Purpose: Tackling social exclusion and restoring human dignity, empowering young people to make a change and to fulfil their potential, building bridges and promoting a culture of care, respect, sharing and mutual aid.
Stimulus/Rationale: The Ubuntu Bridges Programme was launched in 2010 by IPAV with the sponsorship of Lisbon Municipality, starting with its “Ubuntu Leadership Academy” and later expanding with its “Ubuntu Social Incubator”, its “Ubuntu Lives Project” and other Ubuntu initiatives. The entire programme aims at tackling social exclusion and restoring human dignity through building confidence and resilience amongst young people, promoting a culture of care and mobilising individuals to make a change. The programme is inspired by the African concept of “Ubuntu”, literally meaning “I am because you are” or “I can only be a person through other people”, based on values such as care, respect, sharing and mutual aid. All components of the programme use an Ubuntu methodology, promoting:
- Self-knowledge regarding one’s personality, emotions, talents, strengths and weaknesses;
- Self-confidence to gain trust in one’s ability to make a change, to step out of the “victim” role;
- Resilience against difficult life circumstances;
- Empathy to be able to see and understand the world from other perspectives, and eventually
- Actions serving for the promotion and restoration of human dignity.
Process:
The programme started with an Erasmus project called “Ubuntu: Building Bridges for Peace” and has now developed into a long term programme, and it is connected with the Ubuntu GLobal Network. .
The Ubuntu Leadership Academy is a non-formal education programme aiming to empower young people (aged 18 – 35) from minority/migrant communities to become leaders in promoting human dignity, justice and well-being (so called “servant leaders”, serving others and the community). Next to strengthening self-confidence, resilience and empathy, participants are trained in certain skills, such as communication or project management. The goal is to encourage political participation and to mobilise participants against (experienced) injustice.
The programme consists of ten weekend seminars over the course of one year. Sessions are based on themes such as communication, self-knowledge, mediation, civic courage, etc. and include various activities, debates, guest speakers and visits. 50 Participants from all over Portugal are selected each session based on their motivation letter supported by a recommendation letter by their school, university or other institutions. So far, the Ubuntu Leadership Academy held several editions in several cities around Portugal.
The Ubuntu Social Incubator was launched to support these young leaders in fulfilling their potential and actually turning their ideas into action. Participants are supported in their entrepreneurial process especially through sharing, collaboration and mutual help – based on the Ubuntu concept.
The Ubuntu Lives Project (implemented in co-operation with the non-profit organisation IPAV) aims specifically at building confidence, empathy and community amongst young people (aged 14 – 25) from vulnerable contexts in a 3-day workshop using a methodology of “personal storytelling”. Each participant tells their story in an oral, written and/or digital format and at the end of the workshop these are integrated into a video presentation for participants and guests. Each person’s life experience counts and is valued, identity is expressed and communicated, self-knowledge is promoted and bridges are built. This project is now also developed in schools, children- and youth homes, educational centres and other community programmes.
The Ubuntu Rugby Project is another social inclusion project that specifically uses sports as a means to build community, confidence and promote Ubuntu values.
The Ubuntu Bridges Programme also includes various other initiatives such as interventions in schools or other institutions, within Portugal as well as outside of Portugal (e.g. in São Tomé and Príncipe). To spread the concept of Ubuntu, to share ideas and inspire other organisations to use the Ubuntu methodology, the Ubuntu Global Network was created in 2014.
Impact: The programme has reached so far more than one hundred thousand young people and worked with seventy-five schools and three education centres. In Lisbon, the programme reached eight hundred young people, more than one hundred teachers and seventeen schools / education centres. The Ubuntu Leaders Academy is a project that values the contribution of each one, welcomes the richness of diversity, recognizes and respects the value of each new perspective and is inspired by the example of others. By acknowledging the shared desire to build a better world, hope and motivation to take responsibility for the transformation of the realities in which each one feels called to intervene is strengthened.
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