Yiannis LaourisChair of Board of Future Worlds CenterAnna-Lindh-Network Cyprus Member 2011 Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue between Cultures: Honorable Mention

Promitheos 5, 1065 Lefkosia, CYPRUSTel. +357 22 87 38 20 Fax. +357 22 87 38 21

Future Worlds Center

(legal reg.: Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute)Unit 1: New Media Lab - Unit 2: Global Education – Unit 3: Humanitarian Affairsfutureworlds.eu fwcis.blogspot.com FutureWorldsCenter.org

Nicosia 26 July, 2012

Nomination of Positive Nett-Works e.V. (PNW), Hannover-Berlin, Heiner Benking and the PNW board for the EuroMed Dialogue Award 2012

‘Youth for Change, Social Justice and a Shared Development’.

I feel that the Institution PNW is prize-worthy, last-not-least his board member and co-ordinator Heiner Benking.

Heiner, throughout his professional career has been active proponent of social justice and both from his position with PNW as well as through other projects or collaborations, has made it a point to actively support and engage the youth in bringing about social justice, and empower youth to co-create and share ideas and actions that matter for themselves and their environment.An independent journalist, reporting about cutting edge developments in the field of Environment, Media, Technology, Youth, Participation and Governance, Heiner, a truly committed believer to the power of the individual in bringing about social change is also actively engaged in a variety of projects with special focus on Youth, Education, Sustainability, Development, Peace and Communication, even Performances in the Public and cross-Media Spaces. Moreover, he runs with his PNW and journalist colleague Farah Lenser (see: Anna-Lindh presentations and articles like in ab40 / go40 (ALF member) a small media agency through which they provide an alternative approach to communicating the news, inculcating a responsible media culture through which correctly informed citizens are empowered for an active role in the society.

Recognized for their professionalism and commitment to social change, Heiner and Farah were invited to moderate by the organizers of the European Cultural Capital event (InterKult) in Bochum [docu - WorldCafe and Magic Roundtable format].

Heiner has collected his involvement in Virtual Conferencing and how to involve youth on education, cultural exchange and media matters over the years, for example since the mid 90ies at the GLOBAL LEARN DAYS.

All activities below relate to the annual ANNA LINDH Award theme 2012, a special highlight and match can be found in the projects No. 1-4 und FWC’s No. 6., No. 5 shows interesting global and local projects worldwide, but also possible glocal international resonance between the EuroMed region and the international activities of the Nominee.

1) Positive Nett-Works e.V. (ALF member) Heiner is member of the board where he initiates and oversees with his board colleagues the three activity branches below and secures public awareness, in particular thanks to Farah Lenser, co-journalist who has spoken and published widely about the Anna-Lind-Foundation. Please see also the 2012 Anna-Lindh-Foundation German network co-ordination competition/election presentation describing PNW activities well illustrated (12 slides).

FUTURE RAFT, asap islands, Leinekunst, Europa-Teppich, Artlab4, … with youth events and performances for more than 15 years, see FUTURE RAFT, EUROPE CARPET and the recent asap-island project. Here a 3 minute clip of the Paradise asap project in June 2012 in Neukölln. (more below).

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Open-Forum, since before 1995 s.a. PNW cultur-ecological salons since the EXPO 2000

and the Tour 21 and more recently the Anna-Lindh-Salon as supported in part by the Anna-Lindh-Foundation with guests such as Combatants for Peace, Israel/Palestina and Judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui, Tunesia, also in the context of the “RADIUS OF ART” Anna-Lindh-Foundation Geman Network activities. http://ivoh.org/event/sept-27-30-ivoh-world-summit

Youth-Leader Magazine (YL), (UNESCO-ESD)

member-project since 2005) and the (UN-CBD 2012). Cross media and wall-paper editing and broadcasting activity in 10+ languages with 500+ volunteers. See the new

special editions on PEACE and MEDIA and the Images & Voices of Hope Award 2012.

Highlighted and recent examples of joint projects are the Youth Congress: "For a New Europe" at the FEZ Berlin presenting European Entrepreneuship events, European country puzzels, and the magic “round-carpets”. Here the final presentation of the Youth. Or the June 2012 48h park events and performances at FINAL DESTINATION: PARADISE – See Geman Anna-Lindh network invitation. Neukölln is the most thriving ethnic communities district of Berlin, a cultural hotspot. See article by Farah Lenser in OYA. See OYA invitation and press release.

2) EarthFocus Foundation, Geneva. Heiner is Conference Coordinator for Youth and Sustainable Development - Advisor/Consultant to the Governing Board and contributes regularly to International Youth events. Is part of the conception/planning team, gives lectures, organizes seminars and dialogues/role-plays and supports the youth to voice their own recommendations to be delivered to the heads of International and UN organizations via diplomatic courir or personal delivery. Here some reports: GYC 2010, GYC 2011 and EARTH DAY or UN Human Rights and World Water Day (as an example).

3) International Youth Community Services IJGD (ALF member) Heiner worked for years for the Board and Management for one of the oldest Youth Exchange Programmes (ijgd) in advisory functions, internal and external communication strategies and webdesign, and helped to develop news Voluntary Years like a YEAR IN DEMOCRACY and based on the Youth in Monument Preservation (Bauhütten-Jahr im Denkmalschutz) also on a year for Science and Technology for Sustainability Vocational Training.

Heiner contributed as ijgd representative in the Anna-Lindh Network in the ALF 1001 Actions for Dialog series in Weimar, linking sites in Cyprus … and proposed the participation of ALF in the UNESCO-DESD Decade for Education for Sustainable Development in Bonn. Helping to organise and filming the a public event and side-event dialog roundtables. See proposal by Helmut to Rieth to the Secretary General of the German UNESCO Roland Bernecker. See Roundtable report and 10001 Seeds Dialogues. And the “Seeds of Change” history or media roundtable in Barcelona 2008. (See also Weimar report by Farah Lenser)

4) (INBAK) PR and Communications Director of an Institute for Sustainability in Education, Work, and Culture where he supports the European Bücherbox project to bring youth from all professions and all sectors of vocational training together to to recycle a telephone-box, transform it into a book-exchange library, a communication hub for the youth and neighbourhood and include arts and technology, like solar and media. INBAK organizes roundtables and salons to bring together cultural events and “elders” public servants with youth

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and culture interested parties to give examples of other forms of apprentices, vocational training and practical and performative activities.

5) IHTEC, International Holistic Tourism Education Center (IHTEC) (501 c) association (Member of UNESCO-DESD, UN-CBD, UN-ECOSOC,…). Heiner is in the board since 10+ years and serves with UN ECOSOC consultative status at various internal and public occasions: International events, summits, commissions and conventions and conferences: In the last years primarily in European UN locations: Geneva, Vienna, and Bonn. He organised not only at UNESCO – DESD in Bonn “Delegates & Media Dialogues” to bring “others” to the table… Heiner

is with Dame Julia Morton-Marr and collegues involved around SCHOOL PEACE GARDENS and other Holistic Education projects, and attends workshops, virtual conferences, and curriculum development. He is drafting primarily with board collegue Helmut Burkhardt and Julia and respective expertise in the board recommendation like Rio+20 consultations, also for example UN-AMR, or the annual more focussed recommendations like on Education, Energy, Water, Population,…. Or Education and “Dropping out of School” inquiries (see 21stCenturyAgora affiliation below) as part of the Global Issues project and the Council on Global Issues

in co-operation with the Science for Peace & Pugwash activies….

6) Future Worlds Center (FWC) (ALF member) Heiner is a friend and collaborator. He shares with us activities world-wide for dialogues and deliberations, community organizing, in short multi-track diplomacy and multi-track peace-making. Here you find Heiner’s FWC profile, travel report, interviews and more from the SDP Practitioners Training in Cyprus 2011. Our common interests and work range from Computer-Assistet Communications, Inclusion, Dialog Formats, to Dialog and Decision Cultures, Social System Design, Policy-making and Governance.. His work around the Internet, a Humane Information Society and Telematics since 20+years, his awareness of the socio-cultural, media and communication dimensions, the specail requirements of inter-generational, interfaith and multi-lingual dialogues, and the voice and needs of the youth make him and PNW an ideal partner, not only a collegue in the ALF network who informed us and invited us to join for the 1001 Actions for Dialog activities.

We nominate Positive Nett-Works and Heiner Benking in person as we feel it is the width, variety and experience of more than 30 years working internationally which help to bring such a variety of interesting projects and organisations into one “bracket” and onto 3 pages…. When asking him which activities he would like to focus more attention and energy to, he listed: 1) Magic Roundtabe Dialogue Format, 2) Youth getting involved with Structured Dialogic and Deliberation Design (SDDP-deliberations, training school, see influence voting instead of importance voting), and 3) “Out of the Box Thinking and Paradigm Mapping” workshops/Entrepreneurship format-labs, so youth can see and negotiate in shared frames and models the respective specific context: positions, perspectives, indentities, scales, sectors, proportions and consequences, and learn to go beyond dualistic labeling: right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, or the impulse to be to pushy towards making others “agree”…. See consensus democracy and dialog and deliberation/social sytems Design/21stCenturyAgora and a presentation on Supersigns and Superstructures, or the NEW RENAISSANCE Series.

Collage of action pictures from PNW/Open-Forum/Youth Leader/PNW/worldfutureschool and INBAK (right) activities. Websites, video-clips and more on request.

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