Spark change: United World Week 2024

May 1^st to 7^th: the return of the United World Week, a global workshop and expo of initiatives to restore peace and fraternity between people and peoples.

The United World Week (UWW) returns from the 1^st to the 7^th of May 2024. This year it focuses its global commitment on peace, sought and built from multiple fronts: attention to the poorest and the excluded, care for the environment, formation of consciences and education towards peace. This year’s motto is “Embrace Humanity, Spark Change”; a starting point and inspiration for many initiatives taking place in various cities around the world.

UWW 2024, a worldwide Genfest
The UWW will start with an international opening event on the 1^st of May in Loppiano (Florence-Italy), but from the outset, other cities around the world will also be involved and will continue until the 7^th of May being types of “workshops” in creating synergies, sharing ideas, good practices and creativity. The UWW 2024 takes place two months prior to the Genfest, the worldwide Festival of fraternity promoted by the young people of the Focolare Movement. The Genfest will take place in July at Aparecida, Brazil and it will showcase the “local” commitment of many Focolare communities. Networking with Organisations, Movements and Institutions, the Focolare communities are engaged in local contexts to respond to the most urgent needs and challenges of a given area.

The “change” that the young people of the Focolare Movement, together with their communities, want to promote is concentrated in the areas of the world that are most devastated by war, by the environmental impact and by forced migration.

Who are the protagonists of the UWW
The protagonists are the young people from all over the world: there is Giacomo, Italian, who left for Kenya thanks to the MilONGa international volunteering project, where he worked in orphanages in Nairobi. Or Daphne, from India, who recounts the adventure of Reach Out, the project set up in Goregaon, a suburb of East Mumbai, by some local young people to support about 70 families in poverty. Icaro, Sam and David, on the other hand, live in Brazil, in Fortaleza, where they are volunteering in the “Uirapuru Spiritual Condominium” (CEU), a campus where 21 associations work to care for needy children, people with AIDS and drug addicts.

1st of May, the opening of the UWW
These and other stories will be presented during the opening of the UWW from Loppiano with an international event that will be streamed live and translated into 5 languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English and French). It can be followed on the UWP Youtube channel or by connecting to the UWP website (unitedworldproject.org).

On this occasion, the International little town of the Focolare will host three villages, each with a different theme: inner peace, peace with others, peace in the world. In these spaces, participants will be able to attend many workshops to explore the theme of peace (Economy of Peace, There is no dialogue without listening, Conflicts in our cities, Water, a source of peace?, The Living Peace International project, Peace and art: harmony between different peoples, etc.). The common thread that will ideally unite their itinerary is the discovery of the art of dialogue.

If you go to the UWP website, you can also follow some of the other events and stories of the UWW, such as Peace Got Talent which will take place on the 4^th of May. There is also Run4Unity, the relay race for peace and unity, promoted by thousands of teenagers all over the world (the adults are running too!). Run4Unity will be held on the 5^th of May: wherever possible, the sport events will be held in places that are symbols of peace, on the border between countries or communities in conflict, or at least in places that “speak” of inclusion.

Stefania Tanesini

20240429-SMU-Press Release