Intercultural Peace Caravan

[1]

Organisation:

Egyptian Society for Intercultural Exchange | AFS Egypt

Website:

http://www.afs-egypt.org/ [2]

Contact E-mail:

Email Contact Form [3]

Country:

Egypt

Member of an Anna Lindh National Network?:

Yes

Brief description of your organisation:

The Egyptian Society for Intercultural Exchange | AFS Egypt is a non governmental, non profit, volunteer based organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

Intercultural Peace Caravan

CONCEPT
Intercultural Peace Caravan (IPC) was an initiative that targeted a group of 32 youth of different nationalities that came together to promote the importance of intercultural learning as a key tool in promoting understanding and ultimately peace. The purpose was to empower the youth: let them realize that peace is something they can create themselves and that they have the ability to promote it and make it happen.

METHOD
The IPC – moving around in a bus - toured 7 different governorates stopping for a day or two in altogether 7 cities within these governorates. During each stop, the participants on the caravan visited the city and had the opportunity to meet with youth from the city and interact with them. Interaction was in the form of workshops/ presentations/ community service, creating a platform for mutual communication.

PARTICIPANTS
The IPC itself consist of 32 youth, 22 non Egyptians and 10 Egyptians who had experience with intercultural learning. The non-Egyptian participants have been hosted in Egypt for the last 10 months living with Egyptian families and attending Egyptian schools (The IPC included a total of 7 chaperones, a physician, security and organizers)

TARGETED GROUP
The caravan visited 7 different cities, to meet with local youth of the same age. The youth were naturally members of the local youth centres, schools or youth groups hosting the caravan. A total of 30-40 youth were selected in each city to take part in the event. It was clear that a gender balance is important and anyone active within the local community was welcome.

DATES AND ROUTE
The IPC started on June 11 and toured the cities for 11 days till June 21. The route was: Alexandria, PortSaid, Ismailia, Fayoum, Miniya and Cairo/Giza.

CONTENTS
In each city where the IPC stopped, the participants carried out workshops addressing the main theme of Peace through Intercultural dialogue. The IPC youth leaders had lead workshops that provided experiential learning to the group attending. Foreign participants always tried to speak in Arabic which showed their attempt to reach out and build bridges. Games and activities addressed: anti-racism, xenophobia, conflict management, intercultural learning, and personal development.

VENUES
Workshops were held in the respective Youth centers of the cities or local Libraries.
During the tour, the bus itself was also considered a mobile venue for the concept of the project. The bus was covered with banners that carried the name of the Caravan and the sponsors.

PREPARATION
Several prep meetings and workshops were held within the month of May including all youth participating in the Caravan. The participants came up with the design of the workshops they intend to use, the games they thought will fit best, the presentations they used and the entertainment which best served their purpose. The idea was to have them create their methods in order to have the ownership of the project. They were provided with the proper tools and had received professional training on how to facilitate such exercises and games beforehand.

Field of my Action:

Heritage

Field of my Action:

International Relations

Field of my Action:

Youth

Field of my Action:

Education

Action Location

Country:

Egypt

City:

Alexandria, Portsaid, Ismailia, Fayoum, El-Miniya, Cairo, Giza

Venue Name:

Different Locations in all together seven different cities within these governorates (Alexandria, Portsaid, Ismailia, Fayoum, El-Miniya, Cairo, Giza)

Action Dates and Duration:

Tue, 10/06/2008 - Sat, 21/06/2008

Objectives (Maximum 50 Words):

Target Groups (Maximum 50 Words):

The caravan visited 7 different cities, to meet with local youth of the same age. The youth were naturally members of the local youth centres, schools or youth groups hosting the caravan. A total of 30-40 youth were selected in each city to take part in the event. It was clear that a gender balance is important and anyone active within the local community was welcome.

Activities (Maximum 130 Words):

Intercultural Peace Caravan (IPC) was an initiative that targeted a group of 32 youth of different nationalities that came together to promote the importance of intercultural learning as a key tool in promoting understanding and ultimately peace. The purpose was to empower the youth: let them realize that peace is something they can create themselves and that they have the ability to promote it and make it happen. The Intercultural Peace Caravan has toured seven different governorates stopping for a day or two in all together seven different cities within these governorates (Alexandria, Portsaid, Ismailiya, Fayoum, El-Miniya, Cairo-Giza), During each stop, the participants on the caravan visited the city and had the opportunity to meet with local youth and interact with them. Interaction was in the form of workshops, presentations, community service, and official meetings with local government representatives. The action started by a preparation meeting in Giza, were the IPC participants started decorating the bus on the (public) street, with music played by exchange students.

Have you identified partners?:

I have identified partners