This year too, the United World Week (UWW) gave space to global events and actions for peace and fraternity that focused on “Caring”, with a particular focus on integral ecology. The #Daretocare Campaign will continue for another year.

United World Week 2022 came to an end on 8^th May, with a live streaming event during which an invitation was launched to continue living #daretocare for another year. There were 56 countries involved and 126 events around the world which renewed our commitment to work constantly to protect our planet and achieve better living conditions for all. Bearing in mind the current situation and the painful conflict in Ukraine, the need for a change of perspective in relationships between individuals and peoples was expressed as a matter of urgency, starting from a different way of relating to planet earth and all its inhabitants. This shared need was clear from the very beginning of the Week on Sunday, 1^st May, thanks to the contributions, insights and presence of Gen Verde, with their latest composition “We Choose Peace”. For this UWW, Gen Rosso went to Bihac, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From there, they were connected with many actions taking place throughout the world and working with migrants of the “Balkan route”. All this and other main events were material for the United World Week Podcast, a daily news bulletin with a focus on a different part of the world each day. It reached an audience of about 2000 people through the website www.unitedworldproject.org In the coming months, on this same platform, it will be possible to continue to explore the themes and review the stories presented in these eight days. For example, in Hyderabad, southern Pakistan, 130 young people met to reflect on life after the pandemic. They understood the importance of having clean drinking water, sustainable energy, reforestation that guarantees the ecosystem, but above all the strengthening of relationships and the “network” among them as a method to generate change. The focus of attention this year was the Middle East. One of the reasons is the war, which has made several generations understand the importance of integral ecology, an increasingly important tool to rebuild a reality in which social unease is very strong. This was also demonstrated by the Youth for a United World of Banias, Syria, who undertook an educational action for deaf and mentally disabled children, working to gradually improve their living conditions. Sunday, 8^th May  was also the turn of Run4unity, the worldwide relay race during which boys and girls of different ethnicities, cultures and religions ran together from 11:00 to 12:00 (in the different time zones) to give witness to their commitment for peace and to promote a method to achieve it: the Golden Rule. This year there were 33 Run4unity events around the world. NEW INITIATIVE At the end of the United World Week 2022, a new App was launched, to share good ideas and to increase the social impact that so many simple good practices can generate together: the idea, entitled DARE TO SAFEGUARD THE ENVIRONMENT ON THE NET, was started by a group of Italian teachers in their schools. The idea is easy: after identifying a sponsor – a parent, a friend, yourself – you can attribute an economic value of 0.10 cents or the equivalent in each currency, to the “savings” necessary to invest this sum in various solidarity projects. UPCOMING The first event of the #Daretocare 2022-2023 campaign will be the Festival of Good Living, two days of in-depth study and workshops on themes of integral ecology, on 14^th-15^th May, live on the United World Project Youtube channel.

Paolo Balduzzi