Life-Link Friendship-Schools

Infobox_Company | company_name = Life-Link Friendship-Schools
company_
company_type = Charity
company_slogan =
foundation = 1987, Uppsala, Sweden
location = Uppsala, Sweden
key_people = Hans Levander
industry = Environmentalism
homepage = [http://www.life-link.org www.life-link.org]

Life-Link Friendship-Schools is an independent Non-governmental Organisation which aims to promote contact and co-operation between young people around the world and their schools. It works through active participation in shared projects, vital for our time (e.g. Environment, Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Constructive Collaboration).

In Brief

Life-Link projects centre around three main areas of attention: Care for ourselves - Care for each other - Care for the environment. Realisation of these three interdependent areas will lead to increased common security.

The Life-Link philosophy is based on Natural and Social sciences and is neither politically nor religiously aligned.

Life-Link is today a well recognized non-governmental organisation with international contacts in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Organisation

Life-Link is organised on Three Levels:
# Committees or Clubs in schools with youth-teachers-parents-resourse persons.
# National and regional coordinators and advisers.
# International office and board in the Uppsala-Sigtuna region, Sweden.

In Detail

Peace and Care Actions, Projects and Campaigns, at and around Schools Worldwide

Youth, aged preferably 12-19, in co-operation with teachers and preferably also with parents and community resource people involved, perform one or several "2 hours" or part-day peace actions as proposed in the Life-Link Manual.

The peace actions/projects can be chosen from a list of more than 50 actions within the themes of [http://www.life-link.org/actions.php?sub=myself Care for Myself] , [http://www.life-link.org/actions.php?sub=others Care for Others] , [http://www.life-link.org/actions.php?sub=nature Care for Nature] and [http://www.life-link.org/actions.php?sub=organised Let's Get Organised] .

The actions should take place at and around the participant's school or within the nearby community, and can be initiated by a class or a club at a school.

Each performed peace action should be reported to Life-Link on a short Report Form online or by mail, fax or E-mail. By sending the first Action Report, a school will be accepted and the school will be listed on www.life-link.org - Click: Schools & Actions - Click: your country - Click: your school.

The Life-Link programme needs no application form or entrance fee. [http://www.life-link.org/join.php Just join!]

Partner-Schools' Regional and International Collaboration and Networking

When one's school and its performed action(s) are listed on http://www.life-link.org, one can study if other schools in the world have performed similar peace actions. Just make a search on the website's Schools & Actions and specific peace actions.

A class/club/school might be interested to contact other schools performing similar actions and to exchange protocols and experiences. Participants are allowed to take such contacts directly using any available means of communication.

Life-Link stresses the importance that the first approach with another school discusses a time-limited partner-schools collaboration, perhaps "2-months", and secondly what communication you want to carry out. A partner-schools' collaboration benefits from good planning, project management.

Prolonged collaboration and projects can of course be the result, a "spin-off effect", from the first contacts. Individual Pen-pal contacts can grow out from early Partner-Schools contacts, and continue after that the Partner-Schools "2-months" programme is finalised. Your school (class) might also benefit from networking with a few or even several other schools around a topic of interest.

It is up to the school to discuss such extended programmes. But before going into any partner-schools programme or networking, Life-Link advocates small peace and care actions to be performed at and around the school.

Who Benefits from the Life-Link Programme, and How

Youth
* More Self-esteem, more concern about My lifestyle, and more Hope for the Future
* Learning through practical projects and problem-solving
* Language and Communication training
* Collaboration and Project Management skills
* Behaviour in the direction of Care and Share

Teachers - Educators
* Global Classroom and Global Education
* Pedagogics for teaching-learning through problem solving
* Theory into Practice
* Conflict resolution and Mediation skills
* Interaction with community experts

Schools
* International curriculum
* Quality - Attractive reputation
* Peaceful behaviour between students and teachers and among students themselves
* Higher status in society

Communities
* Favourable interaction: School-Parents-Community
* Campaigns: Clean Up, Water, Tree planting, Anti Drugs etc.
* Non-violence behaviour
* Caring and Sharing society

States and Countries
* Building confidence across borders
* Dialogue Among Civilisations
* Building Common Security
* From Culture of War to Culture of Peace

The Earth
* Reverence for Life and Biology on Earth
* Biological security
* Behaviour in Favour of Sustainable Development
* Care for common watersheds and biotopes etc

Membership

* Engage in Campaign "Youth Caring and Sharing Peace Actions 2000+"
* A minimum of one Peace Action reported to Life-Link
* Students/pupils aged 12-19
* A non-compulsory annual fee of minimum US$10 (1999)
* A Life-Link committee, class or club at the school which is endorsed by the school authority