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Victoria International Development Education Association (VIDEA)

About it: VIDEA is committed to ending global poverty and creating a more just and equitable world. They work with youth and community in Canada, build lasting relationships with overseas partners, and advocate for global responsibility.
Programs:
Breakthrough of Africa: Public engagement project that supports communities in Canada to create lasting, sustainable connections with rural African communities.
Fair Trade: VIDEA carries out fair trade workshops, hosts fair trade fairs, and works with Zambian crafters to import local crafts.
The WHEAT Project: Partnership with WHEAT to support women’s training and education in South Africa.
Education for All: Twinning Tools for Schools: Classroom ready guide to teach about access to education in the world. Includes information and instructions for twinning schools with schools in rural Zambia.
Trade My Way: Tools of the Trade: Reading units that explain the complexities of international trade and the people affected. Shows the power of youth as consumers to change the world for the better.
Clothes: The Real Cost of Clothes We Buy: Shows the everyday struggles of garment workers making clothes for designer labels, to provide for their families. Topics include corporate code of conduct, use of subcontractors, child labour, free trade zones, home workers, monitoring of working conditions and strategies for change.
Deceptive Beauty: A Look at the Global Flower Industry: What really happens to the flowers that everyone buys as a symbol for special events. This booklet encourages the appreciation of labour and environmental issues in the global flower industry, including trading conditions, health and safety of workers, use of pesticides, repression of union activists, and strategies to support flower workers.
Global Climate Change: An Interactive Work Booklet: Deals with the environmental concern of climate change. Meets the learning outcomes for grades 3-5 in earth and space sciences and social studies.
Someone I Love Died: A Book to Help Young People Deal with Loss:
Global Learner Series: Created for use in sub-Saharan African to help children cope with grief in the face of devastating AIDS pandemic, it is a great resource to Canadians as well.
Colonialism: This is a three-part series; Colonialism in Africa, Colonialism in Asia and Colonialism in the Americas. Presents the story from the “other side” with catchy prose and dynamic graphics.
Teacher Workshops: In support of this project VIDEA offers to Vancouver Island Schools options for teacher support and engagement. Through traditional style professional development workshops, staff room consultations, or one on one support, VIDEA seeks to enable teachers to effectively integrate global issues into their classroom.
Community, Caring, Connecting Child-to-Child: Incorporates the Global Children’s Art Project into their Zambia partnerships, exchanging art between Canadian children and those in sub-Saharan Africa.
Volunteer program: for high school students to become engaged in community outreach.

How to use this resource: This organization has put together a number of resources for teachers to use in advocating for social justice in Canada as well as many other places in the world. All of the educator kits and lesson plans are well done and excellent ways in which to bring social justice education to the students. There are teacher workshops in which teachers can get involved and learn about new resources and ways in which to incorporate global issues into their classroom. Teachers can easily find more information and work off of many of the programs and projects VIDEA has begun for their classroom.