In this framework, the AEYLF convened in Vienna last week. For the third time since the Forum was launched, 35 emerging leaders from the Arab world and Europe met, learnt from each other and explored synergies aimed at the definition and implementation of more profound relationships among the many societies and cultures represented.
The Forum, rotating between the respective regions, is intended as a platform for the exchange of experiences in the field of project management, fundraising, promotion mechanisms, as well as communication strategies. For that reason, the central elements of the meeting are roundtables and workshops, where participants have the opportunity to present their own projects and initiatives and identify new strategies to address intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity challenges. By defining the Forum’s timetable, organizers have also been focusing on the participants’ potential to replicate good practices in other countries, while building dynamic and lasting networks with like-minded emerging leaders from all over the region.
This year’s thematic focus, “Social Entrepreneurship as a Tool for Promoting Diversity – Potential and Challenges”, integrates with the previous ones in a capacity building process aimed at strengthening skills and know-how of these motivated young leaders. The first Forum, held in Vienna in 2010, focused on “Responsible Leadership – Innovative Forms for Cross-Cultural Co-operation”, while the second edition, hosted at the League of Arab States’ headquarters in Cairo in 2012, explored the potential of “Media and Civil Society” in intercultural dialogue.
The initiative shows a great commitment of Austria, whose “Dialogue of Culture” task force, established at the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, tirelessly promotes intercultural and interreligious dialogue through concrete projects. “The dialogue between cultures is very important to us. We are very pleased to host a forum on such a future-oriented “young” issue here in Vienna. Social entrepreneurship is gaining increasing importance in many areas of business – not least because it offers a possible solution for many social challenges”, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said.
In addition to the Forum, emerging leaders from Europe and the Arab world are provided with an increasing number of opportunities to meet, strengthen their skills and co-operate, starting from the renowned Fellowship Programme implemented by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, a political initiative of the UN Secretary General launched in 2005 with the support of Spain and Turkey. Several empowerment and networking initiatives have been implemented by the European Union and the Union for the Mediterranean, mainly through the Euro-Mediterranean Youth Platform, based in Malta, and the Anna Lindh Foundation based in Alexandria, a network of more than 4.000 civil society organizations working on the promotion of intercultural dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Similar praiseworthy empowering initiatives have also been implemented by the Council of Europe, currently promoting – through its North-South Center in Lisbon – the Africa-Europe Youth Platform, as well as by UNESCO, whose Youth Forum takes place in Paris every other year. Last, but not least, the Goethe-Institut, through its Cultural Innovators Network, decided to focus on a closer group of Euro-Mediterranean emerging leaders, those belonging to the cultural and creative sectors.
No need to wait for the long run – i.e. for the emerging leaders to fully become their countries’ stakeholders – to evaluate the results of the AEYLF and the other mentioned programmes. Rather than representing a duplication, those initiatives have been reinforcing mutually, empowering an inspiring and interconnected youth leadership, enthusiastically devoted to the promotion of transnational bonds and intercultural dialogue.