Case studies

Step 1: Introduction.

The teacher will write on the blackboard the key word “Inequality” and then ask the children to describe in turn what this word means to them. They can use words or pictures.

Step 2: The identity cards game.

Each student picks up an identity card from a deck of cards previously prepared. Each identity card has personal information about a character: gender, age, profession, place of living, etc. At this stage, any identity must remain secret.

Afterward, the teacher reads some questions, one at a time, and asks each person to take one step forward if the answer is yes, and not to move in case of a negative answer.

Possible questions are:

1. Do you have free time to do the things you like?
2. Can you afford to buy a car?
3. Can you afford to buy the things your family needs?
4. Can you forward your studies?
5. Can you invite your friends for dinner?
6. Can you pay for a doctor or medicines if you need them?

This is continued until all questions have been asked.

At the end of the game, there will be some people left at the back of the classroom, some in the middle and some forward. At this point the teacher will ask the students to reveal their identities.

Step 3. Reflecting on economic and social background.

After the game, the teacher asks some questions to promote reflection and discussion:

1. How did you feel about your new identity?
2. Did you feel comfortable or not?
3. How did you feel having to stay in the back of the classroom?
4. How did you feel about being able to move forward?
5. How come some of you are at the front of the class and others in the back?

The ability of families to meet their most basic needs is an important measure of well-being. The following activities will help you to understand the importance of economic sustainability for family’s well-being and health.

1. Divide the class into small groups of three or four. Each group will be assigned a different family scenario, with information about how the members of the families, their jobs, age, health conditions, etc. Each group will identify the monthly expenses that the family has and will subtract them from their starting income. In this way they will be able to determine how much money they have left over after paying basic expenses.
   
   

   Monthly expenses
   Rent or mortgage	€ ……………………………
   Utilities	€ ……………………………
   Transportation	€ ……………………………
   Food	€ ……………………………
   Health	€ ……………………………
   Taxes	€ ……………………………
   Other	€ ……………………………

   
   
   
2. After doing Activity 1, reflect:
   • Are there expenses on your list that your family won’t have money to pay for? Decide whether these expenses are a need or a want.
   • Can your family afford to buy enough food?
   • How can you reduce your spending and increase your savings?
3. Do you think that wage gap between workers affect people’s health? How?
4. Is there a minimum wage that all workers have the right to earn in your country?
5. Discuss the pros and cons of having big wage gap between workers.

Sustainable finance is the application of the concept of sustainable development to financial activity. The following activities will help you know better about sustainable finance and how it can impact on our own lives.

1. Discuss in class: Do you think that people with little incomes have full access to credit from banks? Why/why not?
2. Do you think that companies have some responsibilities towards the community? Which responsibilities, if any? Try to make a list and compare it with the ones made by your classmates.
3. Read the following passage about sustainable finance. Then find out 3 key-terms and use them to summarize the main contents of the passage to your class:

By “sustainable finance” we mean finance that takes environmental (Environmental), social (Social) and corporate governance (Governance) factors (the so-called ESG factors) into consideration in the investment decision-making process, directing capital towards longer-term sustainable projects.

Making a financial investment that takes into account ESG factors therefore means investing in companies  that generate, in addition to an economic return, a positive environmental or social impact, for example in companies that pay attention to the responsible use of natural resources and the effects on ecosystems, in companies that maintain adequate safety, health, justice, equality and inclusion among workers and/or in companies that operate paying attention to compliance with ethical principles and best corporate governance practices.

Ethical finance is a related concept which indicate both microfinance / microcredits, aimed at the most vulnerable sections of the population, and ethical investment, especially aimed at initiatives operating in the field of the environment, of sustainable development, social services, culture and international cooperation.

Ethical banks represent one of the most important manifestations of ethical finance. Ethical banks are credit institutions that refuse to finance unethical investments.

The first ethical bank in the world was born in 1976, by Muhammad Yunus, an economist and banker from Bangladesh (Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2006), who, “unlearning the theory and taking lessons from reality”, as he liked to say, brought forward an idea of ​​a different bank, capable of solving the problem of poverty and hunger in Third World countries.

He therefore founded the Grameen Bank, in the conviction that credit is a fundamental human right.

Grameen Bank extended loans at low interest rates to all people who would otherwise have been excluded from traditional credit systems, living in conditions of extreme poverty. Giving a chance to go out, through their work, to the “non-bankable”, because they have no property. In 1983 the project became a real bank, lending money to the poor but not only: even making those poor themselves become shareholders.

4. Since the foundation of Grameen Bank, the concept of ethical bank has slowly spread. Choose one of these examples of ethical banks (or find new ones) and find some information about what it does. Then prepare a short presentation for your class.

• Triodos Bank in the Netherlands: https://www.triodos.co.uk/
• Alternative Banque Suisse in Switzerland: https://www.bas.ch/fr

Step 1. Introduction.

In pair or in small groups, the students discuss and write down on a sheet of paper what it means to them to be part of society in their free time and in their lives. Afterward, they present their ideas in plenary.

Step 2. The participation scale.

The teacher presents the children’s participation scale (Roger Hart). From bottom to top, the step of the scale corresponds to the following definitions:

1. My voice is not heard, and other people make decisions for me.

2. My voice is heard but then other people decide for me.

3. My voice is heard and taken into consideration when making decisions.

4. I start projects with my own ideas and then work together with adults.

The teacher asks the students to identify the level on the participation scale with which they identify when they think about their participation in different everyday activities.

Then, the teacher asks:

• Do you think it is important to participate?
• Would you like to participate more than you do?

After the discussion, the students will create a logbook in which they will note down all the moments of their day in which they feel they have actively participated.

In many places around the world people are forced to work, sometimes in dangerous environments that are threatening to their lives and health. The following activities will help you understand the phenomena of modern slavery and child labor, and to reflect on what we all can do to end them.

1. How can someone force someone else to do something? Discuss in class and find possible answers.
2. After discussing in class, make a list of reasons why children might be forced to work.
3. Are there any jobs that children should never be allowed to do?
4. Read the following text to know more about modern slavery and child labor. Then write your own definition of the terms written in bold.

“No one shall be held in bondage or servitude; slavery and the slave trade will be prohibited in any form”. This is what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says. Yet, slavery is still far from being eradicated. 

According to the report Global estimates of modern slavery, modern slavery is characterized by two main components: forced labor and forced marriage. Both refer to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse due to threats, violence, coercion, deception, or abuse of power.

Modern slavery is present in almost every country in the world and knows no ethnic, cultural, or religious borders. The majority of modern slaves work in sectors such as agriculture, fishing, handicrafts, mining, services and domestic work: this is about 16 million people.

The victims of early marriages are only slightly less: 15 million and 400 thousand, almost all young women, girls or even girls. The victims of sexual exploitation are four million and 800 thousand. 

Migrants are particularly vulnerable to forced labor; they are in fact more than three times more likely to be subjected to forced labor than non-migrant adult workers. While labor migration has a largely positive effect on individuals, families, communities and societies, this data demonstrates the increased vulnerability of migrants to forced labor and trafficking, whether due to irregular or poorly managed migration, or due to of illicit and unethical recruitment.

Another example of labor exploitation is child labor which can be defined as the work activity that deprives boys and girls of their childhood, of their dignity and negatively affects their psycho-physical development. It includes various forms of exploitation and abuse often caused by conditions of extreme poverty, lack of education opportunities, economic and political situations in which the rights of boys and girls are not respected, to the advantage of adult profits and earnings. Children in child labor are denied the right to go to school, the opportunity to play and enjoy their loved ones. They are often recluses, marginalized, exposed to physical and psychological suffering.

Child labor is a global phenomenon. According to the latest ILO estimates, 152 million children and adolescents – 64 million girls and 88 million boys – are still victims of child labor. Half of them, 73 million, are forced into dangerous work activities that threaten their health, safety and moral development. Many of them live in contexts affected by wars and natural disasters in which they struggle to survive. Others are recruited as child soldiers to fight in wars wanted by adults. The reality that these data describe to us is unacceptable.

5. Work in groups. Each group read some articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and find out how forced labor and forced marriage violates the respect of human rights.
6. Find some news about cases of labor exploitation in your own country in newspapers or in other media.
7. Reflect: how could we help reduce child labor worldwide? Try to find out possible solutions.
8. The “8.7 Alliance” (https://www.alliance87.org/) is a global alliance to end child labor, forced labor, modern slavery and trafficking of humans. Search information and make a presentation for your class about its objectives and what it does.

1. Think about your usual day. Identify all the actions that would not be possible if you did not have internet access. Then prepare two lists: one with the actions that you could easily do in another way, another with the actions that you would do with much more difficulty.
2. Now reflect: do you think everybody can freely use Internet whenever they need? Why or why not?

Data from the ITU (the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies) latest report, show that the world’s Internet diffusion remains deeply uneven, despite a recent increase during the pandemic. Not only does 37% of the world’s population, i.e. 2.9 billion people, have no access to the Internet, but almost all of the marginalized (96%) live in developing countries. The following activities will help you know better and reflect on Internet Access across the world.

1. The digital divide is the distinction between those who have access to the internet and are able to take advantage of the services offered by the World Wide Web and those who are excluded from those services. How can the following factors determine the digital divide? Discuss in class.

Gender – age – place of living – education – wealth

2. Do you think that Internet can promote health and wellbeing among people? How? Find possible answers.
3. Digital literacy is the ability to use digital resources competently and critically, for work, learning, entertainment and communication. What skills do you think are necessary to be digitally competent?