A year of MSF’s engagement with young people in Luxembourg

“Raising young people’s awareness of humanitarian action means giving them the tools to understand the world around them and encouraging them to become engaged citizens, capable of acting with solidarity, empathy and a critical mindset.” Apolline Ledain, Educational Programmes Officer at MSF Luxembourg

From classroom sessions to an immersive exhibition, via educational games and projects led by the pupils themselves, the 2025–2026 school year marked a new phase in Médecins Sans Frontières Luxembourg’s commitment to young people.

Whilst MSF’s primary mission is to provide emergency medical aid to people in distress, the organisation also considers raising young people’s awareness of the realities of humanitarian work to be part of its commitment.

During the 2025–2026 school year,

Of these, 502 pupils took part in 25 school outreach sessions organised across 12 schools. The remaining pupils met MSF at its Grande Expo at Neimënster in March 2026 and during its participation in the Science Festival in November 2025.

Beyond the figures, these events shared a common aim: to create spaces for dialogue where young people can understand humanitarian issues, ask questions and reflect on their own role in an interdependent world.

A highlight of the year, the MSF Grand Expo enabled more than 750 pupils to discover humanitarian work through an immersive experience. The tours, offered in French, English and German, were tailored to the pupils’ year groups and led by MSF staff who had taken part in international projects.

This interactive approach also made a lasting impression on the teachers.

The pupils were able to handle equipment used in the organisation’s projects – including therapeutic foods such as Plumpy’Nut and equipment related to the cold chain, access to water and the construction of latrines – and gain a very practical understanding of the challenges faced during medical interventions.

By allowing visitors to see and experience the reality of humanitarian work first-hand, these visits foster understanding, empathy and solidarity, whilst providing resources that can be directly incorporated into school lessons.

This desire to empower pupils is also reflected in the ‘Call To Action (R)éveil humanitaire’ initiative. Through a project competition format, pupils draw on skills from various disciplines to devise and implement  their own awareness-raising initiatives.

Murielle Vandenhove, whose Clija class at the Lycée Classique de Diekirch won this year’s competition, explains:

“I made good use of the IT and French lessons. Some pupils, who were more comfortable with graphic design tools, were able to express themselves by creating leaflets and posters. This allowed everyone to show what they could do and to get involved. This approach adds a real element of project work and experimentation to more theoretical learning.” 

The pupils themselves speak about what they’ve gained from this experience:

Throughout the year, MSF Luxembourg has developed educational programmes enabling young people to learn about humanitarian work in an interactive way.

During school visits, the teams offer presentations on topics such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – led by a specialist who has taken part in MSF projects – as well as on access to healthcare for people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Last November, the organisation also took part in the Science Festival, where it showcased several educational tools such as Missing Maps and its ‘Stop Ebola’ escape game, which are also used during school visits.

Through all these initiatives, MSF Luxembourg is fully committed to the approach to global citizenship education developed in Luxembourg and elsewhere. Presentations, personal accounts, workshops, collaborative games and group projects all share the same objective: to create the conditions for young people’s participation, expression and engagement.

Understanding humanitarian realities is just the first step. Empowering pupils to get involved, to reflect collectively and to take action at their own level enables us to go further: to make school a place where pupils learn not only to understand the world, but also to play their part in it responsibly, in a spirit of solidarity and collectively.

After a year full of encounters, exchanges and discoveries, the MSF Luxembourg team is already looking forward to returning to schools at the start of the new term to continue this awareness-raising work alongside young people.

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