The rewards of university teaching. "My motto is “teaching having fun”.

December 13, 2018

We are meeting Lucio Valerio Sarandrea in his UNICEF office on Chuy Prospekt. There is a busy atmosphere with people running around the offices in the attempt of closing the ongoing projects and finalize financial documents.

Q: Thank you for letting us in your office. Can you tell us how you came to Kyrgyzstan?

R: Life is full of opportunities and five years ago I accepted a job offer from the United Nations to work in Bishkek.  I had never been to Central Asia before but was very happy to discover the silk road and get out of my comfort zone. I took it as a challenge and a big opportunity for myself and my family.  First I worked with UNDP in the field of Rule of Law and Human Rights, last year I moved to UNICEF working as “Chief of the Protection and Peacebuilding Section”.

Q: Is there any working achievement that you would like to highlight?

R: In the development field results can be measured only over time and from the side of international organizations we can only contribute to progress by supporting State authorities. However, I am glad I managed to give a significant contribution to the drafting and implementation of the criminal justice reform, and to the prevention of child marriages through legislative reforms as well as information campaigns. At the moment I am very engaged in supporting the creation of a youth and child friendly local governance system and in the developing a mechanism of kinship and guardianship for all children left behind by migration.  Just last week a two year old child left behind by migrant parents died as a result of violence, well my goal is that this tragedies will not occur anymore. A comprehensive legislative proposal in this field is soon entering in the parliamentary procedure and I am very hopeful it will manage to prevent the occurrence of similar cases in the future.

Q: And how your path crossed AUCA?

R:  While working in promoting access to Justice projects for the most vulnerable people, I came across the very good work done by the University and met some very promising students. I then decided to dedicate myself to a good cause and offer my “pro bono” services to the University. I currently teach two courses in the LLM program.

Q: Can you tell us more about your courses?

R: “Glocalizing Human Rights and Rule of Law” is the first course I started and is dedicated to the challenge of combining global and local considerations in the implementation of international development support. It is a journey from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the Sustainable Development Goals. “Sustaining Peace” is the spring course and looks at how to work on promoting the thriving of peace and goes into the essence of the relations between the State and the citizens. It explores how to support positive peace and prevent conflicts.

Q: What is your background?

R: I am a strange mix between a practitioner and an academic. I have eighteen years of working experience  in the development field with international organizations. At the same time I am a graduated lawyer and have a Doctorate in Peace and Conflict Studies. 

Q:How different these two worlds are?

R: The work of the theory and the practice are very different, sometimes I feel they are two worlds that can hardly communicate with each other. For this reason, I like to challenge myself and try to look at things from different angles. This is also what I try to pass to the students, teaching the theory and then asking them how to actualize it in practice.

Q: What is your teaching style?

R: My motto is "ludendo docere"or “teaching having fun”. My classes are actually conversations and my courses greatly depend on the directions and interests that the student have. There has never been a course identical to the previous one.  I try to provoke the students and stimulate their ability in asking questions not in giving answers. In a world where information can be obtained with few clicks, I believe that the real task of the professor consists in the ability to develop critical thinking, the ability to connect dots, to be curious and to see patterns where none else did before.

Q: We have heard that you allow the use of mobile phones in your classes

R: To a certain extent! I somehow decide to fight fire with fire and for each class I have a competitive fun test through the Kahoot platform. It’s a quiz show with questions related to the exam. Students answer through their mobile devices. Answers and scores appear live on the screen. It’s a fun and useful exercise at the same time.

Q: What is the students reaction?

R: I feel that it takes few weeks to get accustomed but progressively they like the “game” more and more. I don’t think that anyone got bored. My greatest satisfaction is to meet my former students after graduation and seeing that the knowledge was transferred. Just this week I met a former student who now works for the Ombudsman. He told me that the classes he attended with me where instrumental for his career path!  That made me incredibly happy!  In the class I am currently having I also noticed some very good students with great potential. I hope that soon they would be able to get an internship or employment opportunities with the United Nations or other international organizations.

What is your deepest motivation for teaching?

My classes are normally in the late afternoon, after working hours. I always feel that I start the classes tired and I end up more energetic. My desire is indeed to transfer knowledge to share the privileges I had in my education and learning with other people. Eventually, one day I will leave Kyrgyzstan and I hope that others will continue to work for me taking care of protecting the rights of the most vulnerable ones. Each girl protected from violence or child marriage, each person with disability having access to facilities, each child being protected from violence counts and we all need to give our maximum to achieve it.  This is my contribution!

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