Johannes Wedenig : Country Representative for UNICEF, SA
06 February 2026
Kind Attention:
Mr Johannes Wedenig
UNICEF Representative for South Africa
Email: jwedenig@unicef.org
Address: UNICEF, Equity House, 659 Pienaar Street, Brooklyn, Pretoria, 0181
Dear Mr Wedenig,
I listened with great interest to the speech you delivered at the 2026 Basic Education Lekgotla about the need to put ‘earning’ into ‘learning’. As you so rightly say ‘Learning to Earn’ is also about empowering learners with “core competencies like self-management, self-esteem, creativity and critical thinking”.
This speaks directly to GC26 Para 35 and the Right of the Child not to be exposed to violence – domestic, societal or against an animal – because of the long-term psychological harm it does to the developing brain. In addition, as set out in my letter to you of 13th January 2026, exposure to any form of violence diminishes innate empathy and normalises violence in the minds of children. According to research, civilization itself depended on cooperation and empathy is crucial to cooperation.
I take the liberty of sending you free hard copy samples of some of our readers for primary school learners. They are all approved by the Department of Basic Education and fall into the Learning Areas of Life Skills and Life Orientation. They are procured by the Department as Learner-Teacher-Support-Material and for school libraries. They are specifically designed to nurture empathy and make violence – of any kind – simply not an option.
Of particular interest, perhaps, is that the reader titled Molo (meaning ‘hello’ in Xhosa) is our most popular reader among teachers of the 8 – 10 age group, and deals with the emotional violence inherent in bullying behaviour.
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OPEN LETTER
Also of interest, perhaps, is that our Empathy Programme at Golden Grove School elevated the Life Orientation marks of the Grade 7 learners by a full 20%. (See the Principal’s confirmation of this as set out in ‘Earth Keepers’ in the parcel).
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It would be really wonderful if we could get these booklets into the hands of more children and if you are able to assist in this regard, The Humane Education Trust will be deeply indebted.
Kind regards,
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Louise van der Merwe
Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education, Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | https://www.naturebased.education/ | https://www.animalvoice.org/
In Celebration of International Day of Education - 24 January 2026
Here, Zimbabwe learners build empathy and kindness for each other, and animals too, through presenting the Five Freedoms Puppet Play. The Humane Education Trust thanks Susan Chenaux-Repond of the CARE organisation for making it happen!
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Says Susan: “I have derived much inspiration from your Nature-Based Education online platform. We are a small team providing free veterinary treatment for the animals of the rural folk. The children in this photos are from Victoria Falls Primary School. They come to learn about our work as part of their career guidance programme. After listening to the talk by Dr Isaac Moyo, they will get ready to perform the Puppet Play."
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To support CARE or to contact Susan Chenaux-Repond, please go to:
+263 (0) 77 889 3370 (WhatsApp)
Puppets ready for action!
Dr Isaac Moyo talks to the learners about being a vet
Your school too can perform the Five Freedoms puppet play
Alysha Alva and Can Remzi Ergen : Hosts - International Day of Education
24 January 2026
Kind Attention:
Alysha Alva and Can Remzi Ergen
Hosts of UNICEF’s celebration of the International Day of Education
World’s Largest Online Lesson Plan
Cc:
Johannes Wedenig – UNICEF Representative, South Africa
Malcolm Plant – World Link Coalition
Dear Alysha and Can,
Thank you for inviting The Humane Education Trust to attend the World’s Largest Online
Lesson Plan in celebration of the International Day of Education. Your chosen theme –
“What does HOPE look like and what does HOPE feel like?” – was deeply compelling. I wasparticularly struck by the phrase in your video: “HOPE is a call to what is yet to be.”
Please accept our sincere congratulations on the success of the event. From 14-year-old Livvy in China, whose hope was to save Africa’s rhino from being hunted for its horn, to 13-year-old Abeera in India, whose hope was for leaders to halt “the bloodshed, violence, and industrialisation,” we witnessed raw and earnest HOPE expressed through the voices of
children who will inherit our beautiful and fragile planet.
Can’s reminder that HOPE is an action was especially meaningful. In that spirit, may we
respectfully suggest that the World’s Largest Lesson Plan for 2027 be centred on the recent
clarification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child through General Comment No. 26, paragraph 35.
GC26 paragraph 35 states that:
“Children must be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence, whether
in their home or in society, and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or
violence inflicted on animals.”
As we understand it, UNICEF’s mandate is precisely to protect children from violence. We
now know that exposure to any form of violence erodes the innate empathy with which all
children are born. GC26 paragraph 35 explicitly seeks to safeguard that very empathy –
without which civilisation itself could not have evolved.
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OPEN LETTER
Should this idea resonate with you, The Humane Education Trust would be honoured to
support such a lesson plan. We have a wide range of educational resources at your disposal,
all of which have been approved by the South African Department of Basic Education.
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And perhaps, in the true spirit of hope-in-action, 12-year-old Bruce from North Wales and
13-year-old Thomi Fouskoudi from Greece might even put their heads together to invent an
app to track the global progress of GC26 paragraph 35 in action.
Thank you very much for considering this proposal.
With kind regards,
Louise van der Merwe
Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education, Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | https://www.naturebased.education/ | https://www.animalvoice.org/
03 January 2026
Kind Attention: Johannes Wedenig
Country Representative for UNICEF, South Africa
Email: jwedenig@unicef.org Pretoria@unicef.org
Tel: 012 425 4700
Dear Mr Wedenig,
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Re: Partnering to Protect Children from Violence: Humane Education and GC26 Para 35
I write to wish you well on your appointment as Country Representative for UNICEF South Africa, and to introduce myself and our organisation, The Humane Education Trust (HET). As a registered Public Benefit Organisation, HET seeks to be a constructive and values-aligned contributor to UNICEF’s vital work for children in South Africa and beyond.
Your interest in, or endorsement of, our work would be deeply appreciated.
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About The Humane Education Trust
HET’s work with South Africa’s children spans more than three decades. In the early post-apartheid period, we were invited by the Department of Basic Education to contribute to the inclusion of humane education in the Learning Areas of Life Skills and Life Orientation in the new curriculum which was under development at that stage.
Over the subsequent years, 34 of our educational resources have been approved by the Department of Basic Education as LTSM materials and are purchased for school libraries across the country. Several are included in the 2026/27 LTSM catalogue for Mpumalanga Province.
HET also reaches out to schools independently and indeed, all lesson plans, classroom activities and other resources are freely available to teachers for download at www.naturebased.education Many are in mother-tongue languages.
Between January 2022 and December 2025, the platform reached:
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472 teachers
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440 schools
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62 919 learners
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Alignment with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
HET’s efforts gained renewed international relevance following the adoption of General Comment 26 (GC26) by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on 18 September 2023. Of particular significance is paragraph 35, which calls for the protection of children from exposure to all forms of violence, including violence against animals. This historic clarification brings animal welfare explicitly into the child-rights domain, recognising that violence against animals can be as damaging to a child as violence directed at humans. ​​
Definitive research by the European Link Coalition at Teesside University confirms that exposure to violence of any kind during childhood may cause lifelong psychological harm and contribute to mental-health challenges in adulthood.
UNESCO engagement
In 2024, HET was invited to present to a UNESCO Committee meeting in Pretoria on the impact of violence against animals on young minds. On that occasion, Dr Julie Reddy, Deputy Chair of the South African National Commission for UNESCO, observed:
“If we teach children about care and respect for others – it doesn’t matter who they are or what they are – respect for the diversity that we find ourselves in, we will be a much, much better country, and we will learn compassion.”
Why humane education matters
Children are born with a natural empathy for sentient animals. Over time, however, cultural and societal influences often erode this empathy, replacing it with objectification and indifference. This gradual numbing of compassion extends into family life and broader society. In a country as burdened by domestic and societal violence as South Africa, humane education plays a crucial preventative role in fostering care, respect for life, and non-violence. In a continued endeavour to rekindle care and respect for all life, HET will launch our 2026 series of classroom lesson plans and activities on 9 January 2026, shortly before the start of the first school term.
Of additional interest, a recent survey among first-year sociology students at the University of the Western Cape revealed that 74% did not understand animals to be sentient, while 100% expressed the wish that animal sentience had been taught at high-school level. This finding is reported in our latest issue of Animal Voice magazine (See www.animalvoice.org).
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Request for UNICEF support
UNICEF is uniquely positioned to champion the protection of children through policy influence, awareness-raising and the encouragement of legislative alignment with international standards such as GC26.
HET’s objective for 2026 is to double our reach into classrooms across South Africa and beyond, and ultimately to see GC26 paragraph 35 embedded and implemented in domestic law. In this context, a brief quote of support or endorsement from UNICEF South Africa would be an immense encouragement and would be proudly displayed on our website.
We have taken the liberty of adding you to our mailing list so that you may receive our classroom activities and lesson plans during 2026, should you wish to share them with colleagues.
Thank you for considering this introduction and our request. I would welcome the opportunity to engage further.
Kind regards,
Louise van der Merwe
Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education, Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | https://www.naturebased.education/ | https://www.animalvoice.org/