In February this year, Carmelle Nezerwe, an anthropologist by training with a specialisation in international humanitarian action, joined our ECMS team, alongside Fiona Nziza and Juliette Delvaux. She will be sharing her time between Louvain Coopération and AMO La Chaloupe (see opposite), in order to increase collaboration between our two organisations. ‘What motivates me to work in Global and Solidarity Citizenship Education is the creation of spaces for exchange, reflection and co-construction of knowledge with the aim of moving towards collective and individual civic engagement ’ she explains.
"I believe that the ECMS has the strength to confront our convictions, to push us to decentre ourselves and to drive a change in both individual and collective behaviour. This collective impetus generates a societal impact that aims to influence political decisions, among other things.
Furthermore, the themes put forward by Louvain Coopération and La Chaloupe, i.e. ecology, feminism, decolonisation and their variations, are a source of motivation for me. I'm convinced of their importance and I want to stimulate everyone's experience of otherness, so that we can meet and recognise others and their identities. Working with young people in Belgium and Benin on these subjects will certainly be a challenge and a very interesting experience in terms of the cross-fertilisation of knowledge and practices.
She adds: "It is very important to involve young people in societal issues, to make them aware of the importance of these. This will give them the tools they need to take action at their own level. In a world focused on growth at all costs, it's vital to motivate young people to get involved in order to achieve a paradigm shift. "