Friday 27 June 2008

International SLOGA Conference "‘Intercultural Dialogue in Development Education"

The international SLOGA conference with the tittle ‘Intercultural dialogue in development education’ has been the biggest event among nongovemental organizations during the Slovenian presidency. The conference, which took place on 9 and 10 June 2008 in Ljubljana, has been organized by the Slovenian NGDO platform SLOGA with cooperation from CONCORD, European Commission and Slovene Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Over 230 participants from national ministries and state agencies, parliaments, EU institutions, European civil society, international organizations, local and regional authorities and research institutes participated in the European Conference on Intercultural Dialogue in Development Education. The conference focused on the implementation of the European Development Education Consensus in the framework of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

The conference calls on growing political commitment and strengthened policy in the field of Development Education, at European and national level, namely implementing "The European Consensus on Development: The contribution of Development Education and Awareness Raising" (see links below).

The conference had also many side events like an exhibition, workshops for children, youngsters and adults, a manifestation and press conference. The first pre event was the exhibition with the title: ''How do the people living in developing countries really see the impact of Europe?'' Photographs show positive and less positive impact of Europe on developing countries and how we can help developing countries without destroying their own culture. The exhibition was opened by Helena Drnovšek Zorko, head of PR in Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Helena has stressed the importance of strong civil society for effective national development policy. The workshops included many activities such as games concerning global education where participants learned about unfair conditions that some countries face and how can each person with the change of thinking and living contribute towards a better and fairer world.

During lunch time, 200 participants joined the SLOGA manifestation and publicly called Slovenian government and other European governments to start paying attention to development cooperation and global education with inclusion of civil society.

On June 12, after the conference SLOGA and the Council of Europe organized a press conference where the main recommendations and conclusion were presented.

Find the Final Recommendations of the conference at:
http://www.sloga-platform.org/attachments/387/FINAL%20RECOMMENDATIONS.doc
Link to the summary of the speaker’s speeches: http://www.sloga-platform.org/news/show/396
Find more about the European Consensus on Development Education at: http://www.deeep.org/
Further information about the CONCORD photo exhibition "How do developing countries see Europe": http://www.concordeurope.org/Public/emergingviews/Accueil.php?ID=4779&&language=eng

Source: http://www.sloga-platform.org/news/show/387

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