Character and Creativity Initiative

Developing integrity, communication skills, leadership capacity and entrepreneurial innovation are important components of the education of the ‘whole child.’

Students globally are graduating with university degrees and failing to find employment. This youth unemployment bulge has a negative impact on economic development, peace, and security. Schools are being called upon to transform their school cultures and develop graduates who are well-balanced. Employers at all levels are seeking ethical and innovative employees who can work effectively with others, solve problems, and build trust with co-workers, peers, clients, and customers.

GPF’s Character and Creativity Initiative (CCI) aims to provide experiential training in values and entrepreneurship for students in secondary schools. It was first initiated in Kenya in 2011 and has since been introduced in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Uganda, Nigeria, Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States.

The Character and Creativity initiative offers a comprehensive framework of quality standards whereby students and staff cultivate competencies in integrity, compassion, ethical online and offline conduct, creativity, problem-solving, teamwork and “hands-on” peacebuilding skills. Outside the United States, this area of focus is often viewed as an antidote to corruption. Employers’ top priorities are no longer high-test scores, but rather creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial employees, reliable, independent, and able to learn on the job. CCI intervention directly addresses these skill sets through the improvement of teachers’ practices, such as ensuring a student-centric environment which can provide for the ability to create two-way, diverse, and critical dialogues.