Peer Education And Cultural Exchange: a PEACE process for our time

 

In the current climate, there is an ever-increasing international need for diverse cultural and religious groups to recognise and learn from what is shared in their experience, and to co­operate to preserve and enhance that which is unique. The time is ripe to embrace opportunities which encourage young people to enter into dialogue and work with youth of other communities, sensitise themselves to the experience of others, and communicate the story of their heritage beyond their community. Through the Tibetan/Jewish Youth Exchange (TJYE), Tibetan and Jewish young people have proven themselves as role-models and ambassadors of dialogue and co-operation. This paper presents a report of TJYE’s activities, plans for development, and a proposal of how we would like to take our work forward within a vision of a global community which embraces and preserves the diversity of its peoples’ spiritual and cultural heritages.

 

What is TJYE?

 

TJYE is a partnership of Tibetan and Jewish youth operating between India and the UK, which was a grass-roots initiative born of dialogue between Tibetan and Jewish youth in Dharamsala, India. Its founders were inspired by His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s request to Jewish leaders to ‘share the secret of Jewish survival in exile’ (1990). It was felt that it would be useful to share the Jewish model of informal education with Tibetan youth facing the challenges of exile, and that the process of doing so would strengthen both the Tibetan and Jewish youths’ own identities alongside increased global and cross-cultural awareness.

 

Set up as a pilot project in August 2000, TJYE works to assist capacity-building within two communities which share a heritage of exile, and strengthen the relationships between them, through pioneering youth exchange and youth leadership development programmes. We work with young people to foster engagement with their own identity alongside increased global, inter-cultural and inter-faith awareness. We combine educational programmes which explore the heritages of participants’ communities with practical leadership training to equip participants with skills to implement youth programmes for their own communities. We encourage and support initiatives undertaken by participants of the exchanges, drawing on what they have learnt to develop sustainable informal education projects which engage youth of their communities in their cultural identity.

 

Broadening the Scope

 

TJYE was initially conceived as a project which might serve as a model for broader cross-cultural youth co-operation. After a successful pilot year during which TJYE was officially endorsed by His Holiness The Dalai Lama at a special private audience for its founders, we now seek funding to set up an umbrella organisation through which we will develop our activities and research avenues for extending our work.

 

It is felt that the unique approach of TJYE would be appropriate with youth of many communities around the world, in particular young people who are alienated from their homelands, such as exiled, indigenous or occupied peoples, and would be especially helpful in bringing together youth of communities which are in actual or potential conflict. Through the proposed umbrella organisation, we will develop TJYE’s activites and conduct research in partnership with other communities to assess the feasibility of future projects.

 

DEVELOPING AN UMBRELLA ORGANISATION

 

Funding is sought for a three-month feasibility study in order to research the following:

 

•     Existing organisations working in cross-cultural youth development

•     Potential trustees, their roles and responsibilities and relationship to the existing TJYE volunteer committees

•     potential new partnerships and projects

•     potential sources of long-term funding

•     legal and financial requirements

 

The study will focus on the following questions:

 

What kind of work is already being undertaken in the areas of cross-cultural youth development and capacity building for cultural preservation? Are there similar schemes to TJYE already operating elsewhere? If so, is there a need for a new organisation?

 

With which communities would the organisation work? Which are the most at-risk communities in relation to erosion of cultural identity? What kind of projects would the organisation undertake? Would new projects replicate TJYE or is there scope for different approaches?

 

Would the organisation be ‘based’ within the Jewish community or in an inter-denominational context (reflected in trustee composition, funding sources and activities)? Where should it be based?

 

It is proposed that the study include research within the UK and overseas, including a research trip to the United States, where contact has already been established with potential funders and interested parties.

 

The study will be undertaken by Kalela Lancaster, founder and director of TJYE.

 

 

BUDGET

 

 

                                                                            
                                                                            

Tibetan/Jewish Youth Exchange

11a Clifton Gardens, London NW11 7ER. Tel: 020 8458 8886

E-mail: tjye_uk@hotmail.com