Intercultural dialogue serves as a vital tool for promoting peacefulness, preventing conflict, and protecting human rights. Throughout history, various dialogue processes have been developed to address a wide array of challenges in diverse contexts. However, despite its extensive application, there remains a significant knowledge gap regarding the skills, structures, and values necessary for effective intercultural dialogue. This deficiency impedes the ability to build peaceful, cohesive, and resilient societies, hindering long-term political and financial commitments while leaving practitioners without the requisite evidence to monitor needs and priorities meaningfully.
In an effort to address these challenges, UNESCO, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has launched the “Intercultural Dialogue for Peace and Social Cohesion” project in Sri Lanka. With $350,000 from the Peacebuilding Fund, this initiative seeks to enhance social dialogue and empower local voices in shaping economic and social recovery efforts, promoting peace and inclusion within communities.
The project particularly emphasizes the empowerment of women, youth, informal economy workers, and other underrepresented groups, encouraging their active participation in district and national policy-making processes to steer policies toward gender-responsive inclusive socio-economic recovery.
The initiative aims to amplify the voices of underserved communities in economic engagement. Evidence-based knowledge products derived from dialogues with local forums will be developed as powerful advocacy tools for inclusive policymaking. Additionally, mechanisms will be established to consistently and coherently integrate feedback from marginalized communities into critical decision-making processes and institutional frameworks.
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