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Global Crises, Local Impacts: University–City Collaborations for Social Cohesion — Strong Cities Innovation Labs

Publication Date:

27/01/2026

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Event Reports

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City–University CollaborationGlobal CrisesGlobal Crises Local ImpactsLocal Impacts

— 4 minutes reading time

This report provides a summary of discussions during the webinar and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Strong Cities Network Management Unit, Strong Cities members, event sponsors or participants.

Summary

On 27 January 2026, the Strong Cities Network hosted the latest in a series of monthly webinars titled Global Crises, Local Impacts: University–City Collaborations for Social Cohesion: Strong Cities Innovation Labs. The webinar series is part of the Strong Cities Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative, launched in late 2023 in response to growing requests from the Network’s members and other cities to provide support and peer learning as they try to navigate the local impacts of successive and concurrent global crises, including climate change, migration, and the conflict in the Middle East.

The January webinar provided Network members and partners with information about the proposed Strong Cities Innovation Labs (SCIL) global programme, which would be delivered in partnership with EdVenture Partners (EVP), Strong Cities member local governments and their local universities.   

Introduced at the Strong Cities Sixth Global Summit in December 2025, SCIL aims to enable university student teams, working in collaboration with local governments, to create and implement dynamic local projects that threaten social cohesion. Under the programme, students, in consultation with their local government and Strong Cities, first select and then research a challenging issue facing their city, create a strategic plan and then implement a customised social or digital media initiative, product or tool that students and local government believe will help strengthen social cohesion in their city.   

As a follow-up to the Strong Cities Global Crises Local Impact October 2025 webinar on city-university collaboration, the January session included an overview of the initiative, presentations from university students who engaged in similar EVP campaigns, as well as additional information on structure, funding and how to confirm interest in participating in and helping to launch the programme.

The webinar featured an overview of the proposed global programme partner and presentations on three programmes promoting civics, social cohesion and digital literacy created by university student teams under previous EVP programming:

• Tony Sgro, Chief Executive Officer, EdVenture Partners
• Sofia (Bulgaria)
  • Maria Pelovska, Director of Public Relations & Communications, MED – Kneading is Democracy, New Bulgarian University
• Meknes (Morocco)
  • Toufiq Jaafar, Project Lead, Morocco for All Campaign, Moulay Ismail University
• Washington, DC (USA)
  • Christine German, Deputy Director of Interventions, Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL), American University

Tony Sgro shared that since 1990, EVP has continually created meaningful connections between students, educators, and industry leaders through real-world experiential learning. Establishing partnerships with over 1,000 academic institutions across 49 US states and 77 countries, the organisation services government, private sector companies and other clients. EVP has engaged over 400,000 students worldwide through experiential, project-based learning campaigns that boast measurable impact for clients and communities. Through the SCIL global programme, EVP and Strong Cities are looking to build on this legacy by allowing university students to select and research an issue facing their city and create and implement a customized social and digital media initiative, product or tool that will strengthen social cohesion in their community.

In Sofia (Bulgaria), Maria Pelovska explained how she and her student team at New Bulgarian University developed and implemented MED – Kneading is Democracy, an educational game that turns civic education into an interactive, student-led experience. Highlighting the importance of young people engaging directly in local democracy, Maria shared how the initiative simulates real-life dilemmas around free speech, disinformation and activism and empowers students to debate and engage in the daily practice of democracy.

Toufiq Jaafar provided an overview of the Morocco for All pilot campaign created and implemented at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes (Morocco). The youth-led campaign aimed to promote intercultural dialogue between Sub-Saharan migrants and Moroccans to connect, share and learn from each other. Toufiq shared that through the universal languages of art and sport, human connection, visual storytelling, and dialogue flourished. These activities helped shift public perception and negative narratives about migrants and inspired young people to help build more inclusive communities. The campaign reached over 100 people directly through workshops, sports matches, interviews, and other cultural events and more than 450,000 through social media.

Christine German shared how the American University’s Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab (PERIL) in Washington, D.C. (United States) is implementing the Developing & Using Critical Comprehension (DUCC) digital literacy programme originally developed by an American University student team under EVP programming in 2022. The next year, the team partnered with PERIL to apply for and subsequently received a grant from the US Department of Homeland Security to build a full digital literacy curriculum. Since moving to PERIL, the programme has built a 24-lesson curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade that includes four animated videos, two games and three posters. DUCC is currently being used in 23 US states and seven countries.

Together, the presenters provided an overview of the innovative and dynamic projects that helped advance democracy, inclusion and digital literacy in communities across the globe and previewed the immense impact of future projects under the SCIL global programme.

Next Steps

For more information about the SCIL global programme, please reach out to Tony Sgro at [email protected] and Katie Wells at [email protected].

The next Global Crises, Local Impacts webinar on 1 April 2026 will feature the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (FIDE), a nonprofit organisation dedicated to enhancing democratic processes by promoting citizen engagement and deliberative democracy in communities across Europe and North America.

Please sign up for Strong Cities Network’s mailing list to receive invitations for upcoming webinars and other Strong Cities events.

Additional Resources

• Edventure Partners
  

Contact Information 

For more information on this event, the webinar series, or the Global Crises, Local Impacts initiative, please contact our team at [email protected]. 

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