Frequently asked questions

What does the British Council mean by intercultural dialogue?

The British Council is a cultural relations organisation which builds stronger, long lasting relationships for the UK. Through our overarching ‘Intercultural Dialogue’ programme we:

strengthen understanding between and within different cultures
help to build trust and understanding
help to build skills
work closely and directly with people who seek to bring about positive social change within communities.

We define our ICD work as;

‘A dynamic and challenging process that enables those engaged to explore their own and others’ identities and backgrounds and its effects on attitudes, behaviours and relationships towards and within communities locally, nationally and globally.

Successful intercultural dialogue is based on purposeful long-term interactions. These allow the development of confidence and competence of individuals to move to bridging cultures through a two-way process of open, honest and critical engagement.

Successful intercultural dialogue is essential to help us navigate through the unprecedented challenges of a 21st century modern world.’

Our work also specifically addresses the deficits of trust and understanding which can exist both within and across communities. We aim to influence factors such as a lack of skills and voice which may lead to disaffection and a sense of grievance, for example, among segments of the large youth populations in the Middle East, North Africa, Central and South East Asia. Ultimately, increasing levels of trust will reduce the potential for future conflict and inter-community violence.

What are we seeking to achieve?

Strengthen understanding and levels of trust between people in the UK and other societies
Strengthen the consensus for rejecting extremism in all its forms
Increase the ability of individuals and organisations to contribute to positive social change and the strengthening of civil society
Increase the use of English as a tool for international communication and inter-cultural understanding

How will we achieve these four outcomes?

We start with strong engagement with those who are best placed to influence now and in the future and those who can best catalyse change by cascading this influence to wider, community-level audiences.

Over the next three years we will create a network of trained young leaders, enable thousands of school and classroom links worldwide and mobilise exchanges between young volunteers from the UK and overseas. Our work with these young influencers, teachers and community workers is designed to ensure that they, in turn, cascade to tens of thousands of communities and millions of people.
Over the same period our work will require 100s of new strategic and authoritative partnerships with governments, civil society and private sector organisations, in the UK and overseas.
A critical part of our offer will use on-line and broadcast media, ensuring that our reach matches the scale of our ambition in the UK and overseas. A web-enabled ‘social action network’ for all our project partners and members will bring sustainable contact and value to participants, assist with the onward cascading, and help to reach less accessible groups wherever possible.

What is special about what the British Council does in ICD compared to other organisations?

The British Council has built strong relationships for 75 years with partner organisations in other countries. It has established a reputation as an organisation which can be trusted based on its deep knowledge of the local context. The British Council is able to provide a space (whether physical or increasingly virtual) for people to come together to explore and share viewpoints and experience. Underpinning this trust is a commitment to:

Listening and engaging
Mutual benefit
Respect for diversity and inclusivity

The British Council also builds skills through a range of programmes including those it manages on behalf of other organisations (Department for International Development, European Union , Department for Children, Schools and Families, Foreign and Commonwealth Office); we use the same approach in working with partners in areas such as education reform, schools partnerships, civil society and public sector projects.

What benefit does this area of work bring to the UK?

The benefits that the British Council will bring to the UK through its Intercultural Dialogue programme include:

Support and enrichment of the international dimension of UK domestic policies where appropriate (e.g. the internationalisation of education for schoolchildren in England).
Opportunities for UK institutions to develop their international strategies and broaden their reach internationally and when partnering on major projects in this area e.g. in Europe or the Middle East.
Shared learning around issues such as migration, diversity, social inclusion and social cohesion (e.g. through projects such as Living Together, Our Shared Europe).
Wider appreciation of the UK’s important contribution to the exploration and negotiation of cultural diversity and difference which can in turn inform and influence strategies across the world in education, cultural debate, language access and social development.
Development of inter-cultural skills and experience by individuals and institutions taking part in our projects.

How does ICD support cultural relations for the UK?

The British Council, through its Intercultural dialogue programme, is working to increase understanding between societies and cultures, helping demonstrate the UK’s ability to engage, listen, learn and share experience, thereby building (and earning) trust.
The UK has much to offer in helping to shape cultural debate given the diversity resulting from successive migration patterns to the UK, its long history of engagement with other societies and cultures overseas and its position as an economic and cultural global hub. The British Council has been working in the field of cultural relations for 75 years and is seen as a trusted partner brokering relationships with the UK.
In many parts of the world, the demographics show majority populations of young people. Often there are real challenges for governments to ensure the next generations have the skills they need. The British Council, with a range of partners, can help develop English language skills, critical thinking, leadership, work-related skills and contribute to education strategies becoming more relevant to the needs of today. This in turn will help young people play an active part in their societies and engage more broadly: e.g. with their peers internationally.
There is plentiful evidence of tensions between communities both within the UK and between the UK and the wider world. Misperceptions, stereotyping and perceived grievances all affect the ability of individuals to interact successfully with each other.
All parts of the UK are responding to increased globalisation. This may take the form of creating international aspects to domestic agendas, responding to migration, joining forces with other overseas partners on common agendas. The British Council can bring learning and experience back into the UK, showing the value and relevance of engaging with other cultures.
The British Council has a unique role in working across cultures, and building relationships and inter-cultural dialogue between peoples with a distinctive appreciation of diversity and complexity. We will apply this to consolidating strong relations and networks as a foundation for positive cultural relations.
This work has the UK at its heart. Effective cultural relations provide opportunities and skills to build long-term relationships for the UK based on stronger understanding between societies and more active engagement by their members. Our engagements are designed to promote active participation by people in change agendas through the development of skills and capacity in leadership and change management.

What is the role of Counterpoint?

Counterpoint is the cultural relations think-tank of the British Council. Since its foundation in 2002, Counterpoint has started to shape and develop thinking on the future of public diplomacy and cultural relations. Counterpoint brings together cultural relations and public diplomacy practitioners, thinkers, writers, journalists and policy makers from around the world to challenge orthodoxy and confront the barriers to genuine and equal dialogue within and between cultures. Counterpoint offers consultancy and organises seminars, conferences and workshops, as well as publishing a significant number of books and articles.

Who do you work/partner with in the ICD area?

The British Council works with an extensive range of partners overseas – these include both public and private sector organisations, civil society and charitable foundations. Our commitment is to work with partners for mutual benefit in relationships built on trust and respect for the differing approaches operating in every society.

Our large-scale projects develop strong relationships for the UK and we work with a diverse range of organisations across the UK – leading governmental and policy making institutions in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England, parliamentary bodies, think tanks, regional and local authorities, civil society including faith and non-faith based community organisations, as well as the private sector.

We are seeking to develop a diverse range of strategic partnerships between 2008 and 2011 and beyond so that we can reach the ambitious objectives of our Intercultural Dialogue programme.

How much resourcing is going into this area and where?

Our Intercultural Dialogue programme depends on a range of resources. We expect to spend £20 million annually from our grant-in-aid over the triennium 08/09 – 10/11. In addition the majority of our contract work on capacity development, funded by clients such as the EU, DFID and other bodies, contributes to the outcomes we seek to achieve. Under the Comprehensive Spending Review 2008 -11, the British Council was also allocated an additional total £6million grant-in-aid over three years for our Reconnect programme.

Under the British Council’s corporate strategy, we will focus a large amount of our effort and spending on countries where the UK is less trusted – we see intercultural dialogue as being of central importance to the international interests of the UK. We have already started shifting resources out of Europe and into the Middle East, Near East and North Africa, Central and South Asia. Countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are examples of where we have strong intercultural dialogue projects.

Are you part of the fight against terrorism?

The British Council has a unique role as a cultural relations organisation to build relationships for the UK based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and better understanding of cultures and societies. This helps build a safer and more secure world for everyone.

The British Council’s ICD work is not designed to confront terrorism: that is the work of government agencies. What we do is address the cultural challenges from the past; and misunderstandings that our society has of others, and they of us.
Our interest is in open communication and mutual knowledge as positive ends in themselves, yielding better informed, better tempered societies that accept, respect and welcome each other.
We do not aspire to seamless agreement. Reasoned disagreement on shared premises is just as important, and a much more likely outcome: a clear and explicit understanding of this parameter is an indication of the respect that is a precondition of successful ICD. But we also understand that by working upstream of many of the realities that can lead to violent extremism, we may very well have an impact there, and this of course we welcome with enthusiasm.

Are you targeting Muslims as extremists?

No. The British Council is committed to supporting the consensus which rejects extremism in all its forms. We see extremism as:

"holding to an ideology that is intolerant of other positions; a preparedness to use extreme violence that targets ordinary people in order to achieve objectives" (Ladbury, 2005)

We want our work to make a positive difference to the resilience of young people in particular, to resist extremist ideologies – we achieve this by strengthening intercultural understanding and trust-based relationships

Do you work with faith groups?

The British Council seeks to involve leaders in society, both in the UK and in other countries, in discussing and debating critical cultural relations issues. Faith plays an important part in many people’s lives though they may be based in secular or non-secular states. We work to develop understanding between different societies and cultures; faith groups are important partners in this work.

Is the Council waging a cultural crusade?

No. The British Council’s work as a cultural relations organisation is about brokering better understanding between cultures: this is a two-way engagement with respect for what each party brings to the table.

What is Sharing Futures?

In the British Council’s submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) process in February 2007, we set out how we would both tackle directly environments which foster mistrust and misunderstanding and strengthen open societies through the development of younger leadership networks able to reach and influence alienated youth.

Under Sharing Futures, within our Intercultural Dialogue Programme Area, we aim to ensure individuals have a voice, the tools for access and the necessary education and leadership skills to play a meaningful role in their communities, and that they have a wider engagement across societies and with the UK. We have a range of large scale projects which will deliver this agenda against our corporate outcomes. We are scaling up our education reform work across 18, more broadly defined countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to achieve real improvement in the quality of education systems.

Our additional £6m funding over three years for Reconnect has focused, in 08/09, on young leadership projects in the Middle , Near East and North Africa, Central and South Asia and parts of East Asia.

What are your main areas of activity?

We encourage more active engagement by people in their communities: growing their contacts in, and understanding of, the UK, and supporting the application of their enhanced capabilities for social action.
We facilitate individual and community exchanges: strengthening understanding through direct, people-to-people connections.
We create space and opportunity for sharing experience: providing the time, place, resources and opportunity to exchange perspectives and experiences.
We support institutional change: capacity building at an institutional and community level, particularly in education.