By Michele Jolin

For generations, young people around the world could grow up, work and live their entire lives without ever meeting – or even seeing – someone who practiced another religion, had a different skin color or whose standard of living was unimaginably different from their own.

Today, this kind of isolation is increasingly rare. With high rural-urban migration, and a media that exposes the global mosaic of cultural practices, young people now live in communities that are richer in diversity and differences.

While this diversity can enhance individual lives in a myriad of ways, the differences can also pose potentially serious challenges in the workplace and to the strength and unity of communities. To address these challenges, educators are in urgent need of tools that will help young people understand and thrive in this increasingly diverse world.

Educators need tools to help young people learn important lessons about respect for and responsibility toward others in their community. Beyond that, educators need tools to help young people learn lessons in cooperation and teamwork and to understand the rules of society in order to equip them to better participate in the economic mainstream.

One important way to pass on these skills and values to youths is by connecting and creating partnerships between young people who are from different worlds – that is, connecting the poor with the wealthy, and those from urban areas with those from rural areas. These experiences can have a truly transformative effect on the young people involved and can go a long way in helping create stronger communities by building greater respect and understanding among diverse groups.

The two social entrepreneurs profiled this month in Changemakers are partnering young people from different worlds and getting real results. In India, Jeroo Billimoria established "twin schools" to bring together students from cash-rich private schools and lower-income government schools. Her program gives the government school kids access to resources of the wealthier private schools. At the same time, it brings kids of different economic backgrounds together where they can learn from each other, work together on common projects and imbibe important lessons of mutual respect and responsibility.

In Poland, Ewa Smuk Stratenwerth brings urban children into depressed rural areas for hands-on environmental education and real-life experiences that help reduce the growing divide between rural and urban populations in Poland. Through this program, Ewa is helping to generate a greater understanding between citizens in rural and urban areas. Her program seeks to erase stereotypes, foster mutual respect, instill self-esteem and help children from both 'worlds' land jobs in an increasingly competitive workplace.

One key to all of these "partnering" experiences is that young people are brought together to engage in real activities – not simply for seminars or workshops. When young people share real-life experiences and work on actual projects that affect their communities, they develop a common purpose and learn to respect and appreciate differences. They learn teamwork, develop a sense of civic responsibility, and realise the importance of concerted civic action.

Another key to the whole process is that the partnering experiences are on-going, not just one-shot events. This gives the young people the time and space to get to know, understand and appreciate each other, and to form bonds that have a lasting impact on their lives.

By partnering young people who come from very different backgrounds, educators have a simple yet highly effective tool that will help young people understand and thrive in an increasingly diverse world. These partnering experiences will provide young people with invaluable lessons about respect and responsibility, which will help create stronger, healthier communities.