The in-person component of the second edition of the training course “Education in Emergency Situations and Humanitarian Responses” promoted a meeting between people committed to the common good, marked by qualified listening, the exchange of experiences, and the strengthening of strategies aimed at guaranteeing the right to education in crisis contexts.
Faced with contemporary challenges that impact communities in different parts of the world, students, teachers, education professionals, public actors, humanitarians, and civil society organizations from Angola, Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, and Argentina came together with a common goal: to deepen their knowledge of global humanitarian contexts and their repercussions on education.
With a duration of 75 hours, including 35 synchronous hours, 25 asynchronous hours, and 15 in-person hours, the 2nd edition of the Course on Education in Emergency Situations and Humanitarian Responses was promoted by the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) and the Paula Frassinetti Higher School of Education (ESEPF) in Portugal, in partnership with the Tibetan Park School, the Global Education Cluster, the Porto Alegre Institute of Art Education (IPDAE), and Jean Piaget University in Angola.
The training is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 4, which ensures inclusive, equitable, and quality education. It also addressed topics such as the international standards conveyed in the Sphere Handbook, the impact of trauma on children and young people, active listening, caring for caregivers, and the role of the arts in vulnerable contexts.
For Anderson Santiago, a volunteer humanitarian actor with the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) and course facilitator, the training was marked by something that no manual can teach: “The participants’ experiences brought living humanity. This training was built on relationships, listening, and affection. Even in the most challenging contexts, it is possible to build something new, strong, and fraternal together.”
Listening, action, and plurality
Beyond the transmission of content, the course sought to be a space for deep and affective exchanges. The plurality of visions, cultures, and trajectories made the experience rich and transformative. The in-person stages, held in Brazil, in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, and Carmo da Cachoeira, Minas Gerais, Luanda, and Porto, allowed names to gain faces, gestures, and looks. The meeting, so eagerly awaited after the online modules, strengthened the human dimension of learning.
“I decided to take the course because, in the current global situation, it is naive to think that emergencies cannot happen. I work in education and wanted to understand how to act. The online course provided theory; the in-person course gave me concrete ways to reach children. Being with colleagues, seeing their faces, experiencing the practice together, made all the difference,” says Barbara Venturoso, an educator who works in Brasília, DF, and participated in the training in Carmo da Cachoeira, MG.
Analu Castro, also an educator and participant in the training in Carmo da Cachoeira, believes that educating in emergencies is a broad concept. “We can act in conflicts, disasters, or daily vulnerabilities. The course helped me to listen better and to realize that, when dealing with a child, each situation brings a new need. The plurality of views made me realize the richness I carry within me and that I can offer to others.”
The impact of the course went beyond professional practice. Sandra Calvi, for example, who participated in the training in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, recognizes the cross-cutting nature of the learning: “Even though I am not in education today, I realize that this is a course for life. It offers tools to act in any emergency. We learn online, but in person everything takes on another dimension. The art module was my biggest learning experience: something practical that cannot remain in theory.”
José Vitor, who experienced the great flood that occurred in May 2024 in Rio Grande do Sul, felt the need to be better prepared: “The exchanges, especially online, made a big impression on me. Real stories from Angola, Portugal, Brazil… Some seemed like something out of a movie. In person, this diversity remained. Each person had their own way of seeing and doing things. This is extremely enriching.”
Art as a link, healing, and reconnection
Among all the elements of the training, art stood out as a universal language and an instrument for listening, expression, and rebalancing. In the words of Sister Martzthá, one of the facilitators of the in-person component in Brazil, “art is deeply human. It has no color or creed, nor does it discriminate. It unites and awakens the best in each person. With curves, straight lines, colors, and movements, we can reorganize what trauma has disrupted. Art reorganizes thinking, feeling, and wanting.”
Isaac Monteiro, a psychology student at Jean Piaget University in Angola, also emphasized this power: “Colors express the unconscious. Art reveals and heals. The mandala and clay workshops were powerful tools. The wheel of life showed how everything is interconnected. I will use it with my patients.” For him, this training should reach all professions that deal with people: “Emergency is not just about psychology, it cuts across all areas of knowledge.”
Mônica Oliveira, professor and researcher at the Paula Frassinetti Higher School of Education (ESEPF) in Portugal, reinforces this point: “Art develops communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. It is essential for reimagining the collective. Schools that ignore art impoverish us. This group of students is creative, committed, and humane. They are building a solid and transformative foundation.”
Bridges between academia and society
The participation of university professors and members of civil society strengthened the bridge between academic theory and the practical needs of vulnerable territories. Elisa Silicavissa, dean of Jean Piaget University in Angola, emphasized: “This course connected the concrete with the profound. We became children again for a moment, and that strengthened us. The video you shared touched me. It showed how art brings families together and saves lives. We need to continue building this solid bridge between the university and society.”
Shared paths
If there was one thing that united all the testimonials from the various participants from different regions of the planet, it was the emotional dimension of the training. Being together, sharing knowledge, joys, challenges, listening to different accents speaking of the same hopes, brought the group an experience that went far beyond the content: the experience of presence.
In person, hands shaped ideas, eyes followed curved and straight lines in therapeutic drawings. It was also at this meeting that diversity showed its creative strength: each culture with its own way of solving problems, each person with their own way of caring. And, among all, the recognition that learning today is more than informing: it is transforming.
Check out the impressions and reports of the participants of the 2nd edition of the Course on Education in Emergency Situations and Humanitarian Responses. Click here!
