Draft:United World Project

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May First at Loppiano, opening of the United World Week 2017

The United World Project is the largest action performed by New Humanity, a non-governmental organization (NGO) member of UNESCO[1], working in partnership with Focolare Movement's Teens for Unity, Gen Movement, Youth for a United World and New Humanity International Movement. The project links thousand of people committed to the goal of unity and universal brotherhood actively in the fields where we work, gather and live. The project is active in more than 100 countries worldwide[2].

History

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Further information: Focolare Movement

In 1986, born from inspiration from Chiara Lubich's Focolare Movement, New Humanity was born. With the Youth for a United World (Y4UW), born from the Gen Movement just three years prior, many actions were put forwards with the scope to spread a message of unity in indirect ways. Sports events and competitions, peace walks, ecological talks[3], social actions in the poor neighborhoods, work associations and many more activities were present in the years that followed all over the world. Many groups grew in various countries and beyond borders, some examples are SportMeet[4], Eco One, Net-One[5], and many more.

After the death of Chiara Lubich in 2008, a new adjustment was made to update the structure and focalize it more clearly. The United World Project had its official launch in the summer of 2012 at the “Let’s Bridge” international youth festival in Budapest, known as Genfest. After its launch, the Youth for a United World started building it with New Humanity and linking with national and international institutions, agencies and groups.

The stage of the 2012 Genfest, the day the United World Project was unveiled.

The project got notariety in 2013 where it was present at the World Youth Day event promoted by the Catholic Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and at the UNESCO Youth Form of the same year.

Since then, each year the first week of May became a week to focus on the activities made during the last 365 days, with a grand opening on May 1st (the date was chosen since in many european countries May 1st is a holiday, and because in Italy the Youth for a United World and Gen Movement held their country-wide festival in Loppiano that date since 1973[6]). The first week of the month of may, for its focus on the work to make an united world, has been labeled as "United World Week[7]" .

Between 2013 and 2017 it was constellated by various keymarks, such as partecipation in UN activities, such as the 2015 UN event where the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was unveiled.

Pathways for a United World

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In 2018, at the following Genfest in Manila, Philippines, the United World Project was re-shaped to feature a year theme, in the same style that the Focolare Movement have each year, with a specific thematic pathway for the following 6 years, called "Pathways for a United World":

- 2018 on Economy, work and communion

- 2019 on Human Rights, Peace, Legality, and Justice

- 2020 (and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic) on Active citizenship & Politics for unity

- 2022 and 2023 on People, Planet and our ecological conversion

- 2024 on Art, beauty and social harmony

During the COVID pandemic the following GenFest was delayed from 2023 to 2024, reason why it did not feature the theme of Interreligious Dialogue (originally previewed in 2022).

Each of the 5 pathways featured key events, particularly it is remembered the 2021 meeting with then European Parliament President David Sassoli shortly before his unexpected death.

WorldWide Communities

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In 2024, at the Genfest in Aparecida, Brasil, the United World Project was updated in a thrice fashion. As of today, the United World Project is structured in 3 principal components:

- United World News[8], a international megaphone so anybody can share and know the progresses, projects, successes, and to seek motivation for those in difficulty in their actions.

- United World Week, the first week of May. This involves multiple events and a key celebration (usually the day of May 1st or the first Sunday of the month) of what has been made, as a moment to discern and a call to start once more together in any corner of the world.

- United World Communities[9], a world wide web of local communities with determined purpose or action.


For the sheer size and complexity of the United World Communities, a general map[10] and chats[11] were built during the 2024 Genfest. To focus the field of purpose and actions, a 8 part document, 8 as the number of Communities, was presented at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Global Forum under the document named "Together to Care – For Our Human Family and Our Common Home”[12]. The communities are:

Community ECONOMY | WORK

Community DIALOGUE | INTERCULTURE

Community PEACE | HUMAN RIGHTS

Community HEALTH | SPORT | ECOLOGY

Community ART | SOCIAL COMMITMENT

Community EDUCATION | RESEARCH

Community COMMUNICATION | MEDIA

Community ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP | POLITICS

This scheme is shaped on the basis of the 1968 proposal for the youth from Chiara Lubich[13], where at each of these fileds a colour was named after, following the idea that " a beam of light refracts in 7 colours" (plus the 8th, black, that is the sum of all colours).

Aim

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The United World Project works towards its aim of a more united world by charting, promoting and linking authentic examples of good practice and processes, in personal or group initiatives which contribute towards making the world a more peaceful and united home to all humanity[14]. To this end, the project has identified three main objectives:

  1. Be a workshop of examples of best practice and ideas;
  2. Show the effort that many are doing for universal fraternity;
  3. Bring together as many as possible on a common platform.


The United World Project welcomes the collaboration of national and international institutions and agencies through New Humanity ONG, and partnership with people, groups, organizations and institutions with compatible values and aims such as Polo Solidaridad[15] (Americas), Familia ya Ufariji Children’s Home[16] (Africa) and Religions for peace[17] (Asia), .

References

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  1. ^ "Rapporto dei partecipanti all'ottavo Unesco Youth Forum – Federazione Italiana delle Associazioni e Club per l'Unesco" (in Italian). 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  2. ^ "Chi siamo". United World Project (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  3. ^ "Who we are". www.ecoone.org. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  4. ^ "Sportmeet International". Facebook.
  5. ^ "Home - NetOne". 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  6. ^ "Primo Maggio Loppiano | OFFICIAL WEBSITE". Primo Maggio Loppiano (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  7. ^ Tersa, Inma (2025-05-01). "United World Week 2025". Focolare Movement. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  8. ^ "News". United World Project. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  9. ^ "United World Community". United World Project. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
  10. ^ "Home". United World Project (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  11. ^ "Login – United World Community". app.unitedworldproject.org. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  12. ^ "New Humanity NGO elevates GenFest proposals at UNAOC Global Forum - Movimento dei Focolari". www.focolare.org/en/. Retrieved 2025-09-04.
  13. ^ "Mondo A Colori ⋆ GENerate". GENerate (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2024-11-09. Retrieved 2025-06-25.
  14. ^ "Watch". United World Project. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  15. ^ "Polo Solidaridad". www.edc-online.org. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  16. ^ "Children's Home for boys – Familia ya Ufariji Children's Home". Familia ya Ufariji Children's Home. Archived from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  17. ^ "Religions for Peace Japan". www.wcrp.or.jp. Retrieved 2025-09-09.