In 1955, Henry B. Ollendorff started an exchange program for youth leaders und social workers in Germany, his country of birth. Having a Jewish background he emigrated from Nazi-Germany to the USA and became a US citizen. Over the years the! initial Cleveland International Program (CIP) became a success story with several thousand participants from over 120 countries. A good reason to celebrate the 50th anniversary of CIP together with this conference.
Key issues of Henry B. Ollendorf were: get to know other people, understand them better and live and work peacefully together. These issues are still as valid today as they were 50 years ago and therefore the topic of our conference is fully in line with the ideas of the founder of this program.
Our world is full of contradictions, discrepancies and conflicts. People from different ethnic, religious or social background have difficulties in speaking to each other; even bigger are the problems of understanding each other. The need for a dialogue is evident.
The topic of our conference therefore is the idea of building bridges. Bridges for a better understanding, bridges to facilitate a peaceful and harmonic living together. The key issue will be the dialogue as an instrument of understanding. A wide variety of speakers will approach the subject from cultural, political, social and religious aspects.
Globalisation, social destruction, pressure on the underprivileged, lack of labor and positive perspectives create an environment, which does not ease a way into a better world.
But we believe: a better world is possible. Our discussions may offer a slight chance to contribute to this process in a positive way. For sure it will be exciting and a rewarding experience for everyone.
Besides the presentations of the key speakers there will be workshops to go deeper into the subjects. Agency visits will allow getting an insight into practical social work in Germany.
We also want you to get to know this beautiful country, so we will visit the city of Bonn, the hometown of Beethoven, we plan a boat trip on the River Rhine and if you want to stay a little longer, there will be three post tours, each one to the eastern, northern and southern part of Germany.
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