Why school ? towards quality education for all

At 2 pm on Friday 20th April 2018 the Awards ceremony was held in the magnificent Assembly Hall of the historic Palais des Nations in Geneva. Opening speeches were by Michael Møller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, by Claudine Dayer Fournet, Head of Sustainable Development at the Department of Public Education, Culture and Sport of the Canton of Geneva, and by Martine Brunschwig Graf, President of the Eduki Foundation. The ceremony was animated by Laure Bacchiocchi and Thibaud Mabut, students of the College de Saussure in Geneva, who brought dynamism and a touch of humor to the event. The screening of a video prepared by students from the Espace Entreprise and two musical performances by students from Renens (Vaud) and Winterthur (Zürich) all testified to the place the young people held during this year’s ceremony.

Models, comics, board games, t-shirts, awareness-raising videos, radio programs, projects for concrete actions: the 18 winning projects in three categories (artistic, media and concrete action) distinguished themselves by their originality, creativity and by the commitment of young people towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Martine Brunschwig Graf, President of the Eduki Foundation, pointed this out by addressing the students during the ceremony "Education is a precious asset. [...] Your work shows that you have thought about this and that you also understood that education should not be a privilege but a right guaranteed to all.”

It should also be noted that this year, a special "Human Rights" prize was awarded by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as part of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The project "Once upon a School" by the HPI Group of Lossy (Fribourg) was awarded for the idea of creating a collaborative board game.

The full list of winners is available below.

Before the ceremony, all the partners of the Eduki competition were invited to the inauguration and visit of the exhibition of the artwork done by the participants, which was held in the Salle des Pas Perdus. Following an introduction by Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the Information Service at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sylvia Egli von Matt, Member of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, H.E. Michael Gerber, Representative of the Swiss Federal Council for the 2030 Agenda, and Ivan Pictet, President of the Fondation pour Genève gave speeches. This convivial moment was also the occasion to taste delicacies prepared and served by apprentices of the Vocational Training Center - Hotel and Catering Service of Geneva.

In parallel, a dozen classes, who came to Geneva for the occasion, were able to visit the Palais des Nations, the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (MICR), the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and benefit from an international Geneva tour organized by the Greycells association.

 

The members of the jury this edition were:

• Ms. Marie-Dominique de Preter, Head of Cultural Services at the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
• Ms. Sirine Sahnoune, Student in the 1st year of Professional Maturity at the Nicolas Bouvier Business School
• Ms. Sylvia Egli von Matt, Member of the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, Vice-President of the Federal Media Commission and the Council of the University of Lucerne
• Mr Sebastian Justiniano, President of the Swiss-UN Association
• Ms. Aziyadé Poltier-Mutal, Head of the Perception Change Project (PCP), Office of the Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva
• Mr. Alejandro Bonilla Garcia, President of the Greycells association

 

See the press release (in French) 

 

Photos of the ceremony

 

Partners of the competition

Partners of the prizes