Education is the key to our future
International research for innovative, accessible, useful education

How concrete the words resilience, strength and determination can be, becomes evident immediately when looking into the eyes of Valerii. Engineer, 67 years old, today he is one of the millions of refugees from Ukraine. He escaped just a few days ago from his city Irpin, in the province of Kiev, and is now safe with part of his family in Italy.

The memorable orange bracelet and slogan “Live passionately” add color to the beaches and cities of Italy. From the bright eyes of our volunteers, underneath the mask, a message shines through that goes beyond the momentary restrictions: “Smiling is a social duty.”

In this depiction of the XVII edition of the Caravan of the Heart, also this year the volunteers of the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation were the key players on the beaches and in the cities of Italy. In the period of July to September, in full compliance with the containment provisions of Covid-19, another beautiful awareness raising campaign was organized, meeting thousands of people, and more than 20 million people since 2005.

Thanks to the Caravan of the Heart, our fundraising has become a yearly “date” awaited by many supporters, and a surprising dialogue with hundreds of new people that welcome our mission: education is key to change. A magical moment of encounter in which we share reflections and intentions in regards to the most important themes of humanity in this moment of history. In this way, every year we meet and together we choose to be, even with small actions, active part of our planet’s future.

With the Caravan of the Heart campaign we have managed to support our neuroscientific and psychopedagogical research projects, producing free products accessible to all and not only aimed at adults and children who are part of specific marginalized contexts but also dedicated to every family that finds itself facing the health, psychological and social emergency of this time.

We want to say a thousand THANKS to all the people we have met and to all of our volunteers. Thanks for being with us and for continuing to make our objective of a better world ever more concrete.

On Tuesday, October 5, 2021 the president Patrizio Paoletti contributed with a speech at the event entitled “Social Impact – How can higher education accelerate achievement of the SDGs?”.

It was one of the stages of a global discussion started in September amidst the Global Education Forum on the transformation of higher education and the University system in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The series of meetings, round tables, conferences and interviews organized and sponsored by the SEK Education Group will close with the final event planned for October 13-15 in Madrid.

Despite joint efforts, the 2030 Goals are still distant. After the open discussion in September 2020 by the Network of solutions for the sustainable development of the United Nations (SDSN) and the guide“Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities” it has become clear thathigher education and Universities can play a central role in reaching goals by structuring mindsets, roles and connections in order to generate new systematic solutions.

The educational challenge has never been more urgent. The social, environmental, and economic crises at the heart of global agendas, along with rapid technological transformation, demand new educational modelsthat support a radical change of perspective and pace.

“Providing new generations with tools to deal with complexity and manage it pro-actively today is a priority. – said Patrizio Paoletti – The central objective is the development of skills and innovative approaches that are up to the moment, with the highest innovation ever created as a driver: self-awareness.”

Paoletti presented the research model of the foundation, which for more than 20 years has based its mission on the teaching of neuro-psycho-pedagogy: offering concrete tools to achieve the transformational and proactive potential of each individual.

After the opening speech the event was structured in the form of an interview and Patrizio Paoletti answered four questions: Which mindset change is necessary to reach the Goals? Is there a way to accelerate this change? What is the role of the University? Who can be of help in this process?