Centre for Intercultural Studies

Intercultural Project Management
July 2-7 2001

Motifs
Interethnic and intercultural relationships have moved to the top of the agenda in the past decades. Due to the outbreak of armed conflicts in various parts of the world and due to the increasing tendencies of racism and xenophobia, intercultural communication and confidence building measures between different groups of the population are widely discussed and urgently needed. In this context the initiatives promoting these relationships are crucial ones.

In countries of transition and in developing countries NGOs play an important role in the construction of civil society on the one hand, the process of globalization on the other leads to an increasing transfer of social and cultural activities formerly covered by states to the so called third sector. Presently, intercultural organisations and institutions and NGOs are active in a great variety of sectors such as education, social assistance, culture, media, cross-border cooperation and health care.

NGOs very often lack a certain amount of professional skills on specific project-management tools due to a diversity of challenges (complex organizational environment, difficult social, political and financial surroundings etc.) they have to cope with.

Pilot workshops held in 2000 and 2001 at Klagenfurt University focussed on:

• improvement of social project management skills (e.g. self-evaluation, team development, conflict management)
• theoretical concepts (e.g. cultural theory, intercultural communication, multilingualism)
• networking among projects (e.g. mutual analysis of projects, exchange of working experience)

Contents of the working sessions and plenaries

• management skills: internal and external
  • internal: team development; mediation; leadership and membership issues; distributionof labour; working on the task; self-evaluation; guiding meetings etc.)
  • external: dealing with the organizational environment; managing the interfacebetween the team and the organizational environment; contracting with initiators, donors, clients, institutions, authorities; conflict management; negotiating resources.
• intercultural issues: age, gender, regional affiliations, urban/rural, cultural identities,ethnic/linguistic and other affiliations are different parameters to be considered in the above mentioned internal and external dimensions of project management.
• language and communication in multilingual settings: translation/transfer and lingua franca communication; meta-linguistic skills; sociolinguistic dimension and psycholinguistic dimensions

Method

The working method is an open and process-oriented one. Process-orientation implies working with resources of participants, presuming that people concerned are the "experts" of their problems as well as the "experts" for adequate solutions. The methodological approach in this context is non-directive as far as research, problem-definition and resolution are concerned, it is directive in regard to theoretical and practical inputs, accurately adjusted to identified areas of improvement by participants on themselves. The training style is participatory and participants are expected to take responsibility for their own learning. Training competence here is mainly a sort of guiding assistance to develop a clear sight of participants` problems as well as providing professional tools to find and try out appropriate solving strategies.

Trainer staff

• Dr. Brigitta Busch, Centre for Intercultural Studies, Klagenfurt University
• Dr. Willibald Erlacher, Trainer, Adult Education Projects
• Ass.Prof. Dr. Karin Lackner, IFF, Klagenfurt University, Trainer and Oganisation Counselor
• Dr. Christian Lackner, Trainer and Organization Counselor