2020 Congress Program

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 23/10/2020 - 28/11/2020
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Categories


SIETAR SWITZERLAND CONGRESS 2020 GOES VIRTUAL!

The continued incertitude tied to the evolution of the COVID-19 situation and necessary risk management for all involved, makes it necessary for SIETAR Switzerland to switch its congress format to a virtual format for 2020. We are convinced that we can organise an original and relevant virtual event which allows for convivial networking.

We have retained a “dispersed” format for the congress, with sessions spread from October 23rd to November 28th, 2020 and held individually. Moreover, by selecting a variety of times and dates, we will be creating further opportunities to connect together across the globe.


VIRTUAL CONGRESS PROGRAMME:
Friday, October 23rd to Saturday, November 28th, 2020

 


VIRTUAL CONGRESS PROGRAMME DETAILS


Friday, October 23rd, 2020, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm (CET)
Opening , Welcome, Ted Talk & Networking celebration


Ted-style Talk,  Dr. Aminata Cairo, Lector Inclusive Education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Networking celebration : will be facilitated by Joe Kearns and our team of Networking Genie around the theme of identity. Make sure you participate and learn from this great group!


Saturday, October 24th, 2020, 10:00am to noon (CET)
“Culture @ the Heart of Education”,  Peter Mousaferiadis, CEO & Founder, Cultural Infusion, Australia

During this workshop, Peter will present 5 innovative digital teaching tools designed specifically for Intercultural Understanding, by his organisation, the Australian-based educational organization Cultural Infusion.

He will give us a testimony of how tools can be designed to enhance school children’s and students’ sense of belonging, empathy, and understanding of the other. Such programs can provide knowledge, involve mind-mapping and can bring understanding, through experience, of what constitutes culture. We will also look at the role Apps can play in expanding our cultural understanding.

Together with him we will review:

  • The Intercultural Citizenship Ambassador Program
  • The Diversity Atlas
  • Joko’s World
  • Mungo Explorer and
  • Sound Infusion

Cultural Infusion comprises a suite of digital and interactive applications and websites, consulting services, education and community programs and courses which reach an annual audience of more than 350,000 people across the globe. Cultural infusion has been recognised internationally for its innovative approach to education and the use of technology in building intercultural understanding. It has been a winner of over 10 international awards including the United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC) Intercultural Innovation Award.


Monday, October, 26th, 2020, 5.30pm to 6.30pm (CET)
“Unpacking” Migration : Recognition of the benefits of individuals on the move in our societies (part 1) : Overcoming barriers towards inclusion

The objectives of this 3 part workshop are to:

  • share data that clearly dispels the fears of the general public usually tied to migration;
  • demonstrate how individuals issued from migration contribute to the development of the local economies of the countries where they settle;

and

  • share best practices in place and examples of some local grassroot initiatives that facilitate inclusion.

The aim is to draw on participants’ experience and multi-disciplinary expertise to see how as individuals and through our organisations, we can work together to reduce inequality and promote the inclusion of migrants.

Moderator : Anne-Claude Lambelet, Past-President SIETAR Switzerland, SIETAR Switzerland’s lead for our joint project with VSS-UNES-USU.

Panel :

  • Prof. Eric Davoine, Chair Human Resources & Organization, University of Fribourg
  • Prof. Gianni D’Amato, Chair nccr-on the move, the national centre for competence and research in migration
  • Dr. Eugenia Arvanitis, Assistant Professor of Interculturality & Diversity in Education at the University of Patras, Greece.

Why attend this session? If you are a volunteer, part of an NGO, working with a charitable association or an intercultural trainer who is engaged in activities involving migrants and refugees, this session will be fundamental for you.


Thursday, October 29th, 2020, 6:00pm to 7.30pm (CET)
Learning to live together on an equal footing in culturally diverse societies – Finding mutual paths for inclusion”


This workshop focusses on examining the socio/political and pedagogical challenges tied to learning to live and work together. Our panelists will share their experience, perspectives and best practices for inclusion.

Moderator: Tom Waterhouse, Independent consultant focusing on equity and diversity in the workplace

Panelists :

  • Ms Maya Hertig-Randall, Head Federal Commission against Racism
  • Miguel Carvalho Da Silva, Global Education Programme Manager at the North South Centre of the Council of Europe
  • Prof. Jillaine Farrar Schmidhauser, Head of Exchange Program, Co-Head CAS International Leadership, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Business
  • Alaeddine Touhami, Founder of the House of peace and Scouting de Cirkel in Nederland, president of the Foundation for the Education of Peace and Living together , president of the dutch section of AISA NGO.

 


Saturday, October 31st, 2020, 10:00am to 12:45 (CET)
Building a Culture of Peace for Inclusive and Pacific Societies : Collective approach for a sustainable World after Covid

Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, one of the UN’s objectives is to build a culture of peace for inclusive and pacific societies by 2030. This world café will offer the opportunity to discuss and share experiences and practices in terms of inclusion as a vector of social progress in the educational, political, environmental and economic spheres, also taking covid 19 issues into account. We will shed light on the keys to succeed in living together and the well-being in our organizations and how it can contribute to the emergence of a new governance based on empathy and collective intelligence.

The world café will focus on:

  • Applying the inclusion paradigm to meet the challenges of the 21st century and tackle the Covid 19 issues in order to develop global citizenship in a post-pandemic era
  • Stating how inclusion can increase the social responsibility of the civil society, the public and private institutions
  • Moving from passive diversity to active inclusion by creating belonging and well-being
  • Moving from a culture of conflict to a culture of peace to live a virtuous economy of human relationships.

The world café  will be facilitated by Vincent Merk, lecturer in intercultural management and Community advisor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands and Yassine Naser, president of the Swiss section of AISA NGO International who is the initiator of the International Day of Living Together in Peace accepted by the 193 member states of the United Nations and Gundhild A. Hoenig, Member of the Board of SIETAR Switzerland.


Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020, 4:00pm to 6:00pm (CET)
“Including difference: The future of creativity”

This workshop focuses on the importance of difference for creativity. It starts by making the claim that creativity and innovation always emerge out of engaging with difference and supporting this claim with the help of both conceptual and practical examples. In particular, we propose that creating involves taking the perspective of other people, placing these perspectives in dialogue, and reflecting on the meaning and value of the differences between then. The workshop offers participants a series of practical tools for: a) becoming aware of difference, b) valuing difference, and c) using difference to come up with new and valuable ideas and projects. During the workshop, participants are invited to practice some of these tools in working together to address a common problem. The tools and the theoretical framework offered here are expected to be useful in a variety of applied settings, from education to organizations. Most of all, they will help participants understand and creatively engage with difference and diversity, in an inclusive manner, in addressing the challenges of the future and seizing its many opportunities.

Facilitators :


Wednesday, November 4th , 2020, 5.30pm to 6.30pm (CET)
 “Unpacking Migration : Recognition of the benefits of individuals on the move in our societies” Part 2

The objectives of this workshop are to:

  • share data that clearly dispels the fears of the general public usually tied to migration;
  • demonstrate how individuals issued from migration contribute to the development of the local economies of the countries where they settle;

and

  • share best practices in place and examples of some local grassroot initiatives that facilitate inclusion.

The aim is to draw on participants’ experience and multi-disciplinary expertise to see how as individuals and through our organisations, we can work together to reduce inequality and promote the inclusion of migrants.

Moderator : Anne-Claude Lambelet, Past-President SIETAR Switzerland, SIETAR Switzerland’s lead for our joint project with VSS-UNES-USU.

Panel :

Why attend this session? If you are a volunteer, part of an NGO, or working with a charitable association or an intercultural trainer who is engaged in activities involving migrants and refugees, this session will be fundamental for you.


Monday, November 9th, 2020, 5.30pm to 7.00pm (CET)
 “Unpacking Migration : Recognition of the benefits of individuals on the move in our societies” Part 3

3rd round : bringing back together academics and representatives from grassroot initiatives from sessions 1 and 2 to discuss with the participants how we can help influence civil society to take appropriate actions and change perspectives.

60 minutes of  interactive exchanges with the public and each other.

Moderator : Anne-Claude Lambelet, Past-President SIETAR Switzerland, SIETAR Switzerland’s lead for our joint project with VSS-UNES-USU.

With our full panel :

 


Tuesday, November 10th, 2020, 5:00pm to 7:00pm (CET)
“The Inclusivity Training Toolkit” (1 hour) + networking session (1 hour)

“The Inclusivity Training Toolkit” by Dr Aminata Cairo, Lector Inclusive Education, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, NL

Diversity and inclusion are currently hot items, not only in academia, but from the work floor to the halls of government. There is a movement that includes awareness, conflict, exploration, struggling, and searching for new ways of doing things. Within academia, years of unequal educational experiences and student outcomes have contributed to an urgency to create a more optimal learning environment.

The Inclusivity Training Toolkit offers an engaging workshop that addresses the foundational skills necessary to successfully engage any type of inclusivity activity. It is based on a few core principles:

  • At the core of an inclusive environment where all people are treated as valid lies the connection with the story of the other
  • Our current (educational) institutions have mechanisms in place that prevent the connection with the story of the other, unless that story is representative of the dominant group
  • We are ill-equipped and anxious to engage the story of the other
  • Engaging diversity and inclusion requires dealing with “all” of us, and not just focusing on “some” of us.

Participants will go through a range of activities based on a set of skill set themes. Some of these themes include: safe/brave space; listening, connecting with the story of the other, self care, and being an ally. The goal of the sessions is to help people in their confidence and abilities to address diversity related situations whether they be one on one, in a group, on the work floor, or in the classroom.

Networking session : This informal and fun networking session will be moderated by Seth Selleck and team who will use the “More than One Story”  card game, the winner of the UNAOC (United Nations Alliance of Civilizations) and BMW Group Intercultural Innovation Award 2014.


Monday, November 16th, 2020, 6:00pm to 7:30pm (CET)

Virtual book reading and Signing session (1 hour) followed by an informal networking activity

Meet the authors, hear about their books, ask questions if you have already read the book and secure a special autographed page for your book if you have already acquired one!

Aminata Cairo will read from her latest book “Holding Space:  A Narrative Approach to Trampling Diversity and Inclusion”, pub. to be announced

Benoit Thery will share insights from his new book “Le management interculturel en Afrique. La Renaissance” , pub. Editions ems Management & Société, collection « Questions de société », April 2020

Susan Schärli-Lim will present  “ Intercultural Interactions for Health Professionals”, published in English and German

Vlad Glaveanu will provide highlights from his latest book, “Mobilities and human possibility” , published by Palgrave.

For our Networking activity, we will focus on the theme of  “What is Home?”


Wednesday, November 18th, 2020, 4:00 pm to 5.30pm (CET)
Assessing diversity and culture for communication competence development: concepts, indicators & tools for teams and organisations

The ongoing globalisation process, growing mobility, digitalization and rapidly changing markets turn many – if not most – business contexts into highly diverse, intercultural systems. We live and act today in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environments. Companies and organisations need people who understand diversity, cope with differences and manage inclusion to work effectively across borders. Interculturally competent workforce is key for successful collaboration and projects.

This panel focuses on the assessment of diversity and culture in the professional context for contributing to the development of people’s intercultural communication and management competencies. The panelists will not only present assessment tools for teams and organisations, but also discuss the underlying key concepts and indicators.

Panel:

  • Hans Jakob Roth, the founder of EurAsia Competence AG who will introduce EurAsia Culture GridÓ, an assessment tool for company cultures on the background of a comprehensive concept of culture.
  • Helen Spencer-Oatey, University of Warwick, will give insight into the Global Professionals Profiler (GPP). The GPP is an academically robust global fitness indicator tool functioning at two levels: it provides managers with strategic planning information and offers individuals insights for development purposes.

Panel Chair: Dr Pia Stalder, Associate Professor of Intercultural Management at the School of Management & Engineering (HEIG-VD, HEG).


Monday, November 23rd, 2020, 6:00pm to 7:30pm (CET)
“The intercultural dimension in your work area” (1 hour) followed by an informal networking session

Meet Jillaine Farrar-Schmihauser, Papa Balla Ndong, Dr. Pia Stalder, George Simons and Dominic Tidey, 5 individuals from very diverse backgrounds. Hear them share how intercultural matters impact their work area. Learn about the strategies they use to support D&I in their field and what remains to be done. You will be amazed by the diversity of the intercultural field.

The informal networking session will focus on our audience sharing what is their connection with the intercultural dimension and how they are impacted by culture in their daily life.


Saturday, November 28th, 2020 , 10:00am to 11:30 am (CET)
Final Keynote : Peter Mousaferiadis, CEO & Founder, Cultural Infusion, Australia

Following Peter Mousaferiadis closing keynote, he will join forces with social activist and international photographer Petar Mitrovic through an interactive activity which utilizes byzantine chant and “ONE WORD” call to action to build a world without borders together.

Please make sure you bring sticky papers for this session!

Official congress closure followed by a congress celebration (starting at 11:30am)


REVISED CONGRESS RATES:  More good news! Please check out our Congress Registration Page

 

Our  grateful thanks to our generous sponsors who have all accepted to re-confirm their sponsorship for this Congress and whose support makes this event possible!

 

SIETAR Switzerland’s congress is fuelled by

Happy to also have the contribution of visual harvester Raquel Benmergui