Libraries
A monthly evening series
Eight evenings, one module each, with signage, a display table and a reading list.
“I can’t be seen taking sides.” Our nonpartisan policy is printed on every handout, so you never have to defend it alone.
← Multilateralism at CYP · The host toolkit
Host a Common Table.
Everything you need to run a free, nonpartisan, ninety-minute conversation about how countries work together and what it means for your town. For librarians, teachers, faith leaders, club presidents and students. No expertise required.
- 90minutes, or two 45-minute class periods
- 8–25people around the table
- $0for hosts: kit, training and printing are free
Season one question
“What does working with the world mean for our town?”
Who can host
If people already gather in your room, you can host. You bring the room and the people. We bring everything else.
Schools
Two lessons per module
Mapped to the C3 Framework for Social Studies, with a parent letter and a take-home family interview.
“I have no prep time.” Every lesson is scripted, with slides and handouts ready to print.
Faith communities
A values-based guide
Suggested readings from each tradition on one question: who is my neighbour? Your community chooses its own texts.
“We won’t be anyone’s channel.” You lead it, in your own words, in 45 or 90 minutes.
Civic groups
A 30-minute briefing
Fits a regular Rotary lunch, VFW post night or farm bureau meeting, led by one of your own members.
“Don’t lecture us.” No outside speakers. A veteran briefs veterans; a farmer briefs farmers.
Students, 16 and up
A peer session
Run it for classmates who never joined a politics club, then take the family interview home.
“Only my friends will come.” The guide includes ways to reach students outside the usual clubs.
What’s in the kit
One box, or one download. Every piece is free, print-ready and written at a grade 8 reading level, with a large-type version.
Facilitator guide
Six to ten pages per module: timing, a script you can read aloud, discussion prompts and what to do if things get heated.
2
Participant briefing
Two pages of plain facts, every one sourced and dated.
Ten slides
Optional. Works on any screen, or none.
DatePlaceTime
Invitation template
Blanks for date, place and time, just like the League of Women Voters’ invitations in 1945.
Response cards
Paper or QR code. Anonymous, two minutes to fill in.
Tabletop exhibit
A small version of “Multilateralism in a Day” for your lobby or entrance.
Sign-in sheet & poster
Editable, with your venue’s name on it.
Track extras
A parent letter for schools, a reflection guide for congregations, a member-messenger script for clubs.
1h
One-hour training
Online, with a host who has run sessions before. Optional, and recorded.
A session, minute by minute
Ninety minutes, five movements. Same shape in every room, so a session in a church hall and one in a classroom can be added up together.
- 0 to 10 min
Start in your town
Open with something local: a flight from the nearest airport, last summer’s heat, a farm down the road that sells overseas. The guide gives you three options per module.
- 10 to 25 min
Read the facts
Everyone reads the two-page briefing. What is the agreement, who takes part, what does it cost and what has it achieved?
- 25 to 45 min
Take on a question
Small groups each take one of the questions people actually ask, like “Who pays for this?” or “Does it work?”, and find the answer in the briefing.
- 45 to 75 min
Talk it through
A facilitated conversation with house rules. The goal is understanding, not agreement, and every voice is heard once before any is heard twice.
- 75 to 90 min
Say what you think
Everyone fills in a response card, on paper or by QR code. No names. One question matters most: what would you want our leaders to know?
- Afterwards
It goes somewhere
Responses from every venue are compiled into one public report and delivered to elected officials and local press. You see your own room’s results once eight or more responses are in.
The eight modules
Start with Module 1; it works for any audience. Each module opens with something local and centres on one plain question.
- 1
Multilateralism in a Day
Which agreements between countries do you rely on without knowing it?
Local hook: the weather forecast, a flight, a parcel
- 2
What We Pay, What We Get
What does our country contribute, and what comes back?
Local hook: our share, next to a local cost people know
- 3
Keeping the Peace
When should countries act together to stop a war?
Local hook: a veteran’s story from your own community
- 4
Health Without Borders
How do countries spot and stop outbreaks early?
Local hook: the flu shot, and your nearest hospital
- 5
Food, Farms and Aid
Who feeds people in a crisis, and who benefits?
Local hook: what the county grows and where it goes
- 6
Rights and Who Judges Them
How do countries agree on basic rights?
Local hook: the 1948 Declaration, and a local case
- 7
Climate and Shared Resources
How do countries share a river, an ocean, an atmosphere?
Local hook: your water, heat or flood risk
- 8
What Should Change?
What would make international cooperation work better?
Pairs with each season’s question
Try Module 1
“Multilateralism in a Day” in miniature. This is how a session opens: an ordinary Tuesday, and the agreements running underneath it. Tap through the day.
Who sets the rule
In a session, the next step is to ask the room: what did you use today that crossed a border?
The questions people ask
Every briefing answers the questions people actually ask, with facts and sources. Here is a sample page from Module 2.
Module 2 · Participant briefing · page 2
What We Pay, What We Get
- U.S. share of the UN regular budget
- 22%
- UN scale of assessments, 2025 to 2027
- How the share is set
- By formula
- Based largely on the size of each economy, with a ceiling
- Member states sharing the cost
- 193
- UN member states, 2026
Who decides how much each country pays?
All member states agree a scale every three years, based mainly on national income. No country pays more than 22 percent of the regular budget.
Can the UN override our laws?
No. Article 2 of the Charter protects matters “essentially within the domestic jurisdiction” of every country, and the United States holds a veto on the Security Council.
Does it actually work?
Sometimes remarkably: smallpox is gone and the ozone layer is healing. Sometimes not. The facilitator guide includes examples of both.
What do we get back?
Shared rules for flights, shipping, weather data and disease surveillance that U.S. businesses and travellers rely on daily. Module 1 covers these in detail.
Every fact on every page is sourced and dated, and reviewed each season.
The response card, question 1
How much does working with other countries matter to our town?
Try it. This is a preview; nothing is sent or stored.
House rules
Two sets of rules: one for us, one for the room. They are printed in every guide and on every handout.
Our rules, as publishers
- Nonpartisan, every time. No party, no candidate, no heroes or villains.
- Facts with sources. Every claim cited and dated, reviewed each season.
- Every view welcome. Modules are reviewed by an advisory board drawn from across the political spectrum.
- No asks. No donations, no petitions, no sign-up sheets for causes.
- Funders listed, never in charge. Every funder named publicly; none has a say over content.
- Everything published. What people tell us goes into a public report, whatever it says.
The room’s rules, read aloud at the start
- Speak for yourself, not for a group.
- Everyone speaks once before anyone speaks twice.
- Curiosity over winning.
- If you state a fact, say where it comes from.
- It is fine to change your mind, and fine not to.
After your session
What people say does not stay in the room. Here is where it goes, and how we check that the program is doing its job.
- 1
You send the cards
Scan a photo of the paper cards, or let people use the QR code. Takes ten minutes.
- 2
We add them up
Responses from every venue go into one season total. No group smaller than 20 is ever reported separately.
- 3
You see your room
Once eight or more responses are in, you get your own session’s results to share with your group.
- 4
The report goes out
A public report, delivered by name to elected officials and local press. Every delivery and every reply is logged online.
≥ 4.0/ 5
“This session was fair to views like mine.”
Our most important number, asked of everyone, and our target for every group in the room. If any group scores it lower, we rewrite the materials.
New reachHadn’t thought about the topic before
Would come backAttend again or bring someone
Host retentionHosts who run a second session
DeliveredReports handed to named officials, and logged
Pilot targets. Responses are anonymous: no names, no full postcodes, no IP addresses. Students under 18 fill in a shorter card.
Pull up a chair
Libraries, schools, congregations, clubs
Host a session
Tell us about your room and your people. We send the kit and set up a short call.
Sign up to host → Stations, stadiums, museums, lobbiesOffer a space
Give “Multilateralism in a Day” a wall for a few weeks. We install it and take it down.
Offer a space → Students, 16 and upBe a student host
Run a peer session, and take the family interview home.
Sign up →Questions hosts ask
Does it cost anything?
No. The kit, the training and the printing are free to hosts.
Do I need to know about the UN?
No. The guide scripts every step, and every fact you need is in the two-page briefing.
Is this political?
It is nonpartisan: no party, no candidate, no petitions and no donation asks. Every module is reviewed by an advisory board drawn from across the political spectrum.
What if the conversation gets heated?
The guide includes the house rules and a short plan for heated moments. You can always pause and return to the briefing.
What happens to what people say?
Responses are anonymous. They are combined into a public report and delivered to elected officials. You see your own session’s results once eight or more are in.
Who is behind this?
The Centre for Youth Policy, an independent, nonpartisan research organization in Washington, DC. We take no direction from UN bodies or any government, and every funder above $5,000 is listed by name.