European Wergeland Centre and MBI Al Jaber Foundation in Partnership

The MBI Al Jaber Foundation today signed an agreement with the European Wergeland Centre (EWC), to provide funding for the development of a pioneering “Human Rights Glossary” and the inception of a new “think tank” to support the EWC in its work in the field of Education for Intercultural Understanding, Human Rights and Democratic Citizenship, and also a four year training programme for education professionals.

The purpose of the Glossary is to identify and establish a consensus on the key words and phrases used in the field of human rights, in order to define precisely what is meant by the terms applied and thereby reduce the possibility of cultural and linguistic misunderstandings in the discussion of human rights between nation states.

Funding provided by the Foundation will also assist the EWC in the establishment of a new think tank to provide advice and expertise to the Executive Director and staff of the EWC in its work.  The role of the think tank will include the identification of key human rights issues and trends, and working with the EWC to enhance communication between the grass roots and contacts in the field throughout Europe and beyond.

In addition, part of the funding will go to support the implementation of a 4-year programme of training modules on human rights, democratic citizenship and intercultural understanding, aimed at teachers and other education professionals not only from Europe but also from neighbouring countries and the MENA region.

The agreement was signed by Foundation Chairman MBI Al Jaber and Professor Svein Lorentzen, Chair of the EWC Board and Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in the presence of representatives from the Norwegian Ministries of Education and Research and of Foreign Affairs and from the Council of Europe.

http://theewc.org/news/view/the.ewc.has.signed.an.agreement.with.the.mbi.al.jaber.foundation/