Tag Archives: Cultural Diversity

UNESCO publishes “Intercultural Competences: Conceptual and Operational Framework”

Posted on by
Reply

In March, UNESCO established a significant milestone in the area of Intercultural Competences by publishing the document “Intercultural Competences: Conceptual and Operational Framework“. This document serves as a reference framework that will help interculturalists and other professionals working in related fields to use as a common reference when discussing the components and dimensions of Intercultural Competence and its intersections with Cultural Diversity, Human Rights and Intercultural Dialogue.

This document represents a milestone in the field because it conceptually brings together and synthesizes a multitude of terms and concepts related to Intercultural Competence and offers definitions to all of them. As a framework, it places and defines the area of work of Intercultural Competence in a globalized world in which everyone is impacted by intercultural exchanges and influences at some level and therefore acknowledges the need for everyone to be interculturally skilled. It describes some of which might be the next challenges for policymakers, civil and human rights activists, social justice and inclusion specialists, politicians, economics and health professionals, educators, etc., and offers definitions for 26 concepts that should be common vocabulary across fields that draw on Intercultural Competence.

More importantly, this framework also offers these definitions and concepts in a programmatic and operational plan and specific action steps to immediately target institutions and populations that can benefit by accessing Intercultural Competences:

  • Clarifying Cultural Competences,
  • Teaching Cultural Competences,
  • Promoting Cultural Competences,
  • Enacting Cultural Competences,
  • Supporting Cultural Competences.

"The operational plan builds upon all these concepts, and so is depicted in the visual conceptualization as branches on the trunk of the tree. No match is intended between a specific branch and the theoretical concepts appearing closest to it – all concepts should be understood as having at least potential relevance at all operational steps."

This UNESCO document “Intercultural Competences: Conceptual and Operational Framework” is called to be a necessary reference in our intercultural work and in improving numerous areas of cultural diversity and rights studies, professional sectors, as well as education and development.

If you want to learn more about this document came to be, you can also read it in this entry on the blog of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue by its director Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz.

Humans of…

Posted on by
Reply

The Internet can be a window into familiar spaces as you had never seen them.

In 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton had a simple idea that would become a big project: he would create a photographic census of New York City. Everyday, he took and posted pictures of New Yorkers on the street. “Humans of New York” soon became a larger project than anticipated; more than 500,000 people currently follow HONY on Facebook and on its website and witness, through Stanton’s eyes, the cultural diversity of New York and the stories of regular New Yorkers of all ages, occupations, backgrounds and life styles.

What if you do not live in New York? Inspired by HONY, many photographers took the initiative of portraying their cities or countries in ways that would transform the ideas and preconceptions that we may have about those places. In Pakistan, Khaula Jamil has made “Humans of Karachi” one of the most followed sites, with over 13,000 followers! Through daily postings by Jamil and weekly submissions from regular people who happen to capture a fun shot in Karachi and have an interesting story to go with it, “Humans of Karachi” shows us one of the most vibrant and culturally diverse cities of Asia.

Other “Humans of…” to follow? Take a look at the photographs of “Humans of Rotterdam” in the Netherlands, “Humanos de La Paz” in Bolivia, “Humans of Lebanon” or “Humans of India“!

The diverse “Humans of…” sites not only serve to capture the cultural diversity of these places. With little snippets, they tell us about the people who live in cities that we may know or that we may have never visited: insights into the lives of people against whom we might otherwise hold stereotypes. These photography projects tell us more about the human side of people, something that we might otherwise not have the chance to see.