Today is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. According to the United Nations, the majority of the world’s conflicts have a cultural dimension. Promoting intercultural dialogue is thus crucial to development, and an important element of world peace. Freedom to religion and beliefs is also an important element within culture and is a right which should be accorded to all.

Today provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the values of cultural diversity, spiritual and interfaith ethics, and their role in creating peaceful and harmonious societies.

Take a look at our Learning to Live Together Programme, an innovative approach to nurturing ethical values in children and young people. It helps to further peace by nurturing dialogue, mutual respect and understanding in children and youth: https://bit.ly/2D2JDNB

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About Arigatou International Advisory Group Meeting last week in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Today is International Day of Living Together in Peace! It reminds us of the need to promote inclusion, respect, and solidarity, in order to live in a harmonious and peaceful society.

From our perspective, dialogue, particularly between different cultures and faiths, is a crucial tenant of living together peacefully. However, there is still a long way to go before this is achieved, seeing as according to the United Nations, three-quarters of world conflicts today have a cultural dimension.

Take a look at our Learning to Live Together Programme, an innovative approach to nurturing ethical values in children and young people to foster intercultural and interfaith learning, as well as peacebuilding: https://ethicseducationforchildren.org/en/what-we-do/learning-to-live-together.

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We just concluded a three-day strategic planning meeting where we took stock of the many achievements during the fiscal year 2018; discussed priorities for the upcoming year and how to work on the completion of our 2017 - 2020 Strategic Plan.

We took some time to discuss about our ethics education framework and its approach; why we do what we do and what moved us to do it; as well as discuss listening and communication strategies to improve synergies, collaboration and coordination in our work. We provided inputs to the development of our new Communications Strategy, as a key priority of our work, and had fun doing Karaoke and getting to know each other better.

This year Arigatou International Geneva will be involved in several strategic programs, among them: the convening and coordination of the International Consortium on Nurturing Values and Spirituality in Early Childhood for the Prevention of Violence with more than 20 partners; the adaptation process of the Learning to Live Together Programme to Middle Childhood years; providing technical support to implementing partners and engaging in three new countries; the development of the Multi-Religious Study on the Contributions of Religious Communities to the 30th Anniversary of Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the development of Children Protection, Participation and Empowerment Online Platform that will contribute to the 30th anniversary celebrations and enhance the participation of children and youth. We will also be developing new communication materials and strengthening our advocacy work, as well as the work with partners in priority countries.

Stay tuned for updates and join us in advancing ethics education for children through our innovative approach to interfaith and intercultural learning with children at the heart of all that we do!

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Today is International Day of Families, which aims to raise awareness and spread information around the social, economic, and demographic factors affecting families. These factors can vary across cultures and countries, but families around the world also face many common challenges.

Families constitute the building blocks of society, and this day allows us to reflect on the importance of families in building peaceful communities and a more peaceful world. Indeed, families, no matter the structure, are fundamental at both the individual and collective level of society.

To celebrate this day, many events are organized at a local, national, and international level in many countries, where families are encouraged to spend time together and make memories.

Sending happiness out to all on this special day!

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