“Overcoming poverty in not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom”Nelson Mandela

INA’s Education Programs Offer:

Our immersive workshops for both primary and secondary students are currently in over 80 schools in Australia.

Peer Connection

Brings school curriculum alive through connecting with children of similar ages in developing countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Eastern Africa and the Pacific (Uganda, Ethiopia, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines)

Fits into Curriculum with Immersive Approach

Australian Curriculum links for all year levels. Workshops are activity-based and delivered by University-level existing presenters with developing country experience

Curated for Students

Suports student wellbeing, student agency and positive education agendas through student led activity – specifically Act Your Purpose, a program for youth developed by youth

Sustainable Development Goals

Helps students understand the global challenges and goals through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the aid effectiveness agenda, and global interdependence

Grows Students Academically and Personally

Develops a social justice mindset and compassion through social enterprise and youth philanthropy through a Challenge Social Justice Day / Just One Day

Student Lead

Students identify any projects they choose to support, engage with the field and follow up on impact

Our Workshops

Preps to Year 7

Just Like Me  (JLM) workshops educate primary school Preps to Year 7s on global poverty through immersive activities.

Ability to also facilitate a tailored program to co-design and embed issues about global poverty and social responsibility in the curriculum. JLM workshops will deepen your students understanding for global poverty while helping them find a purpose to create a better and more sustainable future for all.  

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Year 9 and 10

Act Your Purpose (AYP) is a year-long immersive program for Years 9 and 10 that will excite and grow your students academically and personally.

AYP sessions are engaging and help students not only find but solidify their passion for social justice by brainstorming action, developing a campaign to act, and by providing guidance on future action and involvement. 

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Year 12

Health and Human Development (HHD) and other Global Health workshops (for VIC only) are interactive sessions about health in a global context for senior secondary students.

The theory about the burden of disease in low-income countries is brought alive through INA’s health projects in developing countries and interactive activities to engage the students with a focus on Sustainable Development Goals. 

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Testimonials

Hear What Schools Have to Say…

“Such an immersive experience that International Needs offered our students. They provided insight, raising awareness of inequitable lifestyles. Our students were able to recognise the injustices others of the same age may experience. INA provided all resources and made it an enjoyable experience for all. We would highly recommend this program to other schools that are doing social justice units.”

Our Lady of the Pines

Julie Carrick – Teacher, JLM Workshop

“My favourite part of the session was brainstorming solutions to an issue that was important to me. I liked learning more about women’s rights and how people and organisations play a part in promoting it. I liked the way that we all got to collaborate on ideas about our passions. It was great to discuss with my group the problems and solutions about gender equality, because it expanded my knowledge and thinking about this topic.”

Mckinnon College

Sienna Nott – Student, AYP Workshop

Lighthouse Christian College
Students and their teacher Stella Thalluri felt moved to fundraise for INA after she attended a HHD workshop.

“A big thank you to Corlien and the INA organisation for running an excellent workshop to our Year 12 HHD students. The real-life examples that the students were able to participate in throughout the session were perfect for our students to assist them in answering VCAA questions on their end of year examination. Students carried water on their heads in a relay race and ate maize which they absolutely loved, as it helped them identify the impact on an individual’s health and wellbeing in low-income countries. We were also lucky enough to have Chudier attend, who is an Ethiopian refugee who grew up in the camps of Kenia and was relocated to Australia. His insight on life left a real mark on our students as they’re about to begin their journey into adulthood. We can’t thank them enough for running this workshop after many reschedules due to COVID, we highly recommend it for all high schools completing VCE Health & Human Development. We look forward to having them back in 2023!”

Kolbe Catholic College

Rebecca Rossitto – Teacher, HHD Workshop

When asked what his favorite part of the AYP workshop was, Clauded respond, “All of it!”

Mckinnon College

Claude – Student, AYP Workshop

Just Like Me  (JLM) Workshop Series

Educating primary school Preps to Year 7s on global poverty through immersive activities.

“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. … poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”  Nelson Mandela 

Why Just Like Me?

Each child is personally challenged to reflect, act and understand the lives of children overseas in context to their own experiences.

JLM helps to develop a culture of philanthropy and global understanding. This concern in our next generation is key in our future.

Workshops support 50 – 100 students, run for 90 minutes and are delivered face-to-face by INA staff.

We support schools to develop and implement meaningful and exciting Social Justice Days to support global education programs. 

Your students will be forever impacted after their JLM workshop with INA, academically and personally.

What workshops are offered?

Year 3-6 Intercultural Capability: Global Poverty Perspective – Media and Telling a Story

Year 3 – 10 A developing country First Nations lens to support learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

Year 4-6 Intercultural Capability / Health and Physical Education Focus on Health

Year 4-6 Intercultural Capability / Historical Knowledge Migration

Year 5-6 Intercultural Capability / Economics and Business Business and Ethics

Year 4-6 Intercultural Capability / Civics and Citizenship

Click here for more information about JLM’s framework

 Just Like Me Workshops Common Framework:

Duration:     Workshop 90 -100 minutes

Overview

  • Workshop linking children in developing countries and global poverty to the Australian Curriculum for primary school students. 
  • Preps to Year 7s but is targeted to Years 3 to 6.
  • Groups of 50 to 100 students and can be delivered face-to-face by INA staff.
  • Students can write a report and/or develop a short class documentary/report/letter about the community and issue they have explored through the lens of global poverty and what difference they can make to help others reach their God-given potential.

The Just Like Me Workshop is activity-driven and includes:

  • Video of a day in the life of an Indian, Uganda, Ghanaian child.
  • Fun quiz.
  • Discuss clean water, food security and gender equality.
  • Kids’ life activities: station activities: outside activities like carrying a bucket of water, soccer with a homemade ball, sweeping etc.
  • Circle activity about the inequitable division of the world’s wealth. 

Students will be able to…   

Learn about global poverty, and intercultural differences, and help them personalise this and feel compassion by being able to tangibly reflect on their own lives relative to less fortunate peers in other countries. The Intercultural Capability curriculum assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped for living and working together in an interconnected world.  The intercultural capability enables students to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. 


Click to learn about specific JLM Workshops

Year 3-6 Global Poverty Perspective – Media and Telling a Story

  • Learning Areas: English, literacy increating texts when writing stories
  • General Capabilities: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding and Intercultural Understanding
  • Cross-curriculum Priorities: Asia and Australia’s Engagment with Asia and Sustainability

Year 3-10 –A developing country, First Nations lens

  • General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, and Intercultural Understanding
  • Cross-curriculum Priorities: Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures and Sustainability

Click to learn more

The significance of country and place are explored through the lens of First Nations/Indigenous communities in developing countries and their engagement with:

• Colonisation and First Nations cultures

• Impact of cultural conflict on First Nations culture

• Conflict of perspectives

• Justice and modern attitudes and community movements

INA supports the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Indigenous Diplomacy Agenda to elevate indigenous issues in our work, with a vision for a world where the rights and traditions of indigenous people are respected.

While programs with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are being scoped, INA experiences with First Nations communities in several developing countries, such as in Eastern Africa, and South and Southeast Asia provide an objective lens to the issues of cultural conflict, colonisation, and modern movements for change. This provides a lens to reflect on learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.

Many of these countries, such as Uganda, Sri Lanka, Ghana (Great Britain), India (Great Britain, Portuguese, Dutch), Philippines (Spain). Ethiopia has never been colonised for a period longer than 5 years (Italy). Each has stories to share about cultural conflict and colonisation.

Year 4-6 – Focus on Health

  • Learning Areas: English and Health and Physical Education: especially in the focus area of mental health and wellbeing
  • General Capabilities: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, and Intercultural Understanding
  • Cross-curriculum Priorities: Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia and Sustainability
    • The focus is on health (with a specific focus the physical, spiritual and mental wellbeing) within the Intercultural Capability curriculum assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped for living and working together in an interconnected world.  The intercultural capability enables students to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others.   This intersects with other Learning Areas such as Health and Physical Education.

Year 4-6 – Migration

  • Learning Areas: History, The stories and perspectives of people who migrated to Australia, including from one Asian country, and the reasons they migrated
  • General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, and Intercultural Understanding
  • Cross-curriculum Priorities: Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia and Sustainability
  • The focus on migration (with a specific focus on the stories of why people migrate domestically and internationally, is driven by war, climate change, poverty and other reasons.  Some are political refugees, and some seek economic prosperity and opportunities for themselves and their families.  Some migrants move to seek work and support the remittance economy in developing countries, while some seek to move permanently. This provides knowledge, but also an objective lens to the issues of migration, culture and global movement of people.  This provides a lens to reflect on learning about migration.

Year 5-11 – Business and Ethics 

  • Learning Areas: Humanities and Social Sciences: Economics and Business
  • General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, and Intercultural Understanding
  • Cross-curriculum Priorities: Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia and Sustainability

Click to learn more

The focus on economics and business is through the lens of business entrepreneurship, principles and solutions as central to solving some of the key community challenges and opportunities.  Young entrepreneurs are invited to involve students in an exercise to identify key social issues (needs) (e.g. period poverty, the low sale price of agricultural produce in developing countries, etc.) and develop solutions using key commercial principles.   Issues of social enterprise, the purpose of business, community loan schemes and fair trade are discussed)

Overview

  • Workshop about global poverty (specifically focusing on business and social enterprise as a solution) for primary school classes. This JLM targets Years 5 and 6
  • Run in groups of 50 to 100 students and can be delivered face-to-face by INA staff members 
  • Teaches business as a solution to community needs (specifically focusing on business and social enterprise as a solution) through immersive activities, an interactive quiz, videos, and discussion
  • Students can write a business scope and/or develop a short class documentary/report/letter about the speakers, community, the people they have explored, the issue of business and social enterprise as a solution to global poverty and what difference they can make to help others reach their God-given potential.

The Just Like Me Workshop is activity-driven and includes: 

  • Speaker: Entrepreneurs – Tim is 24 years old, and a young entrepreneur in the early stages of developing a social enterprise to address the challenges facing young girls in developing countries, where over $500 million young girls need to drop out of school because of period poverty. Tim and his team feel this is an issue for both girls and guys and need the help of your class group to develop the business idea.
  • Video/Interview of a Uganda, Philippines social enterprise
  • Fun quiz 
  • Circle activity: Showcase social enterprises and businesses and their impacts on children and families in a developing country. 

Year 4-6 – Civics and Citizenship  

General Capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Capability, Ethical Understanding, and Intercultural Understanding

Cross-curriculum Priorities: Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia and Sustainability

The focus on democracy is through the lens its relationship to poverty and individual rights. 

The key pillars of a democracy are explored in relation to Australia and a variety of democracies present within countries INA are in partnership with: 

  • Authoritarian – Ethiopia and Myanmar
  • Flawed – India, Philippines and Sri Lanka
  • Hybrid Regime – Nepal & Uganda
  • Representative Democracy – Australia

Through student activity and class discussion, investigations of each type of democracy (authoritative, flawed and a hybrid regime) will take place compared to Australia’s democracy.    

The issue of rights and responsibilities is explored as well as global poverty, climate change and the concept of global citizenship.

  1. Lack of funding for education – even though it only costs an average of $1.25 a day per child in developing countries to provide 13 years of education.
  2. No teacher or an untrained teacher – there are 130 million children in school who are not learning basic skills like reading, writing and math. 
  3. No classroom, or lack of learning materials – in parts of sub-Saharan Africa there are an average of 130 children per classroom in Year 1, only 1 in 7 schools has potable water, and just 1 in 4 has a toilet. Only 3.5% of all sixth-grade pupils had sole use of a reading textbook.
  4. The exclusion of children with disabilities and girls – in some countries, up to 95% of children with disabilities are out of school. Gender is one of the biggest reasons why children are denied an education. Over 130 million young women worldwide are not currently enrolled in school. 1 in 3 girls in the developing world marries before 18.
  5. Living in a country in conflict or at risk of conflict –young girls 90% more likely to be out of secondary school in conflict areas than elsewhere.
  6. Distance from home to school – a walk to school of up to 3 hours in each direction is not uncommon. 
  7. Hunger and poor nutrition – around 155 million children under 5 are be stunted and less likely to be able to read by age 8.
  8. The expense of education – families remain locked in a cycle of poverty that goes on for generations. The poorest families risk making themselves destitute in their efforts to get their children better lives through education.

Gender Equity and Girls Education (Years 5 – 10) 

Gender Equity and Girls’ Education workshops address global poverty, gender equity and girls’ education for students in Years 5 to Year 10.  These focus on global poverty and gender equity through immersive activities and confronting the barriers to girls’ education – like poverty, child marriage, gender-based violence, and menstruation poverty – that vary between countries and communities. 

Looking to make an even greater impact on your students? There is an additional opportunity for students to support girls’ and women’s empowerment and education through SHE.

Act Your Purpose (AYP)

Years 9 and 10

AYP sessions are engaging, immersive and help students find and solidify their passion for social justice by brainstorming action, developing a campaign to act, and providing guidance on future action and involvement.

This encourages sustainable engagement by youth with their social justice issues.

AYP allows for a sustainable contribution from youth to their social justice area of passion through a knowledge-based, financial, and entrepreneurial lens. The issue of social enterprise development is scoped and developed. AYP also helps others to develop a culture of philanthropy, and global understanding this concern are key in our future generations.

This is a year-long program that works with Years 9 or 10 in secondary schools around Australia. Each program consists of 4 core workshops, presented either in-person or online. Each session runs for 60-100 minutes, and 4 sessions are facilitated over the year 1 session per term. The sessions typically run during homeroom lessons, splitting the year level into groups of 25-35 students. Each group will have 1-2 experienced presenters. The sessions will be engaging and immersive using props, games, discussion activities, presentations, and videos as workshop material.

How AYP Works

The program follows the workshop timeline of:

Step 1

Introduce AYP and INA while helping students find their passion in social justice

Step 2

Solidify passion and brainstorm action

Step 3

Create a campaign and take action

Step 4

Time to ACT! This is the final step in solidifying students passion while setting them up for future action and involvement

Click to learn more about AYP Workshops

#Act Your Purpose (AYP)

• Students decide their “truth”, identify their purpose, and act on their purpose

• Growing youth social enterprise and/or philanthropy through action

Act Your Purpose Overview

Our Mission – Foster purpose, ambition, and empowerment in individual high school students across Australia though a school-centred program.

Our Vision – Empower high school students to action change in their focused area of social justice through a program within Australian high schools, centring around ambition and purpose.

Aim of Act Your Purpose – The motivation behind ActYourPurpose (AYP) is to help secondary students consider and identify a sense of purpose and passion for their world. This could include global poverty, human rights climate change, youth homelessness, faith, etc. The key focus will be adolescent middle secondary school students.

The Aim of Act Your Purpose is Two-Fold:

1. To inspire students to identify their purpose in the realm of social justice, inciting a wave of passion in youth to pursue social justice-based involvement

2. To facilitate how the passionate students can affect change in their areas of passion: social enterprise, campaigning, and involvement in charity or local government.

ActYourPurpose will be a higher-level program profiled as part of INA’s work in schools.

INA school programs educate and increase awareness of global poverty and INA’s work to enable people to reach their potential. However, there is little opportunity to encourage and engage students in developing a personal view on this and channelling this into positive, tangible action. More students inspired to act on their purposes will increase empathy and support for international development causes.

AYP FAQs

Why Purpose?

Encouraging students to identify and act on their purpose is the higher-level strategic framework for INA’s work in Australia and, particularly, schools.  It also links to Student Voice and Positive Education movements within schools.  

We can pass through life in two ways: To consider and identify our purpose and act on it, or have an undefined purpose and reactively respond to life’s challenges. Having and acting on a sense of purpose is proven essential for mental health. During COVID, there are pressures on children’s and adults’ mental health, and a sense of purpose is shown to help overcome this 

1.   Research shows a connection between a sense of purpose, health benefits, and overall quality of life 

2.  Leaders in the field of positive psychology and education explain purpose and meaning as cornerstones of happiness, flow, optimal experience, and a life well-lived 

3. Purpose opens opportunities. This information can help us to define goals and ideals that are personally meaningful and reach beyond ourselves. 

Purpose has 3 elements: commitment, goal-directedness, personal meaningfulness, and a focus on impacting the world ‘beyond-the-self’. This is particularly relevant in adolescence and emerging adulthood when an individual discovers and commits to pursuing a personally meaningful aim, whether charitable, family-focused, creative, sporting, spiritual, civic or via another pathway. Hence, the development of purpose is closely identified with the development of identity 

How does AYP work?

Each program will consist of 4 structured workshops, presented either in-person or online – depending on the requirements of the school. Each session will run for approximately 60-90 minutes, and there will be 4 sessions facilitated over the year: one session per term.

The sessions will typically run during homeroom lessons, with the year level split into groups of 35-45 students. Each group will have 1-2 experienced and polished presenters, that have been updated on AYP and INA from both the Program Coordinator of AYP and the CEO of INA. The sessions will be engaging and immersive, using props, games, discussion activities, presentations, and videos as workshop material.

The program will follow the workshop timeline of 1) introducing AYP, and INA, and helping students to find their passion in social justice. 2) solidify passion and brainstorm action. 3) how to create a social enterprise/campaign and take action. 4) future action and involvement. By the end of the year, we will have helped students find their purpose in social justice, helped create a campaign, and then assist them in getting involved in that area locally through volunteering and community service efforts. This will allow for a sustainable contribution from youth to their social justice issue, rather than simply learning about a problem.

After the second workshop, we will create an AYP committee with the students for anyone that would like further involvement, assistance with campaign strategy, or increased communication with the INA team. This will allow the students to band together in creating effective and collaborative projects, whilst also providing a channel of communication with INA for additional support throughout their journey.

What sets Act Your Purpose apart?

We recognise that there are many social-justice-school-workshop programs. However, we believe that ours is unique.

Developed by youth for youth

Overlooked issues. We are teaching about international development issues, not only issues locally felt. The people we are helping require real assistance and are typically overlooked by youth within Australia

Year-long. Most programs are one-off workshops, where the organisation comes in, teaches students, and leaves. Uniquely, we are creating a year-long program and a year-long connection with the school and students. This will allow the work to be continually reinforced and solidified

Not only teaching. We are not only helping teach students about social justice topics. Instead, we are helping students find their purpose, and then assisting them with creating campaigns and ultimately getting them involved in their area of choice – which will sustainably allow students to remain committed to community service.

External view of success. By the end of the program, we will have generated data on how much money was raised and how many students have committed further involvement in the area of choice. This can be publicised by INA and the school to bolster the social justice-oriented lens of the school.

AYP committee. Additional support and communication with the INA team throughout the year, so they have a constant point of contact for assistance in campaigning or general community service and involvement.

Our Core Values

Empowerment: We are determined to facilitate a program that will empower students to yield a greater connection to and investment in social justice.

Purpose: We are determined to help high-school students to find their passion and purpose in social justice and develop skills to help them engage meaningfully in their area of interest.

Ambition: We are determined to cultivate a generation of passionate students who ultimately assume a self-driven ambition to pursue community service and social justice

Global Health Workshop (HHD) Series Years 11/12

The Health and Human Development (HHD) and Global Health units workshops (Victoria) are interactive sessions about health in a global context for senior secondary students. The theory about the burden of disease in low-income countries is brought alive through INA’s health projects in developing countries and interactive activities to engage the students with a focus on Sustainable Development Goals. 

In the HHD /Global Health Workshop, Students Review:

Sustainable Development Goals

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and discuss the relationship between SDG 3 and SDGs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 13 

Impact

Human Development Index (HDI) and the health impact of daily chores. Students will understand the impact these have on overall health

Global Health Issue

Nutrition issues facing youths around your students age, such as stunted growth, malnutrition and more. The session will conclude with an interactive quiz to assess Unit 4 (HHD)

Click to learn more about the HHD program

Health and Human Development (HHD – Unit 4) / Global Health 

An estimated 9.2% of the world, or 689 million people live in extreme poverty on less than US$1.90 a day, according to the World Bank. The Health and Human Development workshop is a 2-hour workshop based on the Australian Curriculum for Years 11 and 12, including VCE Outcome 2 (Unit 4 HHD of in the HHD subject), and other secondary units focused on global health.   

Curriculum links: 

Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context  

The workshop is based on the Health and Human Development study design (2018 – 2024).   

Students will: 

  • Use real data to investigate health status and burden of disease in different countries, and factors that contribute to health inequalities, including physical, social, and economic conditions  
  • Build an understanding of health in a global context by examining changes in the burden of disease over time and studying the key concepts of sustainability and human development. Consider the health implications of increased globalisation and worldwide trends relating to climate change, digital technologies, world trade, and the mass movement of people.  

Area of Study 2 considers global action to improve health and wellbeing and human development, focusing on the United Nations’ (UN’s) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the work of the World Health Organization (WHO).  

Students also investigate the role of non-government organisations and Australia’s overseas aid program. Students evaluate the effectiveness of health initiatives and programs in a global context and reflect on their capacity to act.  

Area of Study 1 Health and wellbeing in a global context  

This area of study looks at similarities and differences in major burdens of disease in low-, middle- and high-income countries, including Australia.  Students: 

  • Investigate a range of factors that contribute to health inequalities and study the concepts of sustainability, human development, and the Human Development Index to further their understanding of health in a global context.  
  • consider the global reach of product marketing and inquire into the effects of particular global trends on health and wellbeing. 

Area of Study 2 Health and the Sustainable Development Goals  

This area of study looks at action for promoting health globally and considers the rationale, objectives, and interdependencies of the UN’s SDGs, focusing on their promotion of health and wellbeing and human development. Students: 

  • Investigate the priorities and work of the WHO and evaluate Australia’s aid program and the role of non-government organisations, selecting one aid program for detailed research and analysis.  
  • Reflect on meaningful and achievable individual actions that could contribute to the work of national and international organisations that promote health and wellbeing. 

Why Education in International Development? 

Simply put – education has the power to break the poverty cycle.  Every child has the right to a safe, healthy, educated future and education is a pathway out of poverty.  Poverty and injustice stop women and children live their fullest lives.  With increased local knowledge and support, women and children in the poorest countries will achieve their full potential

Education is a human right, a key driver of development  and central mechanism to reduce poverty and improve health, gender equality, peace, and community stability. It delivers large, consistent returns in terms of income and is the most important factor in ensuring equality of opportunities.   

Globally, more than 72 million children of primary education age education are not in school. When children are not in school, they are denied the opportunity to create a better future for both them and their families.  When parents are uneducated, they are less able to provide the necessities for their children. 

Interested in learning more? Connect with us today!