This year, we were once again invited by the Carolinum Gymnasium to hold a workshop in the last week of school before the holidays. This time the focus was on the topic of sustainability, and we ran a workshop on this theme, using the example of development work in Malawi, in two eighth-grade classes for 90 minutes each.

In this short time, we first laid the groundwork by exploring what it is like to live in another country. The students drew their daily routine in Ansbach as a timeline on a flipchart, along with their idea of a normal daily routine in Malawi. We then compared these ideas with what actually happens in Malawi. We thought about how you can form your own picture of other countries, of the people in other regions, and of their cultures. By using tools and objective statistics, subjective impressions can be checked, and you have the opportunity to perceive unfamiliar things without preconceptions.

Next, we worked out together what the term sustainability means and how its three basic dimensions (social, ecological, and economic sustainability) are reflected in development work. After exploring Malawi as our example, we used two case studies to consider which aspects of sustainability, especially in development work, would be interesting to examine and take into account. To this end, we discussed two current projects by Ansbach für Malawi: the construction of sustainable toilets and the use of energy-efficient stoves in schools. The students quickly realized that taking sustainability aspects into account in the projects and planning for them accordingly is sometimes more complicated and different than expected.

We would like to thank the Gymnasium Carolinum for the invitation, and especially Ms. Nievelstein for her commitment! We are delighted to have found in the Caro an interested and supportive partner with whom we have been carrying out projects for many years.