Ubuntu - Building Bridges for Peace Good practice example

The Ubuntu Bridges for Peace project emerges within the strategic partnership for innovation funded by the Erasmus+ Youth in Action Program, to disseminate knowledge on the Ubuntu method underpinning the Ubuntu Leaders Academy project and to allow its replication around the world. The Ubuntu Leaders Academy is a non-formal education program, unconstrained and free, promoted by Instituto Padre António Vieira (IPAV). It integrates a flexible training program, constantly updated and focused on a lifelong learning experience. With a focus on servant leadership, Ubuntu Leaders Academy is directed to the training of young people who want to promote their leadership competences focused on the service of the promotion and restoration of human dignity, incontexts where it is diminished or menaced. As an action model based on the promotion of service-focused leadership, the Ubuntu Leaders Academy underlines the urgency of inspiring bridge builders and the need to promote an ethic of care. The Ubuntu Leaders Academy is already replicated in 13 countries on 4 continents, impacting about 3200 young people and trainers from social organizations that develop training in the areas of youth and adult education. In Portugal, the Ubuntu methodology has now reached the formal public education and certification system, with the methodology being adapted by the national education system - taking the Ubuntu Leaders Academies to 54 public schools - and by different universities, which are currently working in replicate the methodology. The project developed four intellectual outputs: an essay on Ubuntu, a pratical manual for setting up the Ubuntu Leaders Academy, an Ubuntu Social Entrepreneurship Manual and a Website containing all of the project´s content in three languages: Portuguese, Spanish and English. The project partners are the Instituto Padre António Vieira, the Tomillo Foundation, the Socratic Dialogue Institute, JRS Hellas, Everis Consultancy and Forum Estudante. The opportunity to develop and lead this project is of tremendous importance to those who has witnessed the great transformative power that the Ubuntu method has had on the participants in the Ubuntu Leaders Academy all over the world. To share it is therefore a mission and also a responsibility.