This year, the International Day of Education places young people at the heart of the production of education, reflecting a strong commitment of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. Across the world, young people are asserting their role as actors, thinkers, and builders of education systems, transforming education into a powerful tool for social justice, inclusion, and civic participation. The experience led by the Haitian organisation KOZE JÈN YO during the Global Education Week 2025 in Haiti offers an inspiring example. 

Denes Joseph, educator and young member of KOZE JÈN YO, was actively involved at every stage of the preparation of the National Conference on Global Education, held on 22 November 2025. Among the participants were Mr. Nesmy Manigat, former Minister of National Education and Vocational Training of Haiti, an economist and a recognised expert in education policy, the Training Center for Basic Education (CFEF), as well as teachers’ unions.
The North-South Centre of the Council of Europe was represented by Giulia Lo-Presti, Project Officer. The conference aimed to reflect on strategies for advancing towards an education system grounded in the values of Global Education. “Young people were involved in defining the objectives of the event and mobilising organisations and institutions across the country’s ten departments,” he explains. They also played a central role in facilitating discussions and debates, ensuring that their peers could voice their ideas and concerns. As Denes Joseph highlights, “we were not merely beneficiaries, but genuine co-creators of the success of the initiative.”
He also contributed to shaping the content of the conference by prioritising themes such as Global Citizenship Education as a driver of social transformation and youth civic engagement, drawing directly on the lived realities of young people in Haiti, shaped by deep social inequalities, significant economic constraints, and unequal access to quality education. His involvement helped ensure that discussions were both dynamic and rooted in young people’s everyday experiences. The conference adopted participatory methods, combining expert contributions, open dialogue, and direct interaction with participants, fostering critical thinking and intergenerational exchange. Following the event, several participants joined KOZE JÈN YO to engage in new initiatives, while some local organisations adapted their educational programmes by integrating proposals put forward by young participants. As emphasised by John Wesley Désir, Communications Director at KOZE JEN YO, “the organisation plans to build on these exchanges by replicating this type of dialogue space, implementing training programs for teachers and school administrators centered on the values of global citizenship, strengthening educational partnerships, and progressively formalizing follow-up actions, in order to anchor the discussions within a perspective of continuity and sustainability.”

This initiative demonstrates that when young people are meaningfully involved in shaping education, “it becomes a powerful lever for social transformation, grounded in dignity, justice, and civic engagement.” The direct participation of young people also enriches society as a whole by bringing fresh ideas, creative energy, and perspectives rooted in their priorities and lived realities. On this International Day of Education, the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe reaffirms its commitment to fully involving young people at all levels of the education system, ensuring that education is truly co-created, inclusive, and aligned with their aspirations.

Global Education helps learners to develop individual and collective responses to social, ecological, political, economic, and ethical issues of common concern. It mobilises commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular SDG 4.7: Education for sustainable development and global citizenship.

The Global Education Week is a world-wide campaign implemented by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the Global Education Network in the framework of the iLEGEND III, a joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe: co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe. It aims to raise awareness on Global Education as a tool for solidarity and change and contribute for a more sustainable, peaceful and equitable world.

The activities organised in the framework of Global Education Week are the sole responsibility of the implementing partners and entities and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the Council of Europe.