What's the Big Idea?
In the early 1960s, Scandinavian high school students, realizing that
1.3 billion people worldwide live in poverty, decided to take action.
Young Norwegians were struck by the fact that every student in Norway was
receiving nine years of free schooling while most of the world's young
people had little or no education. They convinced their schools to suspend
one day of classes each year to allow them to work and earn money for
their less fortunate counterparts around the world.
Operasjon Dagsverk
-- which translates to English as Operation Day's Work -- was born. Over
the years, the program has grown dramatically and has supported educational
projects in 35 different countries in
Africa,
Asia and
Latin America.
By 1996, over 250,000 Norwegian students had participated in Operasjon
Dagsverk, raising more than $3
million annually in direct aid for developing countries.
In Norwegian schools, Operation Day's Work is preceded by "International
Week," during which students immerse themselves in the culture of the
project country. Students plan the week's educational program, including
activities that demonstrate the difference between growing up in developed
and undeveloped countries. The program focuses less on charity, and more
on respect and commonality among young individuals who happened to be
born into different environments and economic status.
Operation Day's Work was adopted all over Norway and spread to other
Scandinavian countries. Today, Operation Day's Work programs exist in
Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Iceland
and the United States. New ODW organizations are starting in
Brazil
and South Africa. It has proven to be
an exciting and effective youth program by fostering international
education, community service and youth leadership.
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Coming to America
In February 1998, the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the
creation of
Operation
Day's Work-USA (ODW-USA).
The agency decided to help U.S. students adapt the Norwegian youth-run
program so that American young people could have a chance to learn about
the world while demonstrating their leadership ability. The goal was to
make Operation Day's Work truly student-run
and available to students throughout the United States.
The idea of bringing Operation Day's Work to the United States garnered
enthusiastic support from groups active in youth leadership, service
learning, and education. USAID has built partnerships in support of U.S.
students with many organizations including: the current students of
Operasjon Dagsverk, the International
Youth Foundation, America's
Promise, Quest International, the The National Peace Corps Association , the Embassy
of Norway, and the Humphrey
Institute. Working with these partner organizations, USAID recruited
eight pilot
schools in six states to develop Operation Day's Work in America.
To give the pilot schools a good understanding of the program, USAID and
the students of Operasjon Dagsverk organized and funded a
trip to Norway
in October 1998 for three people from each school to observe the
Norwegian international week. The American students gained a true sense of
the democratic decision making and the spirit of youth fellowship that
make Operation Day's Work uniquely successful. Upon their return, these
students used what they had learned to guide the pilot schools in
designing their ODW-USA activities.
Today, after a highly successful pilot year, Operation Day's Work-USA
is "going national."
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"Vote the Goat"
The students of the pilot schools voted to make
Haiti
their focus country in year one and, after receiving proposals from
non-profit organizations, voted to help their peers in Haiti by funding
a program called "Livestock Training for
Young People of Haiti." This livestock program, administered by a
partnership between World Concern
Development Organization and CARE
in Haiti, provides important livestock and agricultural skills to Haitian
children. In addition, each child in the program receives a female goat,
which can be bred to form the basis of a sustainable economic foundation
for the child. The first female offspring of each child's goat is
returned to the program for expansion to new children. Operation Day's
Work students, impressed with the elements of sustainability and direct
benefits to young people, campaigned for the project with the winning
slogan, "Vote the Goat."
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Making It Work
In the spring, having chosen a project to fund, ODW-USA students turned
their attention to educating themselves, their peers, and their
communities about life in Haiti and the vast difference between growing
up in developed vs. developing countries while building support and
sponsorship for their work activities.
Students went on the radio, gave interviews to local papers, spoke to
rotary clubs, school boards and anyone else who would listen to what they
were working to accomplish. Students and teachers worked together to
inject Haiti and development into their school curriculum. Students led
classes in French, Haitian art and culture, and designed activities to
illustrate the inequalities of opportunity that children face around the
world. Finally, students from each of the eight pilot schools worked in
their community, either directly for businesses and individuals or by
getting sponsors for public service projects. They raised a combined total
of $31,000 to fund their project in Haiti.
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In Order to Form a More Perfect Union
With the first year's successes and lessons fresh in their minds, nearly
100 sixth through twelfth graders from the pilot schools came together outside
Philadelphia in the heat of July for the Operation Day's Work Constitutional
Convention. Organized and funded by USAID and its ODW partners, the
weeklong Constitutional Convention gave students an opportunity to make
fundamental decisions to adapt ODW to the United States, design a system of
self government, begin preparation of materials for new ODW schools, and
plan expansion of the program to schools across America.
Convention delegates visited Independence
Hall in Philadelphia and used the lessons of the framers of the
U.S.
Constitution to create their organization. Built on a foundation of
representative democracy, with a healthy respect for local autonomy and
the flexibility to change and grow, the ODW
Constitution established an Annual
Convention to choose a focus country and a National
Committee of students to administer the fledgling student program. Operation Day's Work-USA was born.
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