Pax Romana–International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (Pax Romana ICMICA/MIIC) with the support from the Government of Basque Country are happy to invite your organisation to send a representative to participate at the 3rd Pax Romana-ICMICA Interreligious and Intercultural Internship Programme 2007, to take place in Bilbao, Spain from 10 to 19 December 2007.

This Internship Programme is a follow up the International Congress on Intercultural Dialogue held in Bilbao, December 2005. In that Congress, 15 young people coming from different faiths were invited to follow an internship programme, and provided with the opportunity to intermingle with different experts during the programme. In 2006, we organised the 2nd Edition, and now we continue with the 3rd internship programme. We think that a continuous and true dialogue among young people coming from different faiths, religions and cultures is necessary in today’s contemporary society. This internship will help the participants to reflect together on how to be able to live together in a peaceful manner in the era with a profound transformation and transmission of cultures and religions.

In the past internships, we had participants coming from different countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Iran, Chile, Germany, Norway, Russia, Indonesia, India, France, Belgium, Spain, Israel, Palestine, etc and with different religious backgrounds including, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Brahma Kumaris, Zoroastrian and Baha’i faith .

The 3rd internship programme will be held from 10-19 December 2007, with the focus on dialogue among the participants, discussions with resource persons, visit to religious sites and a public conference on the theme of youth participation in the inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue. During the programme the participants are invited to identity their personal experience in dialogue so that they can figure out the challenges as well as developing concrete strategies. The expected participants of this programme are young representatives coming from different faith, religions, cultures with balance gender and geographical representations. There will also be an open public round table where the some of the participants are invited to express their experience and analysis on the Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue. By the end of the programme, the participants are invited to develop a final statement.

The materials of the internship, accommodations, meals and visits will be provided by the organizer. The organizer may partially provide the travel cost of international participants with a limited subsidy when necessary. For those who need it, they need to express it to the organizer.

Please find in the attachment the tentative programme and the application form. The participants should also send a motivation letter and letters of recommendation. The deadline of the submission of is October 20, 2007.

For further details please contact:

Paul Ortega and Budi Tjahjono
Pax Romana – ICMICA
15 rue du Grand Bureau, CP 374, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 823 0707 Fax: +41 22 823 0708
Email: paulortega@paxromana.int.ch and budi@paxromana.int.ch