1 . Donna Edmonds certainly knows a thing or two about getting children outside of the classroom. Having been a teacher for 23 years, she’s now in charge of Farms For City Children, a program enabling children in cities to explore the farms in the British countryside. Visiting children can take part in the farm tasks: growing and harvesting in the gardens; caring for chickens and looking after the land; and cooking up a home-grown meal in the farmhouse kitchen.

Donna’s connection with the charity led to a life-changing experience. She explained, “In November 2000, my headteacher said we’d got this trip going to a farm. I didn’t want to do that. I’m from south London and had no interest in farming.” But the week at Farms For City Children changed Donna’s entire life.

Donna said, “Quite honestly, the nature connection gap in our society is embarrassing; there are so many children who haven’t been to the countryside. I remember asking them what cows drank and they replied “milk”. Seeing them fall in love with nature was incredible to my life.”

Donna believes there is a strong need for teachers to bring city children into close contact with nature. Farms for City Children was founded in 1976, and it has now embraced a new direction — more children from different backgrounds can get into the countryside and they may one day even make a career from it.

2 . Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries to navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.

Peacekeeping has unique strengths, including legitimacy (合法性), burden sharing, and an ability to deploy (部署) and sustain troops and police from around the globe, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to advance multidimensional mandates (指令).

UN peacekeepers provide security and the political and peace-building support to help countries make the difficult, early transition from conflict to peace. UN peacekeeping is guided by three basic principles: agreement of the parties, fairness, and non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate. It is flexible and over the past two decades has been deployed in many frameworks.

Today’s multidimensional peacekeeping operations are called upon not only to maintain peace and security, but also to facilitate the political process, protect civilians, assist in the disarmament of former combatants, support the organisation of elections, protect and promote human rights and assist in restoring the rule of law.

Peacekeeping has always been highly dynamic and has evolved in the face of new challenges. Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established a 17-member High-level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations to make a comprehensive assessment of the state of UN peace operations today, and the emerging needs of the future.

As a unique global partnership, UN Peacekeeping brings together the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, troop and police contributors, and the host governments in a combined effort to maintain international peace and security. Its strength lies in the legitimacy of the UN Charter and in the wide range of contributing countries that participate and provide precious resources.

Success is never guaranteed because UN Peacekeeping almost by definition goes to the most physically and politically difficult environments. However, over 60 years of existence, UN Peacekeeping has built up a demonstrable record of success, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

3 . Canada is home to many of the world’s top universities. Here are some scholarships in Canada that will help reduce some of the financial burden for students.

University de Montreal (UdeM) International Student Scholarship Program

The UdeM scholarship program aims to support international candidates in their university studies. They offer graduate scholarships for students. The scholarship is valued at CA $9,420 per year or CA $3,140 per session. Deadline to apply is March 1st, 2023.

China Scholarship Council—University of Saskatchewan Joint Funding Program

The China Scholarship Council (CSC), partnering with the University of Saskatchewan (USask), is offering outstanding Chinese graduate students the opportunity to pursue PhD and post-doctor studies through the CSC-USask Joint Funding Program. To be qualified, you must be a citizen of the People’s Republic of China. Applicants should not be older than 35 years old at the time of the application. Deadline is February 10th, 2023 (China time).

University of Saskatchewan Graduate Scholarship

If you are not a Chinese citizen but want to pursue your postgraduate studies at the University of Saskatchewan, you can choose this scholarship. Their PhD scholarships are valued at CA $20,000 each; alternatively, their Master’s thesis(论文)is valued at CA$16,000. Deadline to apply is February 22nd, 2023.

Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and Educational Exchange for Development (SEED)

If you are keen to engage in a short-term exchange opportunity for study or research in Canadian post-secondary(中学后)institutions at the college, undergraduate and graduate levels, this scholarship is for you. Do note that only Canadian institutions can submit applications on behalf of candidates. If you are interested in this scholarship program, contact your institution to make your interest known and to request information about the application process. Deadline is March 4th, 2023.

4 . If you have a hobby or idea that currently does not fit into an existing club in your school, starting one may be a great idea.     1     Here are some ways to help you start a club.

Think

The first step of starting anything is to think.     2     It allows you to see all of your possible ideas for the club. This leads us to the next step: sharing the results of your brainstorming with people.

Judge interest

The next step of starting a club is judging interest of others. It is important to talk to friends and other students at school, because they will be the ones who finally will choose to join or stay away from your club. If they have no interest, you have no club.     3    

Think about details

    4     It probably wouldn’t be that smart to rush into a club without having thought about what you wish to achieve, how you are going to do so, the meeting times and locations and finally what you need to do to start your club.

Make it official

Then you can head to the teacher’s office and tell this teacher what your club is about, along with all details. Once he or she agrees, you will likely have to fill out some paperwork to make the club official.     5     Starting a club can be very rewarding and benefit you in ways you could not have imagined. Be patient and stick with it once you start.

5 . The Nation Foundation

We Are A Global Community Of Changemakers

All students, regardless of their circumstanced, should have access to equal academic opportunities. At The Nation Foundation (TNF), we’re working to make that a reality. We are a grass roots organization working across East Africa to help empower the youth of the world’s most vulnerable communities. Cooperation is our key to making change.

Working Together To Make Change Happen

The world is connected in ways that it has never been before. We use this connection to mobilize(动员) an international community of leaders to help solve East Africa’s most chap-lending educational issued. Together, with our East African leadership scam, we find innovative path ways for sustainable change. Our programs include sustainable development projects, new models for students sponsorship and much more!

Here Is How You Can Help

Making a difference is easier than ever. We aim to democratize(使民主化) charitable giving, international support, and volunteer initiative by providing a platform for changemakers to engage their communities in a variety of ways. Whether it’s fund raising, volunteering, donating, or hosting awareness campaigns, we work with our global community of allies(盟友) to equip them with the tools and skills needed to change the world.

From November 5th to 10th, 2021, the fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE)       1     (hold) in Shanghai with a large number of new products, technologies, and services featured at the expo. The       2    (successful) organized event not only showed fancy products but also avant-garde (前卫的) consumption     3    (concept) as well as innovative ideas. The     4    (significant) of CIIE continues to grow as it becomes an economic hotspot for countries and enterprises.

The display area for consumer goods occupied 90,000 square meters of exhibition space,       5     largest among all areas. The Food and Agricultural Products exhibition area accommodated ( 容 纳 ) the most exhibitors,     6    (attract) many enterprises from different countries.

The Online Country Exhibition enabled 58 countries and 3 international organizations       7                (show) their development achievements. Leaders of participating countries and organizations expressed high praise for the CIIE’s furtherance of     8    (globe) openness and cooperation.

Having experienced the benefits of the fourth CIIE, enterprises described it as an event       9     allows them to tap into China’s massive consumer population and a lot of opportunities. Registration for the fifth CIIE has already started, and it has seen a considerable increase     10     the sign-up rate compared to last year.

7 . While some feel that bookstores are fading away, one Chinese bookstore has found new life by marching into rural areas in China to bring colorful cultural life and higher incomes lo local residents.

By absorbing local rural characteristics, the village branches of the Librairie Avantgarde Bookstore (LAB) chain have transformed into important platforms to display local history, culture and folk traditions. Not just bookstores, they are foundations helping to relieve spiritual poverty (贫困) and centers for gathering and displaying rural culture.

To better fit in the lives of local residents, earth village branch has its own characteristics, like the branch in Shaxi, southwest China’s Yunnan province. Many of nearly 20,000 books in the store are associated with the history, geography and folk customs of Yunnan and the Bai people.

“Turning in profits is not our only aim. Our bookstore has become a public gathering space for villagers. Not only young people, but many elderly residents come here. They do not buy books, but pass the time by reading or chatting with each other in our store.” Liu Xia, the bookstore owner explained.

She added that this is a cultural atmosphere that bookstores offer the area. Some residents have grown accustomed to turning to the books of the store to find answers to the troubles they face, such as operating a business or controlling tourists from urban areas. The biggest benefit of opening bookstores in villages is that it helps provide a healthy environment for children’s growth. “My kids often come to the store. They love reading books here. They gain knowledge and curiosity about outside world.” one villager said.

The arrival of the bookstore menus a lot to the village when young residents have been leaving for urban areas in recent years. During the 2020 May Day and National Day holidays, the daily number of tourists traveling to the village reached 5,000, a record high. Visitors were attracted by the bookstore. Surrounding it, several restaurants and holds have opened.

8 . The Human Library has been working to encourage a sense of shared humanity for almost two decades. It is quite different from traditional libraries.     1     You can review your perspective with the help of borrowed human books.

The Human Library is an association which attempts to create respect and understanding for the diversity in society through efforts.     2     In this place, people who otherwise would never meet nor talk can find room for conversation.

As its website details, the library hosts weekly events in local communities. The volunteer “human books” welcome members of the public to come and talk to them.     3    

Ronni Abergel is the founder of the library.     4     As his idea has spread like a bestseller, the library has hosted events in more than 80 countries, in libraries, museums, festivals and schools. It has more than 1,000 human books in circulation in more than 50 languages, with an especially strong presence in American cities such as Chicago and San Francisco.

    5     They have served as a timely way to reach out to scores of people stuck indoors at home, and fearful of being too close to strangers, restoring their sense of connection and community. Being a book in the library is more than you expect and something you will never forget. It is also an opportunity to meet a lot of people that are different from you and yet you will find you share a lot in common.