Young SIETAR Unplugged!
Creative Approaches
To Interculturalism

November 12th-15th, 2009 in Cairo, Egypt
Welcome to Young SIETAR’s 10th Annual Congress edition!!

More than fifty participants from Europe and overseas are expected to attend the congress, which will offer a four-day program for the YS members worldwide and guests, for students, recent graduates and young professionals in the intercultural field. Besides the wonderful opportunity to interact with different cultures, and meet many interesting people the congress feature a wide variety of learning opportunities.

This year, Young SIETAR is going Unplugged! We are seeking new ways to explore and challenge the intercultural field.
We are releasing old barriers and seeking new ways for genuine and authentic exchanges to happen.

We will use collaborative knowledge creation methods such as World Café, Open Space Technology, as well as artistic expression and more traditional workshop setting to make core questions emerge and find a common vision for the future. Participants will have the chance to ask questions they never dared to ask and discuss issues they never have the time to discuss in depth.

After nine highly successful congresses in

• Amsterdam/The Netherlands 1997)
• Brussels/Belgium (1999),
• Wroclaw/Poland (2000)
• Timisoara/Romania (2002),
• Bratislava-Liptov/Slovakia (2003), 
• Berlin-Usedom/Germany (2004),
• Zadar/Croatia (2005),
• Benageber-Valencia/Spain (2006),
• Ravensbrück/Germany (2007),

Young SIETAR will embark on a new journey and embark on getting to know the Arab world: we will be visiting the World’s original tourist destination of Cairo!

About Young SIETAR

The Young SIETAR Network is an exciting new opportunity in the world of intercultural education, training, communication and research.
Young SIETAR is an international non-profit, member-run association, which combines the efforts of students and young professionals from a wide range of practical and academic disciplines who share a common concern for intercultural relations. Through a wide range of activities Young SIETAR provides a unique opportunity to build a bridge between juniors and professionals in this dynamic field that is educating a new generation of interculturalists.

Young SIETAR is an international organization without borders, regional or local branches which exists thanks to the commitment and ideas of its diverse but highly enthusiastic members. As a network of intercultural academics and young professionals, Young SIETAR acts as a bridge between newcomers and established professionals in the intercultural field. Young SIETAR stands for enthusiasm, new ideas, knowledge sharing, in short: a different, ‘young’ approach. In its 12th year, Young SIETAR is proud to bring together interculturalists from all over the world. Young SIETAR is committed to make a contribution to international human understanding and expand its role as unifying bridge between professionals of today and tomorrow.

We value open-mindedness and high spirits above anything else!

About the Congress

This year, the 10th annual Young SIETAR congress will be a premier! It will be our first congress outside of Europe! A truly intercultural meeting in the midst of the Arab world.

The aim of Cairo '09 is to
create a vision for interculturalism for the future through:

• challenging our reality as interculturalists
• addressing contemporary issues in the intercultural field
• generating genuine and meaningful conversations
• building connections between interculturalists from the West and Middle East  
• opening up to new perspectives by experiencing different cultural realities
• spreading the Young SIETAR spirit

“Young SIETAR Unplugged!! Creative Approaches to Interculturalism. This theme will be guiding us between the 12th to the 15th of November as we visit Umm al-Dunya (Mother of the World), or better known as Cairo.

The congress will be held in Triumphant City, known officially as al-Qāhirah. The city is better known to the West as Cairo, the capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa.
Cairo, Egypt is an amazing city full of life and movement, and it is that way almost 24 hours every day, with the noisy honking of horns, children playing in the streets and merchants selling their wares and services. Almost a quarter of Egypt’s population lives in the city, one of the world’s most densely populated cities.