How to Get Involved in Global Dignity Day

Held in October every year, Global Dignity Day serves as a reminder that all humans—regardless of race, gender, religious beliefs, nationality or socioeconomic background—deserve to live a life of dignity.

This includes every person’s right to opportunities to fulfill their potential; access to education, health resources, income, and security; to have their personal and religious beliefs respected by others; and to act against injustice, prejudice, and inequality.

These ideals are taught to children in workshops, classrooms, and assemblies led by both highly influential global figures and countless volunteers around the world. While a single day is dedicated to Global Dignity Day, everyone is encouraged to participate throughout the month of October and, indeed, for the entire year.

What is the history of Global Dignity Day?

The foundations of Global Dignity Day can be traced back to 2006 when three young global leaders began a conversation at the World Economic Forum about how divided the world had become—politically, financially, racially, and geographically.

Those three leaders—Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, CEO and founder of Operation HOPE John Bryant, and author and philosopher Pekka Himanen—wrote the founding principles for a new nonprofit, Global Dignity. The first person to sign on was none other than Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest athletes and civil rights activists in history.

Three years later, at the 2009 World Economic Forum, the first Global Dignity Day was held in a classroom in Switzerland involving an immersive, story-telling based workshop. Bishop Desmond Tutu left the forum to lend his wisdom to the workshop and was followed by British businessman Sir Richard Branson and musician Peter Gabriel.

From that one classroom workshop 11 years ago, Global Dignity Day is now present in more than 80 countries, with over 860,000 young people, leaders, volunteers, parents, and teachers taking part every year.

How can people get involved in Global Dignity Day?

There are various ways to get involved in Global Dignity Day, and the organization provides plenty of tools and advice to help anyone who wishes to participate.

1) Organize an Event

Arranging and delivering an event can be done in many different ways, although there are very useful toolkit PDFs from Global Dignity that offer ideas and inspiration to help you get started.

The event framework most commonly used is divided into three sessions: an opening session, a dignity workshop, and a closing session.

The opening session is when you would include a welcome and introduction to the day, offer a brief overview of the concept of dignity (perhaps a short video), and invite a speaker to share a dignity story.

Invited speakers could be anyone who has a story and message to share to help inspire the workshop. These could be community leaders, human rights activists, philanthropists, religious and spiritual leaders, volunteers, or anyone with a story of dignity.

The dignity workshop would then involve an explanation of the workshop and what participants can expect from the session, two or more Global Dignity learning experiences, and an opportunity to identify participants who would like to share their dignity stories in the closing session.

Rather than serving as a lecture, these workshops should be interactive and immersive. They also need to be categorized by target age: children 5-9 and 10+, with the latter workshops also applicable to teenagers and adults.

Workshops could be service projects (e.g., getting involved in the community such as helping at a refugee center, volunteering a homeless shelter, or cleaning up a public park) or creative projects, which could include mural paintings or writing and performing songs and dances.

The closing session would be your opportunity to recap the workshop, thank the volunteers, put on any creative projects that were created during the workshop, and hear from both invited and participant speakers.

Whichever way you choose to conduct a workshop, you must cover the three key objectives: understand, explore, and share.

2) Volunteer

If arranging your own event is a bit out of reach or there is already a Global Dignity Day event in your community, you can lend your support and become a volunteer.

To register your interest, fill out the registration form on the Volunteer section of the Global Dignity website and select one of the following options:

·  Organizing a Global Dignity Event

·  Becoming a City or Regional Chair

·  Becoming a Global Dignity Leader

·  Helping any way I can!

Global Dignity will then respond with ways to contribute to the next Global Dignity Day.

3) Donate

All nonprofits need donations to thrive, and Global Dignity is no exception. Donations can be made through one-time or monthly payments via credit card or check.

Individuals donating above the $2,500 level are known as Advocates. Those who donate between $10,000-$25,000 on a three-year commitment will join the Founding Partners and receive special invites to Global Dignity’s annual leadership retreat and global gatherings.

Corporations and organizations that donate $5,000 and up are called Champions. Those that pledge $50,000 or more will become a Major Sponsor. Their support will be publicized in the press and their logo will be included on the Global Dignity homepage.

4) Join the Affiliate Program

There is also the option of joining the affiliate program, which is open to all individuals and organizations who wish to be aligned with Global Dignity and become an active member.

Those who sign up for the affiliate program will receive Global Dignity’s resources, toolkits, and affiliate logos, as well as access to the Affiliates-only WhatsApp group where you can share ideas, ask questions, and collaborate with others.

To become a Global Dignity affiliate, start by completing the form on the Global Dignity website.