Framing principle

This badge acknowledges schools that foster intercultural understanding, peace education, and global awareness to help build a more inclusive, just, and connected world. These schools prepare students to think ethically, act collaboratively, and contribute to a more peaceful society at both local and global levels.

Criteria For Earning This Badge

These criteria are based on global evidence around educational resilience, systems transformation, and community-led innovation in adversity. They draw on research from the capabilities approach and frameworks for adaptive leadership and trauma-informed practice.

To earn this badge, schools must provide evidence that they have excelled in the following areas:

 1.     Understanding adversity and community-rooted response

Schools demonstrate a strong grasp of its challenges and works closely with the community to create fair and lasting solutions.

·      The school demonstrates a clear, contextualised understanding of the adversity it faces, including its systemic causes and long-term effects.

·      It collaborates closely with families, local leaders, and community members to co-create solutions grounded in local knowledge and solidarity, ensuring that responses are resilient, equitable, and sustainable. 

2.     Student empowerment and adaptive leadershipStudents are empowered as co-leaders in overcoming adversity, with their voices and experiences shaping school decisions. Leadership embraces inclusivity, transparency, and flexibility to navigate challenges together with the whole school community.

·      Students are actively engaged in shaping the school’s vision and responses. They understand the adversity facing their school and play meaningful roles in addressing it through voice, leadership, and action.

·      School leadership is agile, inclusive, and transparent, nurturing shared ownership and moral courage necessary to navigate challenges effectively.

3.     Innovation and well-being in adversity

Schools respond to challenges with creativity and innovation. They embed trauma-informed and restorative practices to foster emotional wellbeing and resilience for all.

·      The school fosters creative and resourceful solutions—pedagogical, infrastructural, or social—that turn constraints into opportunities for growth.

·      It prioritizes trauma-informed, restorative, and socio-emotional practices that promote healing and hope for students and staff.

4.     Sustainability and systemic impact

The school builds lasting solutions that become part of its culture and shares successful practices with others. Its work influences policies and contributes to community wellbeing beyond the school.

·      The school’s approaches are institutionalised for long-term resilience and are shared with peers or adapted to similar contexts.

·      The school extends its influence by shaping local policies, mentoring other schools, and contributing to broader social cohesion and justice.

APPLY FOR THE OVERCOMING ADVERSITY CATEGORY