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So far Edmund Cluett has created 595 blog entries.

SDGs with Bergen Næringsråd

2018-10-16T09:31:16+01:00September 12th, 2018|

25 trainees from Bergens Næringsråd (Bergen Chamber of Business), had their training at UWC Red Cross Nordic during this weekend. The focus of the programme was the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The programme included an inspiring lecture of Bjørn K Haugland, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer in DNV GL Group, on global sustainability from a business perspective, which also was open for the college community.

With the words of Einstein, Bjørn introduced the central idea that we have to find new ways of thinking and acting, “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” This talk was followed up with a joined practical workshop where the students and young professionals explored the opportunities in the SDGs. This led to reflection on the framework of sustainability and systems thinking in the business sector and how it can affect our lives. The participants were introduced to theories on alternative business models and being part of creating a new, more circular or natural approach in their professional life. A stimulating visit for all.

Click here to see a video made by our visitors from Bergen Næringsråd about their time at the College.

Flekke Glocal Challenge

2018-10-16T09:31:17+01:00September 4th, 2018|

UWC Red Cross Nordic in collaboration with cCHANGE and Sogn og Fjordane Fylkeskommune is pleased to invite teachers and students from Sogn og Fjordane to challenge themselves together to learn about our personal responsibility when it comes to climate change and how our local decisions have global impacts.

The project, Flekke GLOCAL CHALLENGE, will comprise two workshops and a 30-day online challenge for 30 people supported and led by University of Oslo Professor, Karen O’Brien, and her team at cCHANGE. Read more about the project in the attached invitation.

This project is also the first step in developing a teacher’s training programme in Sogn og Fjordane that aims to help teachers incorporate global climate issues into their subject curriculums. One of our goals is to hear teachers’ and students’ opinions on how the sustainability aspect of the new læreplan can be incorporated in their classes and where they need additional help.

Future Talks – In the Arctic

2018-10-16T09:31:17+01:00September 1st, 2018|

There are trips, and then there are the trips that change you. I found out the application at our UWCRCN homepage last term. I did not expected to be on the Arctic with 100 brilliant persons – young and old – from all sectors and all continents a few months later. We spent four days on a veteran ship – undisturbed – with no wifi or cellular coverage. Together we explored our arctic surroundings and engaged in discussions about the most important challenges of our time. Before flying to Svalbard, I gave a speech at the introductory Oslo conference about learning, together with Christopher and Emma Stoks. In addition, there were also world famous architect Bjarke Ingels and Westworld-creator Jonah Nolan in a conversation about man, machine and design. Tina Kulow (Facebook), Katharina Borchert (Mozilla) and Michael Geer (AncorFree) discussed the polarization of social media, the power of groupthink, and its effects on democracy and elections. I met a family that sold everything to live with native tribes, and heard about the latest findings in the Science of Happiness from Oxford-professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve – to mention a few of the impressions from the voyage.

This was an amazing trip, where we could see polar bears from the top of the ship, dolphins and whales jumping just outside of the window. We listened to a presentation on how earth took form, which stimulated thought about how all living and non-living creatures are connected with each other. We got to know Russian history with Svalbard as a starting point and also about the history of whales as a species. It was saddening to hear that everyday we are losing a number of species. We also talked about our diets and about vegan, vegetarian and non-vegetarian approaches. It was rewarding to engage with experts in the growing field of Artificial Intelligence and how it can affect us. I cannot still believe that I – swam across the 80th degree at +4 degree Celsius temperature like a polar bear;  kayaked on the north pole on pieces of ice, observing the glaciers falling down with a noise; engaged in discussions about how we should get inner peace.

Was it all peace and serenity? Well, we did find pieces of plastic on the North Pole, which was a shock for everyone. In a speech, the director of a European research centre said that every year 400 meters of ice disappears from behind the research stations in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard due to temperature rises.

The journey sensitised me to what I feel for both nature and human behaviours. A big thank you to Silje Vallestad and Camillia Hagen Sørli for me to have this opportunity to engage together with so many exiting persons in such an environment. – And this is just the beginning of the Future Talks.

Hari (Nepal, ’17)

Junette Maxis (RCN ’05-’07)

2018-11-21T11:18:57+01:00August 29th, 2018|

Clinton Global Initiative

Stay Hungry

In 2011, I was attending the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) event when the former US president Bill Clinton said to me, “Stay hungry”. I must admit, although I heard the words, it would take a few years for me to understand exactly what he meant. Back then, I was a senior at Luther College in Iowa.

During my years at UWC Red Cross Nordic in Norway, like all my fellow UWCers, I sure was hungry for change in the world. I would later realize that changing the world, while a great motivator, is not an individual task, but a collective social responsibility. What we can each do is allowing ourselves to be the best we can be, and creating the greatest impact we can in our environment, whether we are at work, at school, at home, or elsewhere.

Today I see that same hunger the former US president mentioned, in the eyes of my teammates at Lekòl. They all share a burning desire to ensure that the younger generation of Haitian students gets access to quality education. It is a privilege many members of my team lacked when they were growing up and attending school in Haiti.

We started Lekòl in May of 2017; it is an automated web and mobile testing tool that aims to improve students’ academic performance in Haiti by providing a quick and effective way for teachers to assess students’ understanding of any subject in real time. Through its automated test correction, trended and aggregated results statistics for classes and each student, courses can be more targeted for a maximum class outcome. We believe in order for students to learn effectively and succeed in their studies, their learning process has to involve more than just a classroom lecture. Our goal is to use information technology to bring innovative solutions to schools and other educational institutions in Haiti.

In May 2018, as part of our pilot project, we launched a national competition that allowed students to test their knowledge and understanding in the curriculum and academic subjects that are approved by Haiti’s Ministry of Education. More than 500 students from the capital, Port au Prince, and various provinces participated in the competition. Today, students all over the country are using the platform to prepare for their exams, test their knowledge and learn at their own pace. The tool gives them immediate feedback, and they get a visual presentation of their progress in any particular subject.

Lekòl’s dedicated team of developers invests countless of nights coding under circumstances that would simply make it impossible to work for most people. Although cross-country traveling and transportation can be challenging in Haiti, I am proud to say that no school is too remote for Lekòl’s service agents. Our team has not been discouraged by the discomforts of the country’s limited infrastructure. In fact, the challenges motivate us to keep innovating.

After a few years of offering technology consulting services to global fortune 500 companies and managing projects with Accenture and Equifax, Lekòl is now my ideal long term project. As the daughter of two hard-working farmers who sacrificed everything they could to make sure my siblings and I could attend school, I know what it cost for a child to get access to quality education in Haiti. While the opportunities I had have opened many doors for me, Lekòl has taken me on a path that simply keeps me hungry for more every day.

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