 In one way or another, we are all members of a family.
When we juxtapose families from all four corners of the world, we become aware that we are all part of one large human family. And that our personal challenge is to find our place, our contribution to the world within a global village where we are all interdependent, linked and jointly responsible for our common future.
Taking a generous, positive and prolific view of each family, culture and society – like Uwe Ommer has done – allows us to discover our potential and to consider organising our relationships with each other through a dynamic of mutual learning.
On a personal level, we are increasingly confronted with diversity. The other , portraying their difference, is always close by. They question us about our cultures, our values, our knowledge, our ways of living. They offer us the opportunity to discover theirs.
On a collective level, we become aware each day of the increasing links that are being established between people and civilisations. Among other questions of development, questions regarding the economy, the environment, health and migration affect us all wherever we are.
Questioning the terms of relations which link people is therefore an essential factor of development. How can diversity become a factor of development so that each and every one of us, through expressing our own ingenuity, becomes involved in the joint management of the planet earth?
We are a group of non-governmental organisations who, through focusing on cooperation and development education, work to create international solidarity and public awareness on North/South, South/North relations.
Besides focusing on aid donations, we aim to encourage the European public and donors to discover the South in terms of its creativity, its wealth and its potential.
The campaign Building Unity through Diversity has several components:
- An educational component which, in addition to the exhibition, develops and offers seminars and tools which enable classes, businesses and development cooperation organisations to experiment with the concept of diversity as a factor of development.
- A media component which will demonstrate what the South has to contribute to our development. For example, is it not necessary for the rest of the world to rediscover Africa in order to identify its increasing wealth and potential?
This process is starting up in certain European cities (in Malta, Dublin, Belfast, Helsinki etc) and in the South (Nairobi) and is gradually expanding.
You are at the heart of this project, in your desire to visit the exhibition, to participate in the seminars, to demonstrate your experience, to share your educational and methodological tools, to establish your place as a world citizen and to construct your own unity and that of the world.
Our Partners
www.echoscommunication.org
www.concern.net
www.suas.ie
www.ylenhva.fi
www.ecdpm.org
www.kopin.org
www.mdpafrica.org.zw
www.pdm-net.org
www.comu.ucl.ac.be/cecom/
BUTD hopes to expand this project in the coming years, giving more people an opportunity to discuss the issues around diversity and development. |
