British Council Intercultural Dialogue Programme

The British Council supports intercultural dialogue by helping people find their voice through a wide range of programmes in the arts, education, governance and science. These celebrate creative expression; promote the knowledge economy; support positive social change; and advance international co-operation in response to climate change. This shows the further aim of the British Council to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide.

Two practical examples of its  projects, both involving younger people, are Connecting Classrooms and Global Xchange. ‘Connecting Classrooms’ links teachers and pupils in the UK with counterparts in other countries. Together they share understanding of one another’s societies by working on joint projects in areas such as literacy, science, history, geography and the environment. More than one million young people in 900 schools and 47 countries are taking part and we have ambitious plans to expand the programme.

‘Global Xchange’ links young volunteers from the UK and abroad. Volunteers are paired and each partner spends three months in the other’s home country working together on community projects. Since it began in 2005 the programme, a partnership between the British Council and VSO, has delivered exchanges involving more than 750 volunteers in 19 countries, fostering active citizenship and developing strong cross-cultural relationships.

Another stream programmes called ‘Reconnect’ strengthen the resilience of people to resist extremism by encouraging active citizenship and supporting educational reform. Skills for Employability, for example, strengthens vocational and technical training by partnering UK colleges of further education with counterparts in countries affected by conflict, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. UK colleges have strong links with industry and the programme is building the skills that young people need to find jobs.

BC also supports active citizenship worldwide. By promoting respect for fundamental freedoms we strengthen civil society and build people’s capacity to hold those in power to account.