Written By Abigail Chifusa, Global Schools Project Officer.
In 2019 after completing his undergraduate study, Global Schools (GS) Advocate, Lawrence Peter was selected to become a local representative of the Global Schools Program as an Advocate in Zimbabwe.
Lawrence went on to mobilize 9 schools to join the Global Schools Program, and further provided mentorship to 13 Global Schools Advocates who were educators in several Southern African countries.
The Global Schools Program shaped his career path in many ways as it connected him to several like-minded young leaders from other countries across the world, providing opportunities for collaboration. The GS program gave Lawrence the opportunity to connect to mentors who provided career guidance, coaching, and academic recommendations and most importantly, he gained extensive knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and gained key interest in the area of working with SDGs with the hope of solving critical challenges that had for a long time threatened the livelihoods of many people in marginalized communities pertaining to socio-economic challenges that provoked massive poverty crisis in Zimbabwe.
Because of the exposure and experience that the Global Schools Program created, Advocate Lawrence was awarded the prestigious Ireland Fellows Programme (IFP) scholarship to pursue a 1-year master's degree in Ireland.
“The MSc in Humanitarian Action at the University College Dublin will be the turning point in my career as I look forward to working toward bridging the gap between humanitarian action and sustainable development through research and practice. I want to pursue research that will guide interventions that address the challenges that are linked to the SDGs under the social inclusion element (SDGs 1-zero poverty, 2-zero hunger, 3-Good health and well-being, 4-Quality education, 5-Gender equality, as well as 6-clean water and sanitation). These interventions will improve the livelihoods of the many people that have been affected by emergencies driven by socio-economic challenges, natural disasters, conflicts, and global health pandemics such as COVID-19,” said Lawrence.
The Global Schools Program is an initiative of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN). The initiative works to empower schools worldwide to teach the SDGs in classrooms, also providing platforms that open up different opportunities to the Advocates.
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