Dialogue of Cultures Youth Camp

Dialogue of Cultures is a youth camp organized by the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs of the Russian Federation in cooperation with the International Charity Public Fund «Dialogue of Cultures - United World». The main goal of the camp is to create an intercultural space for young people to develop their competences in managing interethnic and intercultural projects.

The youth camp is aimed at Russian students, NGO leaders and government agencies employees who are actively involved in working with Russia’s ethnic groups and intercultural projects. The program of the youth camp includes lectures of leading experts in the sphere of intercultural dialogue and nationalities policy, training sessions, workshops and seminars.

The first Dialogue of Cultures Camp took place in ETNOMIR on 23 November -1 December 2015, and gathered 178 participants from 60 regions of Russia. Around 30 experts, scholars and trainers worked on ensuring an effective learning experience for the participants. Such honored guests as Head of the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Barinov, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrei Mezhenko, and Member of the Presidential Council for Interethnic Relations Vladimir Zorin delivered speeches to the youth. The camp unleashed new inspirational ideas and resulted in 35 project plans designed by the participants, who further received assistance in implementing them.

The second Dialogue of Cultures Camp saw an increase in the number of participants bringing together 200 young people in ETNOMIR on 26 September- 2 October 2016. During the camp, young people discussed the national policy of Russia, determined main challenges in interethnic relations, practiced intercultural dialogue, learned about the role of media, identity, stereotypes in intercultural understanding, explored successful initiatives promoting social cohesion and studied the basics of project management in intercultural relations.

Over 40 project ideas, which aim to strengthen intercultural understanding in Russia, were formed by the participants during the sessions of the youth camp and later were presented to the jury, who selected a number of successful initiatives and provided recommendations on carrying out the projects.