Three innovative programmes from Benin, Haiti, and Lebanon have been recognised for their efforts to enhance the role of teachers and transform education, both in their communities and beyond.

These projects are the recipients of the 2022 edition of the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development, which was presented at a ceremony in Paris on Wednesday.

UNESCO, in a statement, said the projects were run by the Graines de Paix Foundation, the organisation PH4 Global and the American University of Beirut, who will share a $300,000 endowment to help further their initiatives.

Graines de Paix organises a programme in Benin called Apprendre en paix, Enseigner sans violence (Learning in Peace, Education without Violence) that provides educational solutions focused on how to prevent all forms of violence and prevent radicalization.

The project also promotes well-being and a culture of peace, security, equity, and inclusion.

More than 4,500 teachers have been trained, and no fewer than 250,000 children reached.

Through its Training Teachers to Transform Haiti programme, P4H Global strives to improve the quality of education in the Caribbean by training teachers, school directors, parents and community members.

The objective is to transform teachers’ methods into effective student-centred strategies that cultivate critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.

These are reinforced through measures that include personalised feedback via social media and messaging apps.

More than 8,000 educators and 350,000 students across Haiti have benefited from the programme.

Under the TAMAM Project for School-Based Educational Reform, university researchers and educational practitioners in Lebanon work together to generate strategies grounded in the sociocultural contexts of the Arab region.

The initiative covers 70 schools in 10 countries in the region and has benefited 1,000 educational partners, with 100 improvement projects initiated over the past 15 years.

The UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development was established in 2008 to support the improvement of teaching and learning quality in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The prize, which is awarded every two years, is supported by the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance. 

(NAN)