2008, European year of intercultural dialogue
January of this year saw the official launch of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID), initiated to assist better mutual understanding and improve coexistence.
This year’s main objective is to promote intercultural dialogue as a help tool for European citizenship and for all those living within the EU in order to obtain the necessary knowledge and abilities to cope with a more open and complex environment.
The aims of EYID 2008 are:
- To increase the awareness of all people living in the EU, in particular the youth, through the understanding that their commitment to the Intercultural Dialogue will be important for their everyday life.
- To work to identify, share and extend the European project of good practice by promoting the Intercultural Dialogue within the EU, particularly amongst the youth and children.
- To strengthen the role of education as an important vector to learning about diversity, to improve the understanding of other cultures and develop abilities and good social practices. Also to emphasize the central role of the mass media for communicating, at a young age, the principle of equality and mutual understanding.
- To raise visibility and improve the coherence of all programs and actions of the European Community regarding their contribution to intercultural dialogue, in the hope that this will stimulate and guarantee their continuance.
- To contribute to the exploration of new approaches for the intercultural dialogue, this will imply the cooperation of a broad range of people and entities from different sectors.
In order to get the Intercultural Dialogue starting, eight subjects have been scheduled to work with throughout the year:
- Culture and the Media
- Education and Science
- Migration
- Minorities
- Multilingualism
- Religion
- The Workplace
- Youth
The leading bodies in the initiative are:
- On a European level: the Directorate-General of Education and Culture of the European Commission, responsible for the implementation of EYID 2008.
- In every one of the EU Country Members, a national body has been appointed to be responsible for the coordination and implementation of the project. In most cases, this responsibility has fallen on the Ministries of Culture and /or Education.
- Nonetheless, the main propellers and agents in this initiative are the civil society’s organizations. The first of the organizations is the “Civil Society Platform for Intercultural Dialogue”, which was created in November 2006 (www.eurocult.org / www.efah.org ).
Activities and Financial Layout
The budget to develop the EYID activities reaches up to 10 million euros and is structured in the following way:
- The preparatory actions of the EYID 2008 were initiated with an open call for proposals. Seven European projects of emblematic nature were selected; these projects have served to identify what EYID 2008 is about. A 3 million euro budget exists exclusively for pan-European actions.
- A project has been selected from each Member State, with a 3 million euro budget for co-financing the projects in the Member Countries.
- One of EYID 2008’s initiatives has been to create ‘Spaces for Dialogue’ on a local level. They are places of study, work and leisure alike, which are converted into dialogue arenas of a determined area or region. The subject of dialogue can vary from culture to minorities, to religion to youth etc.
- Different projects or initiatives have the opportunity to become members of the EYID 2008, using logos and other promotional material.
- With regard to promotion: 3.3 million euros are destined to finance the EYID 2008 promotion campaign.
- 0.7 Million for evaluation and study purposes.
On a National level
On a national level the Member States have established National Coordination Entities, responsible for ensuring that each Member State participates in the EYID 2008. Each Member State was invited to present its national strategy with view to EYID 2008, which involved providing the national context and priorities, along with a description of the planned actions. They are mainly communication companies which aim at involving the youth with the help of the civil society and the mass media.
On another level, high profile people (singers, writers, etc.) have been configured to represent, in some form, the Intercultural Dialogue as “Ambassadors of the Intercultural Dialogue”. Those designated so far have been; Paulo Coelho, the Dardenne brothers and Adam Michnik.
Get Involved
The EYID aims at involving actors of the civil society who have participated in the Intercultural Dialogue. A network has been created, www.dialogue2008.eu, which already provides a section for members and partners. In this section any public organization interested in the Intercultural Dialogue can present its profile and ideas and get in contact with other members in the Intercultural Dialogue forum. This allows members to share better practices, obtain visibility at a European level for events, projects and contents, whilst using the identity of EYID 2008 in their activities.
The Basque Country within EYID 2008
2008, European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, logo in Basque.
The European Commission has translated into Basque the official logo of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. It has become the norm to translate any EU member slogan into Basque, as was done last year for the 50th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.
Activities:
The Basque Autonomous Community will actively participate in this initiative. The Basque Government has instigated various activities in Brussels, focusing on music and youth. The different activities accomplished by the Basque Country have been selected by the European Commission for their good practices.
So, for example, in April a free concert has been organized on behalf of the Euskadiko Ikasleen Orchestra, an orchestra made up of young students between the age of 14 -18 comprising the three conservatories of the Basque Country and who have performed in the Theater of Saint Michael, in Brussels. The purpose of the concert is to strengthen the cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue through education. It has been organized by the Department of Education, Higher Education and Research, and has also been supported by the Basque Delegation in Brussels (General Secretary of the Basque Government for External Action).
On the 21st and 22nd of May, a concert by Musikene has been organized to frame the participation of the Basque Country in the EU Council of Youth Education and Culture. In this EU Council of Ministers, the Basque Minister of Culture and the Basque Minister of Education, Higher Education and Research alike will be representing the Autonomous Communities.
Added Links
Information provided by Camila De Epalza, Head of Press and Communication, Delegation of Basque Country in Brussels
