Through various educational activities, games and discussions the Exhibition demonstrates the link between three medieval travellers and modern day intercultural and interreligious initiatives.  As an integral part of the KAICIID Peace Mapping Project, the Exhibition will gradually incorporate and present findings of the project and provide an insight into dialogue activities worldwide.  Starting February 2015 the Exhibition will be opened to school children of two age groups: 10-14 years old and 15-18 years old.  The visit will include tour of the Exhibition, tour of the Palais Sturany, and an educational programme depending on the age group.

1. Relationship-Building

How travel fosters respect, tolerance and understanding

In this interactive workshop, we set sail to places unknown and times long gone. Participants become discoverers and are sent on an adventurous tour in the footsteps of three historic travelers: Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Zheng He, as well as five young travelers who toured the world in 2013-14.

We use travel as a window to exciting and unpredictable adventures that create greater understanding of different cultures and religions. Participants will be encouraged to solve certain puzzles by working in small groups, to allow them to gain a deeper insight into what constitutes the bases of concepts such as respect, tolerance and understanding.

The format of this educational program is based on “face-to-face communication”, with different settings and communication channels.

Age group: 10-14 y.o.;  Duration: 90min

2. Exchange on Expeditions

Intercultural dialogue on past and present adventures

How do young travelers of today experience intercultural exchange and how could discoverers of early modern times such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Zheng He have perceived foreign encounters? By using the exhibition ‘Past and Present Travelers’, this interactive workshop encourages students to reflect on the role of dialogue in a conflict-ridden world and highlights the importance of intercultural and interreligious relations for peacebuilding.

Participants will work in small groups on four basic ingredients of dialogue – encounter, understanding, respect and tolerance and will present their findings in a poster session at the end of the workshop.

The format of this education program is based on “face-to-face communication” and participatory principles that create a culture of understanding in a diverse world, where people with different views and values can live in peaceful coexistence.

Age group: 15-18 y.o.;  Duration: 90 min

Interested in organising a visit to the kaiciid dialogue exhibition for your school group or association?

Educational programmes are offered in German or English

Available time slots: Monday to Friday between 8.30 and 4pm (except bank holidays)

Contact Person: Mag. Katerina Khareyn, MBA

Phone: +43 (0) 313220

Email: exhibition(at)kaiciid.org

The UVNR Initiative was launched in Vienna in November 2014 at an historic meeting that convened leaders of Muslim, Christian, and other religious and ethnic communities from Iraq, Syria and the larger Middle East, where they jointly issued the Vienna Declaration, denouncing violence in the name of religion.

Under this initiative, the Centre is working with high level representatives of ve of the world’s major religions, as well as representatives of the Muslim communities, the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Council of Senior Scholars from Saudi Arabia, Evangelicals, the Iraqi Muslim Association, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, the Maronites, the Melkite Greek Catholics, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Mouwahiddoun Druze community 

in Lebanon, Protestant communities, the Yazidis, among many others. Working with this extensive network of religious leaders and communities, the Centre is undertaking activities with a range of partners, including UNESCO, UNDP, the UN O ce for the Prevention of Genocide and ISESCO, as well as various NGOs.

As a rst UVNR follow up event, the Centre held a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon in May 2015, where the representatives of high level religious leaders from the Arab world agreed to continue to work together. This event involved religious leaders, leading policymakers from governments, international organizations, and humanitarian and peace organizations active in the region.

In September 2015, high level Christian and Muslim religious leaders from the Middle East met in Athens and endorsed the “Athens Declaration: United Against Violence in the Name of Religion - Supporting the Citizenship Rights of Christians, Muslims and Other Religious and Ethnic Groups in the Middle East”. The religious leaders called upon political leaders and civil society to take a strong stand against growing violent extremism and terrorism which threaten centuries of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East.

في عام 2021، وسَّع مركز الحوار العالمي "كايسيد" برامجه في أوروبا لمعالجة التداعيات المتعددة الطويلة الأجل لأزمة اللاجئين في عام 2015 والتحديات المعقَّدة التي تفرضها الهجرة. وعلى مدى السنوات الست الماضية، اتسمت القارة بتهديدات لتماسكها الاجتماعي وبزيادة الخطاب القائم على الخوف الذي يستهدف اللاجئين والمهاجرين في مناخ سياسي واجتماعي يزداد تحديًا وبالافتقار إلى تدابير فاعلة وسياسات مستدامة لتعزيز اندماجهم في المجتمعات الأوروبية المضيفة.ويسعى المركز، عبر توسيع نطاق برامجه في أوروبا، إلى إتاحة خيارات عديدة لمساعدة قيادات المجتمع المدني على تنسيق الجهود المبذولة حاليًّا من أجل الاندماج بسهولة أكبر وإعانة صانعي السياسات على تمثيل شواغل مختلِف المجتمعات المحلية في القارة والتعبير عنها.

وإن برنامج المنطقة الأوروبية (ERP) الذي نُظم بالاستناد إلى ثلاث ركائز رئيسة مصمَّم لتوحيد القيادات الدينية وصانعي السياسات في الجهود المشتركة التي تعالج بعض المشكلات الأكثر إلحاحًا في القارة، ومنها الحاجة إلى التعليم الشامل للاجئين والمهاجرين وضرورة استكشاف السبل التي يمكن بها للقيادات الأوروبية العمل على حماية المكونات المجتمعية الدينية جميعها والحفاظ على التضامن الاجتماعي وتعزيز هذه السبل وتقديم أدوات بناء القدرات للقيادات الدينية ومؤسسات القيم الدينية لبناء القدرة على الثبات ومكافحة خطاب الكراهية وجرائم الكراهية في أوروبا.

KAICIID is open to all world religions, and aspires to be active among followers of each one. There are few countries more religiously diverse than India, with significant populations of Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus.  Managing the interests and mutual understanding of the different groups is important to preserve peace and the safety of minorities, as well as to prevent violence. KAICIID worked in India in 2013 a symposium was organized to explore how IRD could benefit educational materials in the region, and in 2014 the Dialogue Days initiative was launched to train religious leaders in media literacy, and young IRD practitioners in the most effective means to publicize their work through social media. Strengthening IRD in India, which took shape in 2015 built on the success of Dialogue Days, focusing on young people. The culture of dialogue is often “top-down”, i.e. initiated and driven by charismatic, elder religious leaders. To engage young people, the programme provided young people skills to engage their peers, as well as to make their concerns known to those in influential positions, without relying on elder interlocutors. Through small group training for young activists and religious leaders, 100 people were trained directly.  These young individuals were primarily nominated by their organizations because they will be best able to use their new skills to best effect for their institutions. The training included social media as a space for dialogue, media literacy, strategic advocacy for interreligious dialogue and understanding, the role of interfaith dialogues and platforms in India, as well as a five-day youth camp. As multipliers these religious leaders and future institutional leaders can work toward long-term changes in their institutions’ culture and practices.

During this initiative, a report on interreligious dialogue in India was commissioned, edited and compiled by a young team of editors following  a methodological workshop for academics, which took place in October 2015. The publication, which is understood to be one of the first comprising research in this field, is expected to be completed in Q3 2016.

KAICIID carried out the India programme with its collaborating partner Sarva Dharma Samvaad (SDS). SDS coordinated the attendance of various high-level observers and speakers, including K. G. Suresh, Director General of the India Institute of Mass Communication, Professor J.S. Rajput, former Director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training, and the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat, as well as receiving support from the Indian Ministry of Culture.

“Strengthening IRD in India” closed in August 2016.

South Asia is home to some of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. However, intercommunal tensions have escalated into acts of violence, such as the attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday 2019. KAICIID facilitates exchanges among religious leaders and faith-based organizations in South and South-East Asia, which are designed to help communities find common solutions to shared problems, such as violent extremism, intercommunal conflict, marginalisation and displacement.

KAICIID’s programmatic work engages religious actors in dialogue, builds their capacity to promote inclusive peace and promotes their collaboration with policymakers and civil society leaders to foster social cohesion.

The Centre’s flagship Fellows programme has trained numerous religious leaders and dialogue practitioners from the region, both through the international programme and the South-East Asia regional cohort.

KAICIID has also convened Buddhist and Muslim leaders to engage in dialogues addressing hate speech, protection of holy sites, and inclusive education.

KAICIID engages with the Austrian public as an integral part of the Centre’s activities – promoting the positive, transformative effects of dialogue in the Centre’s host country, by bridging stakeholders from diverse backgrounds through intercultural and interreligious events. KAICIID regularly opens its doors to the public, hosting art and photography exhibitions, musical performances, expert lectures, interfaith workshops and headquarter tours. These dynamic events provide a space for guests to experience new cultures and perspectives, connecting individuals from Austria and around the world.

In February 2018, KAICIID organized a global conference which brought together leading representatives from numerous religious communities to support peaceful coexistence. At the conference, the Centre launched an historic interreligious platform supported by Christian and Muslim leaders to advocate for the rights and inclusion of all communities in the Arab world. The Platform is the first interreligious dialogue platform of its kind. Planned activities of the platform include training clergy of all religions to combat hate speech, implementing initiatives which empower youth and women, and working with local and national authorities on policy which promotes social cohesion and equal rights.

Projekt in Partnerschaft mit dem Kukah-Zentrum, dem Interreligiösen Mediationszentrum und dem Institut für Frieden und Konfliktlösung (IPCR)

KAICIID Media Programme

The KAICIID Media Programme seeks to address the misrepresentation of religion and religious people in the media and on the Internet in a way that upholds press freedoms. People should have an accurate understanding of religious communities and beliefs—and their preconceptions are shaped in large part by the media and online information. KAICIID is developing training courses and conducting outreach through publications and events in order to address this need. KAICIID works with interreligious dialogue practitioners, religious leaders and journalists from religious and secular media in a two-pronged approach. On one hand, KAICIID seeks to support the more accurate representation of religion and religious communities in the media and online. On the other hand, religious leaders, who serve as channels of information to their communities, must also be savvy in their consumption of media and information: empowered to respond to hate speech and misrepresentations, and critically aware of the way media and information sources shape perceptions.