URI Europe is planning a pilot project to make Living Values Education (LVE) available to European URI Co-ooperation Circles from the end of 2009 on.

Living Values Education (LVE) offers practical steps for values based conversations, personal development and community activism.  It is supported by UNESCO and many other organisations, agencies, governmental bodies, foundations, community groups and individuals.

Please contact us, if you have experience with LVE and/or would like to participate in this pilot project, working on the project team, with your Co-operation Circle or otherwise. Please contact URI Europe Co-ordinator, Karimah Stauch, by email under kstauch [at] uri.org.

URI Co-operation Circle and supporter Bond zonder Naam (BZN) has been using Living Values Education (LVE) in a pilot project with 7 schools in Flanders/Belgium for two years. The project involves entire school communities, i.e. students, teachers and parents. They discuss and explore values in a world café process. From their conversations, action plans are developed.

Three members of the URI Euroope Executive Committte - Patrick Hanjoul, Karimah Stauch and Patrick Nickisch participated in a LVE training day on April 21, 2009, at the Bond zonder Naam headquarters in Antwerp.

One month before the training, the three participants were asked by Anniek Gavriilkis  to complete an online survey, using the "Cultural Transformation Tool" (CTT). All three were asked about their 10 most important values at this moment: a) personal values in their personal experience, b) organisational values in URI Europe at work right now, c) organisational values important for URI Europe's success.  The data from this online survey were processed by BZN. 

Reflections from Mayapur

From November 24th - 29th, 2008, 100 young leaders from 34 countries gathered in Mayapur, India for a five-day leadership training program followed by the URI's triannual Global Assembly, a meeting of religious and spiritual leaders from around the world.

During this five-day gathering, the young people learned methods of interfaith peacebuilding, NonViolent Communication, spiritual practices for well-being and peace of mind, and got involved in the community through several service projects, including a visit to a local village school to provide school supplies, plant trees and paint a peace mural with the school children. The following article is a compilation of reflections from the youth participants about their experiences and what they learned.

December 2008 –The United Religions Initiative (URI) held an unprecedented global gathering of 300 grassroots interfaith leaders, from 44 countries, including over one hundred young leaders. From November 25th to December 6th, 2008, in Mayapur, India, URI’s second Global Assembly was a combination of hard work and joyous celebration.

Billed as a pilgrimage, the URI Global Assembly offered for many a first experience of traveling outside their country to meet a beautifully, wildly diverse and loving gathering of URI colleagues. Aligned by the purpose and principles of URI and working on interfaith projects worldwide, hundreds of members were able to speak face-to-face, learn from one another’s successes and build further alliances within the URI network and beyond. One young woman from Uganda reported, “I am the only person in my CC who can read or write. But all of the other women tell me that they love URI because it is the only thing that gives them a voice in the world.”