Social Responsibility: From purpose to reality

SAMIRA SAFAROVA

Vice President in charge of Academic Activities

With the adaptation of Strategic Goals 2023, the International Council has decided to step into a new era of social responsibility which has been developed by the previous International Boards; this term, we had the opportunity to actively contribute to the work done before. We prioritised reflecting equally on each part of our Purpose, which also strongly stimulates promoting social responsibility of law students and young lawyers not only on the international but also on national and local levels.

Our campaign on social responsibility started with the Mental Health Project, which constituted a collaboration of 11 student organisations, from all over the world, including ELSA, representing nearly 22 million higher education students. The project aimed to raise awareness on mental health and the importance of its well-being among higher education students, as well as to advocate against social stigma associated with mental health issues. The Mental Health Project took place on the 10th, 13th, 16th, and 20th of October with a mixed format of workshops and panel discussions. This Project served as an effective tool to provide a productive environment to exchange ideas and plans with students from different professional backgrounds and build a unique approach for the future planning of social responsibility at ELSA.

In addition to the Mental Health Project, during my term I was in charge of the Rule of Law Education Campaign (ROLE), for which we have been doing preparations for two years. Our main journey with the ROLE Campaign started in Vienna during the 40th anniversary celebrations of ELSA, where together with Therese Prisse, Director for ROLE at ELSA Alumni, I had the chance to present the objectives and the future planning to the participants. Following the event, we have been working on finalising the curriculum materials and keeping strong communication with the National Coordinators in eight pilot countries: Azerbaijan, Romania, Portugal, the Netherlands, Malta, Finland, Serbia, and the United Kingdom. In January, with the massive support from ELSA Alumni, we successfully completed the curriculum materials and presented them to the pilot countries in order to start with the localisation process; meanwhile, we have also been working on providing an organisational package to the Coordinators. After a long period of development of the Campaign on the international and national levels, I am honoured to share that ELSA the Netherlands, ELSA Finland, and ELSA Serbia have started the implementation of the project in various schools. As the National Coordinator of ELSA the Netherlands, my successor Jean has already gained a high level of knowledge and experience regarding the project, and I have no doubt that he will continue with the rewarding fulfilment of the ROLE Campaign.