2022: Advancing Global Citizenship in Temuco, Chile
Within a rather uncertain scenario both locally and globally, the UFRO campus resumed its activities in person for the first time this 2022, where our greatest achievement was being able to consolidate ourselves as a team and learn to cope together with all the challenges that come our way.
During the first semester, we welcomed 3 new fellows to our campus where we focused on carrying out activities related to teamwork in order to get to know each other and accompany us in reintegrating into university life after the pandemic. Also during the first semester, we had the opportunity to meet up with senior fellows from different generations where we were able to share and learn a little more about the Melton community.
Global Citizenship Conference Jena, 2022
One of the great milestones this year for the Melton Fellows from Temuco, Chile was being able to meet again at the GCC 2022 where 9 Senior and Junior Melton Fellows from Temuco had the opportunity to travel to Jena in Germany to experience global citizenship and identify new challenges both locally and internationally. This experience helped us to strengthen our bond with the foundation and inspire us to be able to generate significant projects that generate an impact in our community.
The year 2022 was more challenging than we expected, although we missed being able to meet, we had not considered the difficulties that this could bring by limiting our actions. This was a year full of new learning and experiences that strengthened us as a team and inspired new planning according to our identity as a campus, our strengths, and limitations so that in 2023 we hope to become a greater contribution to global citizenship.
The Global Citizenship Convention (GCC) officially began in Jena, Germany 🇩🇪 where Fellows from Temuco, Chile actively participated and showcased local Chilean culture and more!
On the second day of the GCC, we had the opportunity to share our culture with our colleagues from India, Germany, the United States, and Ghana through presentations of our cultures.
Here are some photos at the conference with the participants from Temuco:
MF Recruitment and New Fellows from Temuco
“At the UFRO campus, 2022 was our first year back at the university since COVID-19. For many of us, it was a year full of changes, some of us were just getting to know the university and the Melton Foundation.
Recruitment began at the end of 2021 with various activities that allowed us to make ourselves known to the university community. This process ended in 2022 when we welcomed 3 new fellows to our campus! Our new fellows were actively involved in the reactivation and campus work in parallel with the global citizenship training program. This year for the UFRO campus was all about getting to know each other and finding the best way to work together, we had ups and downs but now we can truly say that we are an established team that is highly committed to giving its best for the next challenges.”
A welcome to our New Fellows at a face-to-face meeting to strengthen ties and launch this year’s projects. Welcome Emilia, Camila, and Damián to the Melton Foundation!
The last two months of the year have been dedicated to actively working on activities for the 2023 recruitment! We have done informative talks, participated with stands in student fairs, and handed out a lot of flyers.
MF Global Citizenship University Course at UFRO, Temuco
At UFRO, The Melton Foundation pioneered a general education course on global competencies under the theme of Global Citizenship. This course seeks to develop ethical leaders who understand global interconnectivity and to give the students the tools to lead international groups in order to solve global and local problems, it also allows them to understand how cultures influence human thinking and behavior, how to overcome stereotypes in intercultural communication and how to work successfully in diverse groups.
During this year, 14 students from different careers at the university participated, and they were able to share and learn about different global and local issues and propose solutions for them. At the end of the course and as a final evaluation, the students had to present in groups the knowledge and skills they were taught during the course. They had to use their critical thinking to address issues related to immigration, poverty, leadership styles, SDGs, and positive impact, among others to transform that discussion into a podcast.
Global Citizenship Education at Universities in Temuco – A success story
The Melton Foundation has continued on its path to provide learning opportunities beyond our legacy Melton Fellowship. In 2022, we developed a full curriculum for teaching global competencies in university environments. These can be semester-long courses and shorter workshops that can be offered on a fee basis to other institutions. After two semesters, we were very pleased that UFRO, Temuco decided to make the Global Citizenship Elective a permanent offer to its students. We are even more excited that our Campus Co-ordinator at UFRO, Temuco, Felipe Opazo will continue teaching the course at the university. This Melton Foundation innovation is sustained by our partners, and is a true success story!
We hope to bring the course to more institutions around the world, increasing access to learning opportunities, creating new income avenues, and supporting the personal growth of students to become Global Citizens.
Spanish Podcasts
In the context of the global competencies course taught by the Melton Foundation at UFRO, as a final evaluation the students part of this course have to put into practice all the tools that were given to them and create a podcast about a topic related to the concept of global citizenship and the challenges we face locally and globally. The podcasts produced by the students addressed various topics such as immigration, poverty, racism, the SDGs, leadership, and feminism.
Four of these works were uploaded to Melton foundation’s Spotify in their podcast “Global Citizenship in practice”.
Continue to listen here!
Objectivo de desarrollo sotenible
Racismo: el concepto de ‘raza’
First International week at UFRO:
National and international guests, talks, international outreach initiatives, student groups, film screenings, and cultural activities, as well as a fair on the study and professional internship opportunities abroad, give life to this rich program.
Melton Fellows from Temuco put up a bright display of our activities, events, opportunities, and more at the fair! They participated during this First international week, attending the official open ceremony, and offering a presentation about the foundation, ODS and ODI. Also, our MF fellows had their own stand at the International fair sharing their insight with the students and visitors about the MF, what we do and who we are, this also contributed to the frame of the recruitment process.
Second meeting with the Ecosystem of the civic organizations in Temuco
In January 2022, we held the first face-to-face meeting with different civic organizations to get to know each other and work on the objective and aims for the year. Thanks to this meeting, we started to work on the organization and preparation of the Festival de la Sociedad Civil.
Here is a recap video all about the festival:
On Saturday, November, 26, the Community of Solidarity Organizations, together with the Melton Foundation, InnovaPaís, and Balloon Latam held the “Civil Society Festival” in La Araucanía, an unprecedented free public meeting that seeks to promote, strengthen and articulate the work of social organizations in the region. At the event, talks, interventions, and different activities were developed to publicize the social organizations of the region.
Taller de Yoga- Yoga Workshop
On Thursday, July 7th Senior Fellow and yoga instructor Esteban Torres Baier taught a Yoga Workshop in the multipurpose room of the UFRO Olympic Gymnasium. The purpose of the workshop was to raise funds for a law student who lost his home in a fire. To attend the workshop, participants were encouraged to make a donation to the cause.
It was a relaxing afternoon meant to de-stress, promote a healthy lifestyle and band together in support of a fellow student.
Festival Global de Storytelling 2022
After months of careful planning and team effort, the Melton Foundation Temuco and Lighthouse Español collaborated to put together the first Global Storytelling Festival 2022 in Spanish.
We greatly appreciated the participation of all the artists, organizations, participants, attendees, and technical teams that had made the event possible. The Festival consisted of 4 main events: A Preliminary Talk, an Opening Panel, a Hands-on Workshop, and a Showcase for Arts and Storytelling; each one hosting many diverse storytellers from many places across Latin America and Europe. We learned many lessons through this festival and we hope to continue the new connections made n new avenues and keep conversations about the eternal art of storytelling, uniting experiences, pains, and joys beyond our borders going.
