International Development Grant
School Twinning - Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1
Project Number: CA-3-S065623002
Status: Closed
Country/Region:
Maximum Contribution: $27,595.00
Start Date: July 15, 2011
End Date: August 31, 2013
Duration: 2.1 years
Project Description
This project twins St. James School in Calgary Alberta Canada with Presentation Brothers College in St. George Grenada. The focus of the project is to foster a cultural exchange between the two schools and empower students to become active global citizens. It provides the students with the opportunity to identify a global issue that they care about then develop and put into action a project tackling that issue. Working together the two schools address three areas. The first is a cultural exchange through video conferencing and other technology. The second aspect is the environment with students learning and designing projects about protecting an endangered ecosystem in their own country then sharing what they have learned. The third aspect has students in Calgary collect and ship specific books to Grenada to bolster the school library at Presentation Brothers College. This project is part of a two-year pilot initiative designed to engage Canadian and developing-country teachers and students in joint learning projects. The International School Twinning Initiative (ISTI) aims to provide an enriched interactive learning environment to benefit both Canadian and developing-country classrooms. Through the ISTI Canadian students and teachers gain greater insight into international development a greater appreciation of their role as global citizens and an enhanced ability to communicate international development issues. The ISTI is part of the Global Citizens Program which seeks to raise awareness and increase knowledge of international development and provide opportunities for youth to participate in international development.
Progress & Results Achieved
Results achieved as of the end of the project (August 2013) include: 523 students and their teachers (329 Canadians 68 Jamaicans 30 Grenadians 26 Antiguans and 104 Malians) experienced 280 "real-time" exchanges (totalling 76 hours) with people living in other countries. They learned from each other shared experiences and gained a greater appreciation of their role as global citizens and the importance of creating links and networks with people in other countries. The students and teachers developed a greater interest and engagement in global issues and a better understanding of international development. The students and teachers also gained pedagogical and technological skills by familiarizing themselves with information technology tools (such as video conferencing video making blogging and email) and social media platforms (such as Google+ YouTube and Show Me) which were integrated into the lesson plans. By means of an online survey 86% of students said their understanding of international development issues increased over the course of the project. Before their participation in the International School Twinning Initiative only 13% of students had communicated or exchanged with someone from another country.
Key Information
Executing Agency:
Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No.1
Reporting Organization:
Global Affairs Canada
Program:
YFMInternaAssistPartnershp&Programing Br
Last Modified:
September 19, 2025
Development Classifications
DAC Sector:
Aid Type: Project-type interventions
Collaboration: Bilateral
Finance Type: Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Selection Mechanism:
Pre-APP