-authored by Lenny Pamart and Professor Jean-Pierre Pourtois, which links pedagogy and child rights diplomacy, offering practical tools for peace education.
The Education for Peace Prize, awarded to sixteen young laureates for their commitment to the association’s work presented at the United Nations.
At the same time, United by schools continued its mission of sharing educational innovations: the color-coded playground model, already implemented in France, was featured on the french TV channel M6, confirming its impact with an average 62% reduction in incidents of misconduct in partner schools.
The association was also invited to Belgium for a series of conferences and media appearances, notably at the University of Mons and the Institut Namur-Cadets, where it shared its findings and proposals to improve school climates in Europe.
Thus, 2024 stands as a year of consolidation and influence, consolidation of pedagogical foundations, expansion of international advocacy.