On the challenges of intercultural dialogue

James Edleston has been Head of International at BYC since 2009, before which he worked as a Youth Programme Manager at Think Global (previously DEA).  His role at BYC involves supporting youth representation, global campaigns and projects, intercultural learning and action, global youth work and European and international policy.

Here he talks about his experience of working with the Active Citizens programme for the promotion and development of intercultural dialogue in South Asian countries.

Could you highlight your experience working with people in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan in terms of intercultural dialogue?

A special feature of the programme is that people can reflect on their place in their community (before they engage in dialogue). Dialogue can be a dangerous thing. You can’t just sit in a circle and talk.

The Active Citizens Programme has two parallel goals. The idea of the programme from the very start was that there were two distinct aims. One was about building trust and understanding, and the other was about community action…let’s say, ‘sustainable development’...social action for positive change. And these two things were seen as mutually reinforcing. That by building trust and understanding we can work together to change our community for the better, but by working together we also build our trust and understanding, and bring our communities close together and live in a more peaceful way.

So this was kind of the conception…the core of it, and that’s why these two parallel aims have always been there. Every time we write the vision, it’s got something to do with peace, or trust, or coexistence. And the other one is about community development or sustainable development, or social action. There are always these two things. And that is sort of the vision. It’s about understanding each other first, it’s about the belief in every individual to be able to make a change, it’s about the power of working together to create new solutions. These are all principles, and everything we do fits between these two elements.

Giving a space to people in a programme that can be very technical is really important. We spend a of time on investment in the initial stages (of the programme) – understanding ourselves, our motivations, how we interact with others, the way we work in our communities, what we think about things, what we believe, what we want for the future. We invest quite heavily in that. And that’s I think, one of the reasons why it spreads quickly and engages people; and people give a lot of voluntary time.

In areas where there is serious conflict, like every-day insecurity, people engage quickly in the vision of a more peaceful coexistence. In a place like Pakistan, I guess it resonates with people who experience these things every day.

Just about your own experience with meeting people from South Asian countries like Pakistan, how do you think intercultural dialogue has taken place between you and facilitators you have met over the past three years?

I have learnt probably a lot more than I have shared from this programme, and that’s because we have been able to bring together people from all over the country with completely different perspectives, and that’s one thing that I feel is a strength.

In the UK issues of class, and status, and power, and wealth are more obvious because it is the country I was brought up in; it’s not so obvious (for me) here. But it does seem that the people that Active Citizens engages are quite diverse. I have definitely engaged people with very, very different perspectives, and people who I really respect have some times very challenging views for me. So I have to engage in the process myself; I have to engage in dialogue with participants myself and put my assumptions on hold; (I have to) engage in very deep questioning where I am challenged to think all that kind of stuff. So I’m learning more about intercultural dialogue by being here. It’s learning by doing.

What have you learned about intercultural dialogue?

Being forced to live those principles, and live the way we think the way we should interact is a challenge. It helps because we have to understand all the challenges that the Active Citizens face when they do the work.

What challenges does intercultural dialogue face in this region and what inherent strengths does it possess (to overcome them) and flourish?

There is an assumption that when we say ‘intercultural dialogue’ there are two cultures that we can see – provincial, or tribal or a country. But it goes deeper than that.

The challenge for intercultural dialogue is how it’s done. There is a danger that it can be superficial. One real challenge is that it is much easier to bring together people in a dialogue who obviously belong to different cultures but share the same economic status, or have wealth, are well travelled, have been to a university…that’s quite easy. In any country of the world you can bring well travelled, well educated people together, and have a good conversation. Sometimes this is easier than bringing together people with a different status or some other subtle difference.

So that is really a challenge: where can intercultural dialogue be most effective and who with, and not to be content with taking the easy road. What do we call good quality intercultural dialogue? What outcomes are we looking for?

People resist dialogue because they think that it is a danger to their identity and culture. There is going to be resistance to any externally organized process that gets people talking. There is always going to be suspicion, and that is a definite challenge.

There are dangers too in bringing people together. If there is underlying tension and conflict, then it can be a very dangerous and explosive situation. If it’s not well managed then it can make things worse.

**James Edleston was speaking with Younus Khan and Sadia Rahman ** 

Getting the ball rolling

There are some things that have become associated with Balochistan of late; most of them unpleasant. Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, even with its wide open spaces and tough terrain was once regarded as a melting pot of different ethnicities, cultures, and religions. Other images that the name ‘Quetta’ conjured up were a laid back lifestyle, hospitable people, apple orchards, and bustling market places famed for their selection of nuts and dried fruit. In the summers Quetta also served as a base for families vacationing in the not-too-far hill-top resort, Ziarat.

Sadly, a few of the things that come to mind nowadays when one hears ‘Quetta’ are ethnic and religious divisions, organised violence, acts of terror, and mysterious abductions. Not too surprisingly the general consensus for visiting Quetta is: avoid if possible. But closing one’s eyes does not make a problem go away. Some people are relocating from Quetta but most people will stay – regardless to the extent the situation deteriorates to. These persons of different ethnicities and subscribing to different faiths have lived in the same city for generations and will hopefully find a way to live together in harmony for many, many years to come.

Empathy is the essential ingredient for – not merely existing in the same place peacefully – but more importantly to help members of different communities understand one another better and to form relationships with one another. It is hard to empathize in dangerous and unstable times, but this is when it is needed the most. This point was brought home by a group of young people from the city who celebrated diversity and harmony through sports.

Shanti Nagar is an area of Quetta which has been historically inhabited by the Hindu population of the city. A stream and a watering station divide Shanti Nagar from the nearest Muslim settlement. Both communities have had an arrangement for years by which they share the watering station to replenish their water supplies. Tension existed though because of the waste disposed off into the stream. Since the Muslim area is located downstream, most of the trash found its way there.

With time as the levels of pollution in the stream rose tensions turned into a debate, followed by accusations and finger pointing when no mutually acceptable solution could be agreed upon. The standoff reached the tipping point when the elders of the Muslim jirga – a traditional tribal council whose decision is considered unquestionable – hinted at blocking off access to the stream and the watering area.

The solution to the looming crisis came from a group of young people in the most unexpected form. It is not uncommon for young people from both communities – young and old to form friendships. A group of friends comprising both Muslims and Hindus had also attended an Active Citizens training together. They grasped this as the ideal situation to put their training to the test. They put their heads together to come up with a way to encourage constructive dialogue in a friendly atmosphere. They reached the conclusion that to encourage members of both communities to start talking again some sort of positive interaction was needed. One such positive form of interaction they decided was sports.

Quickly two teams from both communities were put together to participate in a friendly football match. All arrangements were taken care of by the funds pooled together by the group of young Active Citizens. Community members were invited to attend the match free of cost and the total turnout on the day of the match was approximately 150 people. At the conclusion of the match elders from both communities were honoured, and young people from both teams spoke about the important role that dialogue plays in resolving conflict.

As a direct consequence of the efforts of these young people influencers from both communities resolved to clean up the stream and to help finance the building of a proper drainage facility. Within two weeks the stream was much cleaner and proper drains were built. Proper waste disposal has not been a topic of argument between these two communities since. Several football matches have been played though.

How to save a life

Ubaid Malik is a resident of Pind Dadan Khan – a town not too far from the hauntingly picturesque salt mines of Khewra. Although Pind Dadan khan lies at a distance of only 200 Kilometres from Islamabad the atmosphere that prevails there is predominantly rural. Growing up in Pind Dadan Khan Ubaid witnessed first-hand the unjust and discriminatory practices that are woven into the rural fabric. “I grew up in a place which is unmatched in backwardness of thought and where a high level of illiteracy prevails” says Ubaid.

An unfortunate reality that is part and parcel of the rural life is the high mortality rate due to inadequate medical facilities, especially true for women – a fact that Ubaid refused to accept. In search of ways to improve the deplorable medical facilities he approached several community leaders, but instead of encouragement he mostly found disinterest.

Refusing to give up Ubaid found his way to an Active Citizens training organised by a partner organization of the British Council. Here he got an opportunity to polish his skills for starting fruitful dialogue and involving others in the struggle to achieve mutual goals. Most importantly though he formed lasting friendships with other like-minded young people.

With a strengthened belief in his abilities Ubaid approached the problem anew. He convinced a few of his friends to join his cause, and together they came up with a brilliant idea to help members of their community: a database of blood types. Says one group member: “although we did not have sufficient resources for to set up a proper blood bank, but we though that at least we could compile a record of people and their blood groups”. The thought behind this was the high number of people that pass away because they did not receive a blood transfusion in time.

The young people made contact with the local health department and pitched their idea to them. Their response? The concerned officials agreed to lend the youth group – dubbed the Active Involvement and Motivation (AIM) youth group – the services of two members of the medical staff for a fee of Rs. 1,000 for each blood group awareness camp they organised. After following this model a few of times the youth group began to feel the inevitable brunt of bearing the expenses. According to Ubaid: “we quickly came to realize that we could not continue to set up these camps (using our own resources)…not for the number of people we wanted to reach”.

 Ubaid and his friends next visited the health department of Jehlum, the district that Pind Dadan Khan is a part of. The officials there were so impressed with the group’s social action project that they took necessary steps in order to ensure that the young people receive the cooperation of their town’s health department, free of cost.

To date Ubaid and his group have organised nearly 30 health camps. Their database now boasts names, addresses, and blood types of 3,200 individuals. When blood samples are collected forms are also circulated which inquire whether the individual is willing to donate their blood in case of emergencies. According to Ubaid nearly half the people in their database have agreed to donate blood if required.

Not one to be satisfied by what he has achieved, Ubaid recently completed an Active Citizen’s Training of Facilitators (TOF) and now plans to help other young people achieve their dream of making their communities a better place to live through positive social action.

Playing for keeps

For a long time Mehroze Kiyani wondered how he could help the young people of Abbotabad who had lost their way and were leading aimless lives. His biggest wish was to help young people who had turned to drugs and crime in their despair. But Mehroze is not a person who only wishes for good in his society; he is actually a doer. Mehroze got in touch with individuals at the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) – a partner organization of the British Council who invited him to participate in their next Active Citizens capacity building workshop.

According to Mehroze this was a turning point in his life: “I came to realize that young people living in any country are capable of bringing a remarkable change (in their societies)”. A key feature of the Active Citizens training programme is its flexible and adaptable structure. Taking advantage of this flexibility Mehroze chose an often overlooked aspect of society for his social action project: sports.

 But Mehroze did not pick any popular sport for his project, no he wanted to connect with young people on a physical as a well as an emotional level. He decided to work with traditional sports that used to be popular in the Abbotabad area; sports, which sadly had been ignored for many years. On being asked why he chose to base his Social Action Project (SAP) on sports, Mehroze said: “I think that involving young people in healthy physical activity is an effective way to keep them on the right track – and away from despair and antisocial behaviour”. Besides, adds Mehroze: “this is also a way to get in touch with a forgotten dimension of our culture”.

           
Mehroze enlisted the help of a few friends to help him research these cultural sports, help organize training camps, and promote them. Together they identified a sport that tested endurance and strength of athletes who had to lift small boulders (بُتکر بازی) and move them to a certain point. The beauty of this social action project was that Mehroze did not have to invest any money for sports equipment; all he needed was rocks of a suitable size and the right location out in the open.

           
Experts in the local sport were invited from the union council who advised the young participants on how to play according to the correct rules, regulations, and what safety precautions they should follow. Once the training camp was over, a tournament was organised. The tournament was a success with a better turnout than was expected by Mehroze. The winner was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 500.

           
Mehroze and his friends now plan to organize more training camps and contests for other traditional games. The youth group is pleased to see that young people of the area have embraced بُتکر بازی as a recreational activity. Mehroze talks about his social action project fondly and discussing its effects on the young people of his area remarks: “although my social action project is not a quick fix to the problems that local young people face, but it’s a start. After all, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”

The Gypsy School

Ramshackle gypsy settlements are a common sight in nearly all cities of Pakistan. With no fixed occupations and no land, members of the gypsy community live in uninhabited areas till they are forced to leave by the local authorities. Gypsy children are often seen begging for money or food at road sides, shops, and in residential areas. Gypsies have always lived on the fringes of society and are usually viewed with suspicion.

But these children like all children are entitled to education. This realization did not escape Faisal Idrees, a young Active Citizen from Multan. Faisal decided to do something in his capacity to rectify this situation.

Faisal enlisted the help of two of his friends and together they formed a youth group to facilitate the provision of education to as many gypsy children as they could. According to Faisal: “Every parent wants to send their children to school but most people, and especially marginalized communities do not know about Article 25 A and the right to education”.

Another problem that these young people faced was the sad fact that the money these children collect by begging contributes to their family’s income. And so parents with no fixed source of income can sometimes perceive education of their children as a threat to their family’s well being.

Faisal and his friends decided to set up a make-shift school in the gypsy camp and started a door-to-door campaign to convince parents to let their children attend it. In the beginning this seemed to be an uphill task as not most parents were reluctant to loose the income brought in by their children, and they also viewed the strangers with suspicion.

But despite the resistance the three young people resolved to march on ahead; by the third meeting with the community members they were allowed to set up their ‘school’.  Since they did not receive any support from the gypsy community in terms of a place to hold classes in, they started teaching in the first free space they could find. On the first day of class 4 children showed up. Gradually the number of students started increasing. By the end of the first week they were teaching 22 gypsy children. By the end of the year the school had 138 students.

According to Faisal, initially the group members pooled in their money to buy the necessary supplies to run their school, but as the number of children steadily increased these meagre funds started proving insufficient. To overcome this Faisal and his friends came up with a simple yet smart solution: they met with principals of different private and public schools of the area and convinced them to put up a box in the school where students could donate used books and notebooks. At the end of each week members of the youth group visit these schools to collect the donated books and stationary items. 

Notebooks which have been filled using pencils are erased and made ready for use again. And books which cannot be used are sold and the proceeds are used to buy pencils and other stationary items. 

Faisal and his friends are now allowed to use empty tents to hold their classes while the tenants are away but have to empty it once they return. The irony is not lost on the youth group who have dubbed their school the Gypsy School. 

The youth group has enjoyed other successes besides providing these children with basic education. One of these is convincing parents to admit their children to the local public school. So far 28 children have been enrolled in this school. Consequently these children have stopped begging and now lead a much healthier life style.

Children attending the Gypsy School are also encouraged to give up begging through stories and activities. The group of young Active Citizens hopes to dissuade as many children from begging as possible and to facilitate their admission into schools.

Faisal and his friends now aim to reach at least 300 children by the end of this year.

Education at all costs

It takes 45 minutes to get to Soban Gali from Abbotabad city. The road ends where the hills get too rocky, and from there Samina Mumtaz’s house is a 5 minutes hike. Like all typical villages this is a close-knit community where traditional roles for men and women have been defined generations ago. Samina has lived here all her life.

According to Samina: “women (of the village) are considered to be a burden on their families and are mainly seen in the role of housewives. Women are restricted to their homes and education is not considered necessary for women”. Growing up in this rural setting Samina experienced this gender bias first hand.

Despite these obstacles Samina never for one moment felt inferior to any one in any way. As Samina puts it, her struggles and achievements are a testament to the fact that what a man can do a woman also do.

Being the driven individual she is Samina soon found her way to an Active Citizens capacity building workshop in Abbotabad organized by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) – an Active Citizens partner. Among other things the four day training focused on areas that Samina was interested in such as gender sensitivity, and dialogue. On completion of her training Samina’s desire to work voluntarily for the betterment of her society found a new focus and direction.

With renewed energy Samina plunged into her pet project: a free school for the village children. For a few years now Samina had taught a few children of the village in a room of her house. Now she resolved to increase the number of her students and make their learning experience as fulfilling as possible.

There are no private or public schools within 10 Km of Soban Gali; parents have two options: either let their children walk for miles unattended or not send them to school. They usually choose the latter.

For Samina education has a special significance. She not only views education as an essential asset for all children but also sees it as a tool to empower women of her community in the long run – by not only educating them but also changing the mentality of the male residents of the village education and hence decreasing the gender bias prevalent in her community.

In the Active Citizens training programme Samina along with other participants explored dialogue and how powerful well thought out and executed dialogue could be. It was now time to put her learning to the test. She started a door-to-door campaign in her village to meet parents and discuss the importance of education with them, and encourage them to send their children to her school. She also developed links with another local NGO who promised to provide her with books and stationary for free.

Soon Samina saw the number of her students increase to 63. Out of these 63 students 35 are girls and 28 are boys. But it was not all smooth sailing; Samina faced resistance from some corners of the society who saw her as an agent of change. In their opinion Samina was trying to destroy the cultural norms and values of their society.

Another attitude prevalent in Samina’s community is the reliance on aid by donor agencies and NGOs. A large number of the village residents hold the view that being poor entitles them to monetary aid. Samina faced stiff opposition from this segment of the community as well.

Undeterred Samina carries on her mission to provide free and quality education. She views this as her responsibility towards the children of her village. She hopes that one day the situation of other communities and ultimately that of Pakistan will be improved by providing education to all segments of the society, and that progress will come through a participatory and self-reliant approach.

Where there is a will there is a way

Shahzeb Shah lives in Mirpur Bhatoro, a small town of District Thaatta in Sindh. The education rate of Mirpur Bhatoro unfortunately has never been high and most the residents of the area live in poverty and below the poverty line in some cases. Most families make ends meet usually through partaking in agricultural activities.

Shahzeb is one of the fortunate ones who had access to education growing up in Mirpur Bhatoro. As a matter of fact his mother is the principal of the town’s only public school. Growing up in an educationalist household Shahzeb was quick to notice that even with an educational facility present people still hesitated to send their children to school.

After attending the Active Citizens training offered by the British Council through a local partner Sindh Radiant Organization (SRO) Shahzeb decided to investigate this matter further and ultimately take steps to improve the state of education in his town.

With the help of other young people Shahzeb went door-to-door to investigate whether children of local households were receiving an education – and if not, what was preventing them?

Soon this group of Active Citizens discovered that parents who were usually reluctant to send their children to school headed families that lived in abject poverty. Their children usually helped them with household chores, worked odd jobs, and sometimes even begged from passers-by on the streets to bring some change home.

With great effort and patience they convinced parents of out-of-school children to send their children to school free of cost.

After conducting this initial research Shahzeb and his friends started the second phase of the project: they convinced Shahzeb’s mother to let them use the school’s facilities to offer free classes to out-of-school children. It did not take much effort to convince her and the arrangement reached was that Shahzeb and his group members could use two class-rooms in the evening when regular classes were over to offer free lessons to deserving children.

Soon the free tuition centre was up and running and the two class-rooms were brimming with children. Shahzeb and his friends pool in their funds to buy books and supplies for the school.
Nearly 80 children attend the free tuition centre, out of which 50 are girls. Besides providing lessons in basic English, Urdu, Sindhi, and Maths Shahzeb’s groups also concentrates on character building classes and providing awareness about hygiene.

Shahzeb and his youth group have made a point of making learning fun for their students. Children are encouraged to indulge in physical exercise when not in class. In fact learning in a safe and enjoyable environment and being coached in sports like cricket and football are some of the things that children look forward to each night when they go back home. And the satisfaction of making learning an enjoyable experience is what makes Shahzeb and his friends continue teaching at the free tuition centre.