Global Connect

Global Connect is a fun and interactive education course by WDM Scotland that teaches people about the connection between local issues and the global problems of climate change, unfair trade, and poverty.

This year we are focussing on working with a group of people who are either homeless or vulnerable to homelessness in partnership with the Bethany Christian Trust. There is a regular discussion and action group on Wednesdays and a larger group on Thursdays. We will be having radio interviews on Leith FM, articles in the Bugle magazine (written by Bethany service users) and are organising a lobby of MSPs. We will also continue to support other groups and organisations we've worked with in the past.

In 2010 we worked with diverse groups including the Bethany Christian Trust's Men's Group, Scottish Borders Environment Project, Drummond Community High School, Transition Support Scotland, St Paul's and St. George's Church, Edinburgh. We ran workshops in the Scottish Borders, in Edinburgh and in Leith and covered at a multitude of issues from litter to global warming, from neighbourliness to international relations. Very importantly as well as investigating and discussing issues we also examine what we can do about them and how to do it - practical campaigning and organising skills.

A brief report of Global Connect in 2010-11 can be found here (or you can download a PDF version from the bottom of this page).

What we did

How we did it

What participants said about it

In 2009, Global Connect linked in with the local community in Wester Hailes to hold film clubs and monthly workshops.  Reel lives continues to show films on interesting global topics, for further details please contact the WHALE Arts education officer

We also work from time-to-time with the Take One Action Film Festival, that earlier this year toured rural Scotland.

At last year's screening of the film Hunger! we used a simple activity to illustrate the impacts of food speculation. Further information and files to download to use it yourself are here.

For more information on the Global Connect project contact our education officer