Giving Compass' Take:

• Imogen Calderwood reports that the “Learn to Live” campaign is connecting British students with students around the world living in war zones and refugee camps to break down cultural barriers.

• How can funders support the expansion and replication of programs like this one? What are the mutual benefits of cross-cultural communication? 

• Learn about the relationship between education and peace. 

Children in classrooms around the UK are being twinned with children living in war zones and refugee camps, as part of a new initiative to break down geographical and cultural divides.

The “Learn to Live” campaign launched in September, as a partnership between the charity War Child and the Independent and Evening Standard newspapers.

One in every six children globally has to access their education in an area impacted by conflict — but the new scheme is aiming to support students in pushing for change together.

The first messages have already been sent, according to reports, between Year 9 students at Carshalton Boys Sports College and Hornsey School for Girls.

Children at the two London schools sent video messages to children in one of the largest refugee camps in the world — Za'atari. Around 80,000 people are currently living in the camp, in northern Jordan, having fled their homes in Syria.

“We did not know people in London had hijabs like us, it is nice,” one girl, Dina, 16, told the Independent, after watching the video message. Another, 16-year-old Areej, added: “We had different expectations. I did not know they wear skirts like us.”

In her response, with the children living in Za'atari replying with letters, Dina wrote: “In my country, the children face child labor, what are the challenges British children face?”

Read the full article about connecting students by Imogen Calderwood at Global Citizen.