EFIL Takes on “Building Peaceful Societies through Intercultural Education” as 2016 Theme

The European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL) — AFS umbrella organization in Europe — has dedicated 2016 to reflecting on the AFS contribution to peace-building today, under the leading theme: “Building peaceful societies through intercultural education.” This annual theme was chosen to help EFIL reflect on and re-think AFS’s peacebuilding roots and mission, to encourage active involvement in diverse local communities, and to focus on specific issues related to conflict resolution and reconciliation in intercultural encounters. Under this theme, EFIL is also seeking partnerships and advocating for peace education.

Fostering intercultural understanding through international student exchanges, volunteerism and education has been the focus of AFS’s work for many decades. This has inspired EFIL to examine the role of intercultural education in building more just and peaceful societies. By educating AFS volunteers to understand the roots of conflicts, complexities of diversity and the importance of inclusion of minorities, EFIL aims to foster sustainable peace in our societies. Having an annual focus helps EFIL consider and strengthen the link between the AFS peace mission to the current needs and realities in societies, as well as to encourage AFS volunteers to actively engage with communities around them.

EFIL activities for AFS volunteers this year are exploring specific aspects of peace education that are relevant for AFS as an intercultural learning organization. So far, European AFSers have gathered to discuss the following topics, supported by the funding of the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe:

• “Shaping Identities — Shaping Societies” (Poland, January 2016) helped volunteers learn about the complexity of identity construction, cultural and other roles of identity in different conflicts, the way these issues are addressed in AFS and the how they link to the world around us. Seminar participants are now calling for more personal reflections to be included in volunteer events, and well as for more cooperation of AFS with other organizations and wider communities.
• “Post-War Reconciliation through Immersive Exchange” (Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 2016) regional seminar focused on AFS’s peace-building role in the former Yugoslavia, strengthening the connections between the countries of the region within AFS study abroad and volunteer programs. The guest facilitators from EUROCLIO — the European Association of History Educators — helped participants understand how history can be and is manipulated. Based on the energetic discussions, the topic of post-war reconciliation needs to be continued in the near future.
• “Islam in Europe — between Assimilation and Rejection” (Belgium, April 2016) explored the current debates on Muslim minorities in Europe — and how we can make a stronger positive impact. The participants concluded that we must make a conscious effort to support diversity and that condemning all types of discrimination is only the first step. Supporting those who need us to speak up and including everyone who shares our vision regardless of race, sexual orientation, religion, nationality or any other label is our duty.

In the upcoming months, EFIL will explore the topics of peace and education even further, bringing more AFS volunteers and partners from a wide spectrum of organizations together:

• Volunteer Summer Summit: “Education for Peace: the Challenge of Living Together” (Italy, August 2016) will be one of the largest gatherings of AFS volunteers — more than 200 will attend — to address different aspects of peace education, including the role of AFS in the areas of:
  - Conflict resolution and mediation on the micro level
  - Peace education in formal and non-formal education
  - Inclusion of minorities
  - Peacebuilding initiatives
• Study session: “Active Citizenship in the Refugee Crisis — Local Projects for Global Exchange Network” (Hungary, August 2016) will tap into resources of different organizations around Europe to tackle the pressing issue of welcoming and integrating refugees in our communities. Each participating AFS volunteer is cooperating with a local organization focusing on refugee support, whose representative will also take part in the study session. Each “national pair” will then develop local projects using the AFS expertise to benefit refugee integration.

• This year’s Intercultural Dialogue Day (September 29, 2016) will also be marked with a special focus on activities that promote and support peace education. The last Thursday of September every year is an opportunity for local AFS volunteers to organize events of various scale and formats to foster intercultural dialogue in local communities.
• An end-of-the-year EFIL tradition is to organize a training for trainers to strengthen the capacities of AFS volunteers to facilitate intercultural learning. This October in Norway, EFILwill kick-off the training with a provocative question Who needs intercultural education? with the intention to prepare AFSers to run educational activities with a wide range of audiences. (This training is pending on funding.)

There is also a growing public interest in educational activities contributing to building peaceful societies, which gives new opportunities to AFS for interesting partnerships with other organizations and institutions on an international, regional, national and local level. In its role to represent AFS interests and views in Europe, EFIL has engaged in public debates and political processes focused on intercultural dialogue. Presenting AFS good practices and proposing new initiatives has contributed to increased recognition of the positive role played by youth and non-formal learning organizations in the perceived crisis of multiculturalism.

The end of this year won’t be the end of EFIL’s educational activities to build peaceful societies. There are several other large projects in the pipeline to address the increased interest of schools in the topic and strengthen partnerships with teachers and other educational organisations. When put into practice, these projects will leverage AFS expertise in intercultural and citizenship education within school context.

Playing an active role in building peaceful societies is important to the EFIL and AFS mission, making these organizations important voices in public and political discourse, despite being non-partisan. Whether on the international or local level, every AFS volunteer has a critical role in peace education.

Curious, excited? Stay tuned…and tweet #PeaceEducation @EFILafs
And… wondering what EFIL has been focusing on in the past years?
2014 was the year of Diversity Education
2015 was the year of Citizenship Education: Contributing to a More Just and Peaceful World

by Izabela Jurczik-Arnold, Senior Training and Project Coordinator, European Federation for Intercultural Learning (EFIL)

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