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In our increasingly interconnected world, communication across and between cultures has become more important than ever. To find solutions to global challenges such as inequality, discrimination, gender-based violence and displacement, we must strengthen our capacities for understanding and collaboration. We need real-life inspiration and solidarity.

Our societies continue to face significant challenges. Inflation more than doubled between March 2021 and March 2022, making the cost of living higher and more uncertain (ILO, 2022). Almost 100 million more people now live on less than $1.90 a day because of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing the global poverty rate from 7.8 to 9.1 percent (World Bank Group, 2021). Since the beginning of 2020, 1 in 2 women reported experiencing direct or indirect violence, including online, where cyber-bullying and harassment also increased(UN Women, 2021).

Against this complex international landscape, we must strengthen our capacities for understanding each other’s cultures. In this sense, Intercultural Dialogue (ICD) can help find solutions to these global challenges and build back better. Intercultural Dialogue is a transformative form of communication with the power to increase connections and trust across all layers of society. Based on mutual respect and a willingness to consider different perspectives, it is an effective tool to promote tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and a higher willingness to cooperate.

UNESCO is leading efforts across the UN system to reinforce Intercultural Dialogue as a mechanism to build futures that are more inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful. Our scope of action varies greatly across different programmes:

• Providing policymakers with solutions and practical tools via our data-led policy framework on Intercultural Dialogue developed with the Institute for Economics and Peace;
• Developing intercultural competencies and capacities for social inclusion via the UNESCO Story Circles project
• Highlighting the vital role that art and artists can play in processes of memory and reconciliation via our Art-Labs for Dialogue and Human Rights;
• And last, but not least, strengthening UNESCO’s actions against racism and all forms of discrimination based on UNESCO’s Global Call and the Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination, which convenes annually to build a momentum around these issues at international level. The next edition of the Global Forum will take place in Mexico City on 28-29 November 2022, focusing on the post-COVID recovery. 

UNESCO’s e-Platform on Intercultural Dialogue is designed to respond to the current “mutual understanding gap”, which occurs when communication between culturally diverse groups fails,  ultimately impeding good will and collaboration. This space serves as a global hub for knowledge sharing, networking, and learning about best practices delivering impact and accelerating change daily. The e-Platform brings together a wide diversity of stakeholders who engage with new ideas and share innovative approaches on how to integrate vulnerable and marginalized communities, promote gender equality, empower youth, enhance understanding between different religions or cultures, and even more.

I invite everybody, from policymakers, civil servants, academics to international bodies, corporations and non-profit organizations — all those who fight daily against all forms of discriminations and inequalities — to join this dynamic community.

Through Intercultural Dialogue, we pave the way for a more peaceful, inclusive, and resilient future. On behalf of UNESCO, I thank the Government of Azerbaijan for funding this important initiative and commend its continued commitment to tackling global challenges through transformative exchange.

Through Intercultural Dialogue we can work together across our differences to bring a positive change!