Who We Are

The Geneva Office for Human Rights Education (GO-HRE) is a non-profit legal entity whose purpose is to make human rights part of every child’s education. Dedicated to teaching the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, GO-HRE offers on a complimentary basis a non-partisan, non-sectarian, highly interactive curriculum called Colega, which, coupled with initial teacher training, helps countries meet their treaty obligations to provide human rights education to children and youth.

GO-HRE is an educational initiative affiliated with Brigham Young University’s David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, a United Nations-accredited nongovernmental organization, in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. We work with Latter-day Saint Charities, the United Nations humanitarian registration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and with government and education partners in countries around the world.

What Makes Colega Work?

Each Colega lesson follows six consistent steps, making them easy to teach and memorable for students. Each lesson begins with a poem, song, or chant, an explanation of the right being taught, and key learning points or takeaways. The lesson outlines are adaptable and can be changed to incorporate relevant cultural references for your students. All of the lessons include a sample song, chant, or poem, information about the Human Rights topic, supporting stories or games, a question-and-answer outline, summary discussion material, and a suggested challenge to help students practice the right they have learned. Download full document here.

Welcome

warm-up song, chant or poem

Review

challenge from previous lesson

Introduction

Human Rights article

Development

story activity questions discussion

Conclusion

questions and summary

Challenge

put the article to work

About Our Volunteers

Our team of dedicated educators brings decades of experience to the mission of teaching human rights to the children of the world. We are trained teachers, human rights experts and scholars, PhDs in education, curriculum design and educational policy. We are deeply dedicated to the cause of human rights education.

We believe that human rights belong to everyone equally. This site, its resources, our organization, and everything we offer are here for you—teachers, facilitators, and your students. Through human rights education, Colega can help you develop the knowledge, skills, and commitment necessary to promote equality, dignity, kindness, and respect in your community and around the world.

Support as You Implement Colega

Our network of volunteers are located around the world, ready to support you in integrating the Colega curriculum into your schools, districts, educational institutions, or Ministries of Education. We work within your existing systems to find the right place to align our curriculum with your educational requirements.

Once a simple memorandum of agreement is established between your organization and GO-HRE, we assist with organizing teacher training sessions and provide both digital and some printed materials at no cost.

Colega Helps Create Good Citizens

The Colega curriculum is highly participatory. We use a child-centered methodology that encourages discussion and open-ended question-and-answer sessions.

Each lesson outline follows the same sequence, making the format simple to follow and easy to teach.

We use music, chants, stories, and poetry to drive home the lesson topics and to help connect the brain, heart, and voice in the learning process.

The lessons highlight and stay true to 10 fundamental rights and responsibilities, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We recognize that each teacher is an educator and not a political activist. Our program encourages regular self-reflection and assessment for both students and teachers.

We have designed Colega to help you better know your students and their families, and to encourage good citizenship and positive participation in your community.

We Use a Simple Memorandum of Agreement

When we partner with an organization, we enter into a simple memorandum of agreement (MOA) so that all parties involved understand expectations and responsibilities up front. We consider this a friendly handshake on paper— it helps everyone involved be clear about their roles, responsibilities, and expectations. The MOA typically covers things like the purpose of our collaboration, timelines, and any resources or support needed, all while aiming to keep communication open and the process transparent. It’s a great way to make sure everyone is on the same page before we dive into our partnership.

Contact One of Our Representatives

We are a volunteer-run organization, and we do our best to respond as promptly as possible. Please allow up to 48 hours for a response. This is not a technical support contact; this email is for the purpose of new inquiries about implementing the Colega curriculum.

We look forward to hearing from you!