Tag: intercultural competences

MOOC: Intercultural Dialogue Skills (Canada)

“MOOCs”MOOC: Intercultural Dialogue Skills, Francophone University Agency (AUF), Montreal, Canada. Deadline: June 29, 2020.

Massive open online course (MOOC) on Intercultural Dialogue Skills begins June 29. This course consists of 42 videos, extending over five weeks. It is offered in French with text translation in English. Taught by Sélim el Sayegh (Professeur de droit et de science politique, directeur du Centre d’Analyse des Différends et leurs Modes de Solution, Université Paris-Saclay et Université La Sagesse) and Racha Omeyri (Docteur en Science Politique, Enseignante à l’Université Paris-Saclay et l’Université La Sagesse, Chercheure au Collège des Etudes Interdisciplinaires, Université Paris-Saclay).

Les Compétences pour le dialogue interculturel

Ce cours vise un grand public conscient de l’importance du dialogue interculturel dans le monde contemporain. Face aux défis de rupture du lien social et de conflictualité, maîtriser le dialogue devient impératif. Dans ce cours, il est expliqué en tant que communication que résolution ou transformation des conflits. Mais au-delà de la prise de conscience de ce concept, il s’agit désormais de savoir comment être et comment faire pour sa mise en œuvre. D’où la question des compétences. Cette association entre connaissance et compétences forme la singularité de cette formation. Elle permet au public universitaire ainsi qu’aux professionnels de développer leurs talents dans ce domaine. Ce cours est ouvert à tout public francophone et anglophone. Il est proposé en français avec sous-titrage en anglais. Il se décline en cinq semaines qui donneront lieu à une attestation. Chaque semaine comporte des vidéos avec des quizz ainsi qu’un forum de discussion intégré dans la plateforme.

UNESCO e-Platform on ICD

“UNESCO”UNESCO has created an e-platform for intercultural dialogue. It is designed to be “a global collaborative hub” intended “to promote good practices  from all over the world, that enable to build bridges between people from diverse backgrounds in order to create more inclusive societies through mutual understanding and respect for diversity.”

One major section presents short explanations of about 2 dozen relevant core concepts, from intercultural dialogue to cultural identity to intercultural citizenship. These will be particularly familiar to all those who have previously read Intercultural Competences: A conceptual and operational framework from 2013, which I drafted for UNESCO (with many contributions by others named in the notes), as they all come directly from that publication. The new e-platform describes that booklet as “A comprehensive reference publication on the basic terminology needed in order to develop intercultural competences and to permit intercultural dialogue, as well as outlining a series of minimally necessary steps to take in sharing this knowledge with the largest number of others, across the greatest selection of contexts, possible.”

Another major section provides a wide range of resources documenting best practices for a wide range of topics, from awareness raising to advocacy, from celebrating diversity to capacity building, and from research to policy advice. CID publications have been submitted to be added to the list. This section is open to contributions from anyone who is doing relevant work and wants it noted. (Just click on the “Login/Registration” button on the top right of any page.)

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Recommended UNESCO Documents for Interculturalists

UNESCO sees intercultural dialogue as a central topic, and publishes frequently on related issues. In addition to the Intercultural Competences booklet that I worked on last year, which has had hundreds and hundreds of downloads from this site alone, several other publications may be of interest to intercultural scholars.

A Common Framework for the Ethics of the 21st Century

A New Cultural Policy Agenda for Development and Mutual Understanding

Asian-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on Globalization, Democracy and Human Rights

Cultural Diversity and Transversal Values: East-West Dialogue on Spiritual and Secular Dynamics

Exploring Synergies between Faith Values and Education for Sustainable Development

What UNESCO for the Future? Forum of Reflexion

World Social Science Report 2010: Knowledge Divides

My thanks to Yoshitaka Miike for these suggestions!

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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Intercultural Competences – UNESCO

“UNESCO”UNESCO has just published “Intercultural competences: A conceptual and operational framework.” (Paris, France: UNESCO, 2013).

interculturalcomp_cover

This document is a synthesis of, and expansion upon, the numerous documents prepared for, and especially the discussion held during, the UNESCO Experts Meeting on Intercultural Competences, October 21-22, 2011, in Paris, France, organized by the Intersectoral Platform for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence under the coordination of Katérina Stenou (who also serves as a member of this Center’s Advisory Board). The report benefited particularly from the following sources: a) five regional reports prepared by Milena Dragićević Šešić & Sanjin Dragojević, Alejandro Grimson, Prue Holmes, Melissa Steyn, and Magdi Youssef; b) a synthesis thereof by Darla Deardoff; and c) the stimulating discussions at the experts’ meeting, which included not only all of the regional report authors except Dragojević and Steyn, but also Eric Cattelain, Yolanda Onghena, Hanna Schissler, and Yves Winkin. In addition, many of UNESCO’s Chairs on Interreligious Dialogue for Intercultural Understanding joined the discussion on October 22, 2011. I drafted this report on behalf of the group, and with considerable input from the others, as well as from UNESCO staff. My thanks to Katérina Stenou for involving me in this project, and to the amazing set of international colleagues I met during the process.

This was the first time I was asked to participate in the design of a publication as well as the content, so I also thank the designers involved in the process for teaching me so much. The images of people or writing included in the report were provided by UNESCO; all of the other photographs were taken either by me or my husband on our international travels over the past several years. The cover uses a photograph of a hotel window in downtown Coimbra, Portugal, taken while I was there as a Fulbright Senior Scholar – the ultimate result of a connection made by Eric Cattelain at the experts meeting, and a good example of just the sort of expanding international network that this Center is designed to facilitate.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
Director, Center for Intercultural Dialogue

(See this discussion of the document by AFS.)

Update: Now available also in Arabic, French, Spanish and Russian.

Paris-UNESCO experts meeting

On September 21-22, 2011 I participated in the UNESCO Experts Meeting on Intercultural Competences at their headquarters in Paris. My thanks to Dr. Katérina Stenou, on this Center’s Advisory Board, for including me.

The goal of the meeting was to respond to a series of regional reports (prepared by Drs. Milena Dragicevic Sesis of Belgrade, Serbia; Alejandro Grimson of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Prue Holmes formerly of New Zealand but now in Durham, UK; Melissa Steyn of Cape Town, South Africa; and Magdi Youssef formerly of Egypt, but now in London, UK) and the synthesis of these prepared by Dr. Darla Deardorff (North Carolina, USA). The other respondents were Drs. Noureddine Affaya (Rabat, Morocco), Eric Cattelain (Bordeaux, France), Yolanda Onghena (Barcelona, Spain), Hanna Schissler (Berlin, German), and Yves Winkin (Lyon, France). On the second day we were joined by a large group of UNESCO Chairs on Interreligious Dialogue for Intercultural Understanding.

We were too busy working to take photographs, but the next day I had time to see the exhibit “Go West!” (a collaboration between artists in Paris and Texas) at UNESCO headquarters.


Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz
Director, Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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