The Anna Lindh Education Handbook Intercultural Citizenship in the Euro -Mediterranean Region Credits The Anna Lindh Education Handbook Intercultural Citizenship Education in the Euro-Mediterranean Region As President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, I wish to stress the importance of the document attached, which is a testimony to the relentless efforts of the Anna Lindh Foundation for the training, follow-up and support of the young generation of the Mediterranean. This new generation embodies the future of our societies in the Euro-Mediterranean area. I would like to warmly thank the Anna Lindh Foundation team for the thorough work accomplished to achieve this project under the Direction of the Executive Director, Ambassador Hatem Atallah. I would also like to thank my predecessor, President André Azoulay, and the previous Executive Director, Andreu Claret, who have both contributed to the preparation of this project. I hope you will find the appropriate and useful tools in this Handbook to support our youth. Sincerely, Élisabeth Guigou Anna Lindh Foundation Team Hatem Atallah (Executive Director) Gemma Aubarell (Head of Programme and Network Unit) Eleonora Insalaco (Programmes Manager) Amy Elshaarawy (Programme Officer) Basem Mahmoud (Programme Officer) Design and Print Equinox Graphics Online Publication Consult and Design International ISBN Number 25313 Scientific Committee and Authors Léonce Bekemans (Principal Scientific Advisor, Professor and Jean Monnet Chair ad personam at the University of Padua and Jean Monnet Chair at University of Padua and College of Europe), Miguel Carvalho da Silva (Global Education Programme Manager at the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe North-South Centre, Council of Europe), Farah Cherif D’Ouezzan (Founder and Director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Learning, President of Thaqafat Association and of the Federation Experiment in International Living, Miquel Àngel Essomba Gelabert (Professor and Chair on Community Education at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Director of the research team ERDISC), Tarak Mahdhaoui (Head History Teacher and Founder of Lam Echaml Association), Haifa Sabbagh (Director of educational projects at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute), Steven Stegers (Programme Director of EUROCLIO and Head of the Anna Lindh Network in the Netherlands), Xavier Baró (Secretarty General of the Association of Human Rights Educators). Publication edited by Eleonora Insalaco The opinions expressed by the authors in the publication are personal and professional assessments, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Anna Lindh Foundation, European Union, Arab League, or the Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean. TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORDS Youth and Intercultural Learning – Élisabeth Guigou 6 Intercultural Learning in New Regional Reality – Hatem Atallah 7 PART I - INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW How to use the handbook – Gemma Aubarell and Eleonora Insalaco 10 Key concepts – Léonce Bekemans 15 Pedagogical approaches – Tarak Mahdhaoui and Xavier Baro 20 PART II – LEARNING COMPONENTS Embracing diversity– Miquel Angel Essomba and Farah Cherif D’Ouezzan 33 Interacting with each other – Miguel Carvalho da Silva and Steven Stegers 43 Pro-active citizenship building – Leonce Bekemans and Haifa Sabbagh 55 PART III – EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES How to use the activities in the handbook 66 Value diversity 68 City, country, region 70 Every picture tells a story 72 What do you see 74 Euro-Med bingo 77 The citizenship’s river 78 Euro-Mediterranean map 80 Talking on the phone 85 This is the story of 86 Where do you stand 88 Rethinking euro-med 90 Mixed marriage: an editorial 92 4 Anna Lindh Foundation Education Handbook Citizenship understanding 94 Let’s cross the sea 98 Climbing the ladder of participation 101 The Euro-Med cruise 105 Choices of participation 108 The ethical bank 111 Who “are” i? 114 Euro-Mediterranean citizens forum (3 colour culture) 118 A mosque in sleepyville 124 Making links 132 RESOURCES Pre-post evaluation questionnaire 138 Post-post evaluation questionnaire 143 Author biographies 146 Contributors 148 Bibliography and references 150 Index of practices 158 Table of Contents 5 Youth and intercultural learning Élisabeth Guigou - President of Anna Lindh Foundation Youth to the North and South of the Mediterranean are on the forefront of the current challenges affecting their societies, and both to the North and South of the Mediterranean the challenges remain the same: education, equality, training, employment, participation and responsibility. The Foundation is responding to this main challenge by placing young people at the heart of its activities. The future of the Euro-Mediterranean region will be very much determined by the vision, attitudes and actions of today’s young people. It is hence essential that they feel they are respected members of the society, irrespective of their background and culture, and that they take ownership of fundamental values. Empowering and supporting youth voices to enhance a shared culture of dialogue in the Euro-med region is the main objective of the Anna Lindh Foundation. We are convinced that ensuring young people to acquire social, civic and intercultural competences, by involving and providing them with the opportunity to have a say in the definition of their own future and priorities, can create a real space of dialogue in the region. We, at the Anna Lindh Foundation, have a firm belief in youth and their capacity to lead the change in their societies towards a peaceful and prosperous future. This does not come as a surprise given that young people would be the first to benefit from the positive changes in their societies and the first to suffer from situations of insecurity, instability, and economic hardship. There is a great need to develop a positive alternative narrative that cannot be achieved through lecturing and preaching, but instead through a sophisticated process of nurturing skills of curiosity, understanding, and critical thinking. We should use a positive discourse to oppose the discourse of intolerance; promoting values, participation and citizenship and we must make room for the new generations to act. Enjoying such great intercultural exposure in todays´ societies while avoiding the negative stances, resentment, is today a key challenge. Education in general, and intercultural learning in particular, have a huge potential to reach out to the young people and prevent them from drifting away from society. It is precisely in this context that we underline the relevance of intercultural citizenship education and its importance at the heart of the process of constructing the counter-narrative. Education that moves away from traditional techniques to critical techniques, from unitary worldviews to inclusive and multi- perspective worldviews, education that spans beyond schools and formal education to represent a shared responsibility between school and family, government and civil society, and almost all the components of the society is today a clear pathway for a more efficient approach towards intercultural citizenship and active participation. To that end we, at the Anna Lindh Foundation, in cooperation with a range of prestigious experts and professionals from all over the Euro-Mediterranean region, introduce this project: A Handbook on Intercultural Citizenship Education at the service of the young generations of the region. 6 Anna Lindh Foundation Education Handbook Intercultural Learning in New Regional Reality Hatem Atallah - Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation The current regional context is characterised by increased movements of people resulting in the emergence of more multicultural societies where integration still remains a challenge, where intolerance and radicalism are very present and constitute a major challenge to us all. Embedding a value-based education is key to empower a new generation of dialogue players. Over the past years, the Anna Lindh Foundation has been observing the intercultural trends in the Euro-Mediterranean region through its Intercultural Trends Report. It is a concrete, scientific, survey-based analysis that examines interest, perception, values, and readiness for dialogue and cooperation among the people of the region. It comes as no surprise that these Reports have pointed out the relevance of education both as a prerequisite to openness and readiness for dialogue and mutual understanding, and as a space for future action. Convinced of the centrality of education to any sustainable development endeavour we decided at the Anna Lind Foundation to sharpen our focus on formal and non-formal education by developing an intercultural education programme that aims to reinforce intercultural dialogue and intercultural citizenship, to play a preventive role in facing extremism, exclusion, and intolerance, and to build on the common values between the people of the region to embrace cultural diversity and achieve intercultural cooperation. It is within this context that the Anna Lindh Education Handbook on Intercultural Citizenship in the Euro-Mediterranean region takes its full relevance. A resource which presents an introduction to the notion of intercultural citizenship education and offers a reference for educators, schools, civil society, governments, and citizens at large, for strengthening awareness around the common values among the people of the region, for shedding light on the opportunities offered by the regional cultural diversity, and for facilitating