sma22 swa1 sma23
EX5 Interview #3 – Saf Satu PROFILE Name: Saf Satu Age: 20 Country: Malaysia Favorite manga: Slam Dunk; One Piece; 20th Century Boy Favorite movie: Forest Gump; Your Name; A Silent Voice; Maquia; Against The Odds DOTA 2 (A Youtube movie, GO WATCH IT!) Favorite quote: “If you’re thinking of giving up, remember why you started”   QUESTIONS How does it feel to win a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award? To be honest, I’m actually kinda disappointed! (haha) I hoped I would win a higher price when I heard that I got invited to the Kumamoto International Festival. I felt disappoint for just a few days because of my high expectations, but I am now grateful for receiving this award at my age. It’s a great experience.   What were your first impressions of the theme? It was a theme I thought could be expanded on the most. You can make a story in any genre you want. At first, I’m thought of making a sports story, but then I ended up making a romance story. There was another action story entry I was working on at that time, but I cancelled it because I started to feel neck pain. I felt like I could go with anything with this theme.

Saf’s very organised work space!

  What was the inspiration behind your winning work? As I said before, at first I was thinking of doing a sports story. Maybe a protagonist struggling with the final round while competing in Kumamoto. But when I started to research Kumamoto, I found a Youtube video that described a certain area of the Kumamoto as a romantic destination. That suddenly inspired me to make a romance story instead. A story about a guy trying to propose.   What challenges did you face making your manga? How did you overcome them? The biggest challenge I overcame was being patient enough to finish the manga! I don’t think I overcome the other challenges (haha). I aimed to make 3 pages a day because I only draw on A4 paper, but I couldn’t. I tried to make the story 20 pages or less, but I couldn’t. Finally I developed neck pain, but luckily it was when I finally finished all the pages and I was at the editing stage.

Our award winner’s ever growing manga collection.

  What did you learn from making your manga? Did you pick up any new skills or techniques? The biggest skill learned was inking faster using dip pen! I used a 0.1 pen in my previous entry, but this time I decided to use dip pen that I bought long ago and have not used in years.  I also improved my line drawing without using a ruler. I don’t like using a ruler as it gives too clean a finish. I aim to create backgrounds like in the manga Yotsubato! by Yoshitoki Oima, where there are a little flawed lines that make you think “she’s not using ruler in this one”.   How important is entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION® in relation to your professional goals? Its pretty important, I need the money for my education for my goal to become a comic artist. Recently, I also decided my second ambition is to become a landscape painter, so SMA gives me a spotlight to showcase my abilities to malaysian comic companies and art universites/colleges.

Saf’s breathtaking neighbourhood in Malaysia.

  What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®? Make the story as simple as possible. Even this entry, I found way too long and complicated. Readers start to get bored when there’s too many things to show in a silent comic. I think once there is more than one conflict/event, It’s already got complicated! But this is just my point-of-view of story making. For me, instead of learning from other published manga, I think it is much more important to learn from real life. That way, the story is much more original, like the Esports film Against The Odds (DOTA 2). The story crafting is so engaging, that I immediately fell in love with the concept. It’s really THAT good! It’s crazy man!!     Read Saf’s EX5 Sojo Award winning manga HERE!
“Your Love Letter to Angel Sign”

To celebrate the inclusion of “Angel Sign” into the Indonesian Japanese Film Festival 2019 schedule, SMA are shouting out to all Indonesian manga artists and illustrators to create “Your Love Letter to Angel Sign”!

We are looking for either a short manga or an illustration that shows your love SMA Judge Tsukasa Hojo’s live-action directorial debut. All you have to do is attend one of the screenings during the Festival and get inspired!

Here’s how to participate in “Your Love Letter to Angel Sign”

1.

Watch “Angel Sign” during the Indonesian Japanese Film Festival 2019.
2.

Become inspired and create “Your Love Letter to Angel Sign”, which can be either…
a) Your personal interpretation of an “Angel Sign” movie poster
b) A short silent manga inspired by the Indonesian shot “Back Home” as featured in the film
3.

Once completed, post your work on YOUR* Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter account with the following hashtags*:

#angelsignmovie

#silentmangamovie

#jff

#japanfoundation

*We will collect entires using these hashtags. Please ensure you make all entry posts public.

Judging process:

Top 5 most “liked” and/or shared posts will be reviewed by Hojo-sensei, with the winning work in each category to be announced in January 2020.  

PRIZES:

a) Illustration Poster Prize: An official Angel Sign, signed by Hojo-sensei!

b) Silent Manga Prize: A print of the original storyboards, signed by Hojo-sensei and Tomizawa-sensei!

For more information about the Indonesian Japanese Film Festival, including the schedule of films, please follow this LINK.

   

T&C’s

If you are planning to watch “Angel Sign”, make sure to show your love with plenty of social media posts!

Arigato!!

SMA13-UNESCO Round Case Studies #3: A Mother’s Determination

With household debts mounting up and children to support, one single parent from Thailand thought her situation was forever hopeless. That is until a lifeline, in the form of non-formal education provided her with the tools to better herself, her family and her community.

Non-formal education.

The right to education affects the life and welfare, not only of one person, but their loved ones as well. By missing out on the opportunities provided by education, it is most often single women and their children who are most affected, which can also affect the welfare of their entire communities.

In the case of Thai national Ms Supang, when the father of her two young children abandoned the family, she suddenly became a single mother supporting her three and seven-year-olds, along with taking on the responsibility for a huge home loan. Because she had not completed her basic education, she had difficulty in finding a job to support her family during this desperate time.

Education can pave the way to improve people and their communities in Thailand (Flickr/Nicolas Lannuzel)

Inspired by her two young children, Ms Supang began a small lunch-delivery business for workers in banks and hospitals. One day, walking along the street, she saw a non-formal learning education advertisement offering courses to finish basic education and qualify for entrance to university. At the age of 30, she decided she would become a lawyer.

With a full-time work schedule, raising two small children and studying in the evening, Ms Supang faced many challenges in achieving her goal. Even her neighbours told her she could never be a lawyer. But when her spirits and confidence in making this change were lowest, her teacher called to encourage her to attend her final exam and finish high school. That phone call was the turning point.

The perfect setting for Non-formal education AND a manga story! (Flickr/Tracie Hall)

Lifelong learning programmes give people of all ages a new chance to learn, guaranteeing the right of access to education for everyone.

Ms Supang received her high school certificate at age 34, finished university in five years, and passed the national examination to become a lawyer when she was 43. She now currently fights for the rights of disadvantaged and ill people. Her lifelong learning has not only changed her and her children’s lives, but empowered her to make a contribution to her community as a whole.

Helpful LINKS:

https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/mothers-determination-building-better-life-through-lifelong-learning

 
PENMARU’s TIP! “The ultimate underdog story! Against all odds, Ms Supang achieved her dreams with quite possibly life’s most amazing gift… education. We all love to see a happy ending to seemingly hopeless situation, so what emotional story could you create that best shows triumph with the help of education?”
SMA11 Interview #1 – JOAO PROFILE  Name: João Eddie Age: 32 Country: Brazil Favorite manga: Solanin Favorite movie: El Labirinto del Fauno  Favorite quote: “One page per day”   “…with each new work comes new learning.”   QUESTIONS 1. How does it feel to win a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award? It’s always a wonderful surprise. I am delighted to be recognized among so many great authors of such creative works.   2. What were your first impressions of the theme? When the theme was announced, I found it very attractive and challenging. There are many possibilities for working on a story focused on a promise. However, it is quite dangerous to fall into clichés. My idea was to keep the focus on the theme, but enrich the it with several more elements.

Where the action is!

3. What was the inspiration behind your winning work? Dog Days shows a very difficult period in Brazil’s history. With the current political situation very tense, that period is being remembered. Despite this, Dog Days has many comical moments as well. The sources of inspiration were many, namely Linkin Park’s “From The Inside” music video, the song “Dog Days are over” from Florence And The Machine, and also the lyrics of Geraldo Vandré’s “Pra não dizer que não falei das flores”.   4. What challenges did you face making your manga? How did you overcome them? The challenges were many indeed! Dog Days has a lot of action in different points in each frame. Many characters in each panel are doing things independently of each other, so drawing them at the same angle in the right way was complicated. Ashita no Joe is a manga that has scenes with various characters and does it beautifully, that manga inspired me also. 5. What did you learn from making your manga? Did you pick up any new skills or techniques? I think that with each new work comes new learning. This time I tried using the isometric perspective on several frames, which reminds me a bit of classic super Famicom games. I also experimented with nine vertical frames per page, which is something used in American comics, but in manga is something relatively unusual… I found the result interesting. 6. How important is entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION® in relation to your Professional goals? Having my work recognized by some of the greatest names in manga is very rewarding. With each round I participate in, I feel I am becoming a better artist. 7. What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®?  Hard work pays off!   To keep up-to-date on João’s manga making, check out his tumblr page!

Read “Dog Days” here!

EX5 Interview #2 – Gábor Molnár PROFILE Name: Gábor Molnár Age: 38 Country: Hungary Favorite manga: Bakuman by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata Favorite movie: Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa Favorite quote: “Spared no expense!” (Jurassic Park)   “SMA is one of the few opportunities for us to grab.”   QUESTIONS  1. How does it feel to win a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award?  I’m extremely happy with it! It’s also reassuring, because it’s the second time I’ve won with SMA, so it tells me that the first one wasn’t just an “accident” as I sometimes believed! 2. What were your first impressions of the theme? It was hard to get the hang of it at first because it’s a very universal theme. 3. What was the inspiration behind your winning work? I used a protagonist from one a previous cooking manga I made for SMA, and put it into a competitive situation to let the theme appear less forced. I was going for a tone that mixed Maple Town with Food Wars!, with the anthropomorphic characters participating in a cake baking competition.  Visiting Takamori and Kumamoto City last year helped me to convincingly paint the scenery. The cake the protagonist makes – an unconventional Charlotte Royale made of ikinari dango slices in the spirit of ‘wasamon’- was inspired by a reality show on baking my mother used to watch on YouTube.

Admiring the work on the Takamori Manga train!

4. What challenges did you face making your manga? How did you overcome them? Depicting the exact moment which expresses ‘Do your best!’ was challenging. I thought it should be presented first at the start to incite the protagonist to take action, and a more intense second time at a key scene right after the low point to make the protagonist get over her problem. Western cheerleading dance came into my mind at that point, so I just used that, although I should have elaborated it to be more impactful. 5. What did you learn from making your manga? Did you pick up any new skills or techniques? This piece wasn’t really about learning new skills, but more utilizing SMA editors’ advice from previous projects to help me overcome the challenge on my own. 

Making new friends!

6. How important is entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION® in relation to your professional goals? It’s very important, since there isn’t a real comics/manga industry for local artists in my home country. SMA is one of the few opportunities for us to grab.  7. What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®? Reading all award-winning pieces from previous rounds and taking notes on common elements pay off.

Read “A Sudden Change in Plan” by Gábor Molnár HERE!

SMA13-UNESCO Round Case Studies #2: Shared Histories Education should help to unite us to recognize our common humanity and shared cultural legacies. But in far too many classrooms, history has been “weaponized” to teach distrust and dislike of peoples from other countries, often based on nationalism and false stories. Bad history can then lead to racism and poor relations among many countries. Lessons that unite ASEAN students Real life consequences can be serious! Migrants seeking a better life, and contributing to the community and economy of neighbouring countries can face discrimination and even abuse. Politicians, too, can drum up hatred of “other” countries, leading to a lack of cooperation, distrust and even violence all based on revisionist history.

Forging peace through shared education!

But all is not lost. In South-East Asia, ethnic and language groups have been trading and sharing culture for thousands of years across today’s country borders. Shared Histories highlight common experiences and exchanges which are now bring taught in lessons adopted by schools courses across the region. Some ideas in South-East Asia have widespread relevance, with topics such as “Peoples and Places” exploring pluralism (a system where two or more states coexist) and environmental impact throughout history. “Early Centers of Power” focuses on politics and the exchanges of culture, while “Rice and Spice” refers to the importance of life giving sustenance to every society and culture.

Statues of the goddess Dewi Sri can be seen throughout SE Asia.

The broader global context is the subject of “South-East Asia and the World”, tracing interactions into the present day, including the colonial period that affected the entire region and whose legacy can be seen today. In one pilot project, teams of secondary school and university students have competed in a “Hackathon” to create mobile and website apps that teach these ideas in a fun way. The winning team, for instance, designed a game in which players learn to plant rice under the watchful eye of the goddess Dewi Sri (a pre-Hindu and pre-Islam deity of rice and fertility), whose image can be still be seen throughout the cultures of South-East Asia. Schools in different countries are using these lessons to teach students from different areas and different backgrounds the same themes that unite them. These students have a shared ownership of South-East Asian history and understand the importance of intercultural dialogue to build lasting peace and sustainable development for all. Helpful LINKS: https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/shared-histories-hack-students-win-app-bridging-asean-divide https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/promoting-intercultural-dialogue-and-culture-peace-south-east-asia-through-shared-histories  
PENMARU’s TIP! “Maybe we aren’t so different after all! How could the benefits of a Shared History be shown in Silent Manga? What existing problems could be solved by learning of Shared History? Entries on this fascinating subject would be very interesting indeed!”
The Kumamoto International Manga Festival 2019 REPORT

Kumamoto City is a special place. Situated in Kumamoto Prefecture on the west coast of Kyushu, the city boasts a rich and fascinating history that includes daring sieges and arguably Japan’s most famous city mascot. It’s also home to the SILENT MANGA AUDITION® Kumamoto International Manga Festival (KIMF), where the winners of the SMA-EX5 Round were invited to experience this wonderful Japanese city.

Meeting in Tokyo’s Haneda airport, GP Runner Up winners “youngman” (Vietnam) and SMA MasterClass member Kachisou (Portugal), along with Sojo University award winner Saf Satu (Malaysia) quickly bonded over their shared love of manga, and before we knew it, we were airborne. Destination… KUMAMOTO!

(L-R) Kachisou, Saf Satu and “youngman” receiving a warm welcome from Luffy at Kumamoto airport!

Arriving at Kumamoto Airport, the EX5 award winners are welcomed by a familiar face, Monkey D. Luffy from the best selling manga series One Piece! Created by Kumamoto born Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a familiar sight around the city and a worthy addition to Kumamoto’s manga heritage.

After a quick freshen up at the Kumamoto Castle Hotel, it was time make our way to the KIMF 2019 Award Ceremony. Taking place in an impressive wedding venue, the event was a celebration of manga and Kumamoto! With speeches from CEO Nobuhiko Horie and SMA Chief Editor Shuichi “Mocchi” Mochida bringing much laughter to the crowd, it was time for the SMA-EX5 award winners to take centre stage, literally!

CEO Horie-san kicks off the ceremony.

First up is Saf Satu, receiving his certificate from a Sojo University representative for his manga Proposal Day, who then went on to surprise the crowd by accepting his award in Japanese! Following Saf was Grand Prix Runner Up award winners “youngman” for his entry FISH and Kachisou for I Want To Reach The No1, who’s nerves were soon alleviated by some warms words from Hojo-sensei.

The SMA-EX5 Award Winners!

With the certificate ceremony over, it was time to eat! A veritable smorgasbord of delicious edibles were on offer, including fresh sashimi, moreish lasagna and Kumamoto’s famous delicacy, horse meat! With bellies full and hearty “congratulations” still ringing in their ears, our international guests took the opportunity for an early night, ready for a day of sightseeing.

The food gets the thumbs up!

Originally built in 1467, Kumamoto Castle (熊本城 Kumamoto-jō) has seen its fair share of action through the centuries. Greatly expanded by the Japanese Lord (大名 Daimyō) Katō Kiyomasa from 1601 to 1607, the castle  has sustained sieges, particularly during the samurai revolt of 1877 (Satsuma Rebellion) and a multitude of earthquakes, with the most recent 2016 earthquake greatly damaging the structure. With repairs nearing an end, the EX5 winners managed to see at least half of this impressive building not covered in scaffold.

Even partially restored, the castle is an imposing presence on the skyline of Kumamoto.

With the imaginary sounds of medieval battles still lingering in the ears of our guests, it was time to visit the main event of the trip, the Kumamoto International Manga Festival! Housed in the Tsuruya dept. store, the festival is a riot of manga. With 76 individual mangas and illustrations on display, including the award winning EX5 works, “memories of Takamori” from the 2018 Manga Camp and the SMA works adapted into the Silent Manga movie Angel Sign, there was something for everyone!

The KIMF 2019!

Brimming with pride at seeing their works on public display for the people of Kumamoto, our guests were quickly ushered into a small auditorium to watch a live talk with the makers of the aforementioned Angel Sign. With Horie-san, general director and SMA judge Tsukasa Hojo and the stars and director of the Kumamoto set “Beginning and Farewell” by Vincent Lang, Naoto Ogata, Momoko Kikuchi and Ken Ochiai respectively, we were given an exclusive insight into this pioneering cinematic event.

The Angel Sign panel discuss how the film made it from page to screen.

The last day for our SMA-EX5 award winners wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the COAMIX Kumamoto Manga LAB work space! With a warm welcome from “Mocchi”, the SMA Chief Editor took some time out of his busy schedule to explain the finer points of manga making, as well as explaining the mission of the Manga LAB. Open to the public, the work space offers a fantastic opportunity for local mangaka to learn manga making and receive editorial feedback. It also offered a great opportunity for our guests to try out the latest hardware available at the LAB!

“Mocchi” and the gang in the Kumamoto Manga LAB!

Alas, all things must come to an end, and with that it was time to catch our flight to Haneda where our wonderful guests would make their way home to their own countries. With memories overflowing with the hospitality of Kumamoto, not to mention bags bursting with manga, our SMA-EX5 award winners felt collectively inspired and focused to push the boundaries of international manga making. So that leaves us with only one response, in the words of Saf Satu… “Arigatōgozaimashita!!”

Congratulations guys and thank you for visiting Japan!

Take the Kumamoto International Manga Festival tour…

SMA13-UNESCO Round Case Study #1: Ending School Bullying

Many successful manga take place in schools, and where there is a school, there is bullying. But what is the reality, and what impact can bullying have on the victims and their families? And how can we solve this universal problem?

Violence in schools hurt millions of children and young people everyday, with nearly one-third of students reporting incidents of bullying. Bullied students tend to have more trouble with their studies and are more likely to drop out of school. They also have a higher chance of feeling lonely and depressed, or to consider suicide as a way out of the misery bullying brings.

Bullying includes physical, psychological and sexual violence, often affecting students based on sexual orientation and gender identification. In fact, it is members of the LGBTI community who face a particularly harsh time in schools.

According to a government survey, Thailand has the second-highest percentage of students being bullied out of any country in the world. Incidents include informal school rituals in which older students taunt, humiliate and beat younger classmates. These “hazing rituals” have a lasting impact on students’ emotional and physical well-being.  

More understanding about the LGBTI community could be a solution.

As more and more students speak out, however, and the public learns about bullying violence, many young people are saying enough is enough! Student groups are highlighting violence in school and these hurtful rituals, which has led to the government and universities to speak out against bullying. With student and community support, young people can learn to say NO to bullying, even when it is being led by older classmates.

Safe and inclusive schools through education!

UNESCO believes students can be empowered through emotional learning, including sexuality education that includes gender education, to reduce bullying and the harm it causes. Anti-bullying policy includes teachers, education officials and young people, and also the entire community to empower students with self-worth and dignity, paving the way to a peaceful future for everyone.

For inspiration about crafting a story around bullying, use these handy links!

Read the UNESCO report here!

 
PENMARU’s TIP! “In most cases, it’s the bully themselves who are acting on ignorance. So what event could move a bully to stop and overcome their ignorance? A story from the bully’s POV, with his or her journey from ignorance to enlightenment through learning would make for a powerful manga!”
EX5 Interview #1 – Akimichi PROFILE  Name: Akimichi (Lisa Vasilieva)  Age: 21  Country: Russian Federation   Favorite manga: Fullmetal Alchemist; Bakuman  Favorite movie: Monsters Inc. Favorite quote: “Work so hard that people think the aliens did it.”   “… ‘more’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘better’”   1. How does it feel to win a SILENT MANGA AUDITION® award? Fantastic! When the results were announced, I was commuting home with a very low internet connection so I first found out I’d won when my friend sent a screenshot and texted “AAA Lisaaa!!” All my friends and family then spent the rest of the day texting their congratulations. It’s amazing to have such support!    2. What were your first impressions of the theme? Ugh…. 🙂 For me it’s always difficult to connect the theme with my ideas and the Kumamoto setting. Personally, I hear “Do your best!” quite often from family, friends, trainers and teachers, and it’s inspiring! So I decided to put these feeling inside my manga so I can say “do your best” to the readers.

View of the Neva River, Saint Petersburg… Akimichi’s hometown.

  3. What was the inspiration behind your winning work? I don’t really know what inspired me, the idea just came to me as I was getting ready for work. I found myself developing the idea as I was applying my makeup and choosing what clothes to wear. On the subway, I started sketching characters and then began laying out the story when I got home.    4. What challenges did you face making your manga? How did you overcome them?  Probably the hardest part was drawing the manga in a very clear and understandable way, and panel layouts are still a big challenge. I draw several versions of the story and show them to my sister and friends to help determine which layout works best. My sister always gets tired reading them all!  Another trick I use to help through the difficult parts is to imagine that I’m my favorite author to get another point of view. So whenever I run into a problem, I imagine what Niizuma Eiji (author of Bakuman) would do! He’s my hero… silly I know, but it works for me. 

Not even a Whitewalker can stop Akimichi’s concentration!

  5. What did you learn from making your manga? Did you pick up any new skills or techniques? That “more” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”.. 😉 After reading “Childhood” (SMA6) by Jeet Zdung, I realized that a simple and short manga can be beautiful. At only 3 pages, Jeet created a simple and effective story that lost no meaning, so I decided 5 pages was enough for mine. Another discovery from the last round is… there’s a whole big world out there! I love drawing, but it’s just as important to experience the real world so I can put that in my art. Manga has had such an impact on my life, but my biggest inspiration comes from spending time with my friends and family, gaining knowledge at University, teaching children how to draw and expressing myself in my dance studio.  It might seem like all these activities are steeling attention and strength from my art, but it’s actually making me more energized to draw! I find inspiration for my manga everywhere, so it’s important I embrace the world outside my drawing desk!      6. How important is entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION® in relation to your professional goals? I discovered the SILENT MANGA AUDITION® during a tough period in my life and helped me a lot. It always motivates me to push though my boundaries and try something new, it teaches me to learn and keep searching for better ways to tell my stories. It’s amazing to see how everyone’s skills have improved over each round!  Another important gift from the SMA is the amazing friends I’ve made! I’ve met so many kind people who help inspire and give me strength. I’m also grateful to have met the editors who teach me a lot… so thank you everyone!  

Akimichi enjoying her work/life balance

  7. What advice would you give to people entering the SILENT MANGA AUDITION®? Always fight for your dreams and don’t be afraid of the adventures life gives you! Making manga takes time, determination and effort, but it’s worth it.  

Akimichi’s EX5 award winning manga, “New Way” (hit the page to read!)

WHAT IS PEACE, AND HOW DO WE ACHIEVE IT?… A UNESCO MISSION (Banner photo credit: Basak Dola, India)

Peace is more than just the absence of war. UNESCO, our SMA13 partner, determines that peace is a mindset that must be shared by everyone on this small, blue marble we call Earth. But who exactly are UNESCO, and what is their plan to achieve this monumental goal?

Children from the countryside of Myanmar are learning and teaching their lessons. Create manga that promotes the education of children for our future! (Photo credit: Kyaw Kyaw Winn, Myanmar)

In the aftermath of the horrors of World War II, the United Nations was formed to preserve peace in helping to build a better world. That mission is at the heart of UNESCO’s mandate to build peace in the minds of people, through its work in Education, Sciences, Culture, Communication and Information.

What is UNESCO?

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Established in 1945, its mission is to contribute to the building of peace, poverty eradication, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue. It has its headquarters in Paris, France, and 54 offices around the world.

 

Many modern day cultures share a common source. (Photo credit: Sirisak Chaiyasook, Thailand)

UNESCO’s fundamental belief is that peace cannot be achieved only through political and economic arrangements between governments, but it must be founded upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of all human beings.

Preamble of UNESCO’s 1945 Constitution… Since wars begin in the minds of people, it is in the minds of people that the defences of peace must be constructed.
UNESCO’s network of young people come together to lead their own projects, from empowerment of indigenous communities to the championing of LGBTI rights.

Access to education can be life changing (Photo credit: Farhan, Bangladesh)

Additionally and in a crossover with education, UNESCO’s art campaign has brought together young artists from across the region to highlight safe and inclusive schools for LGBTI youth. In Culture, the “Shared Histories” project has introduced school curricula in countries across South-East Asia emphasizing a commonly shared culture and historical legacy across the region, as an alternative to narrow historical narratives that foster prejudice and hatred. UNESCO’s World Heritage programme aims to preserve our cultural and natural heritage sites that are of universal significance to humanity.

What does peace mean to you? (Photo credit: Bautista, Dennis, Philippines)

All of these projects depend on partnerships with governments, policy-makers, civil societies and manga artists like you! More than seven decades after its founding, UNESCO’s work continues to change lives one person at a time.  
PENMARU’s TIP! “Peace isn’t just “no war”, so we want to see stories about building peace using Education, Culture and Science!”