Building bridges, not walls: ANA at the UNESCO Afro-Arab cooperation meeting in Tunis
Tunis hosted a UNESCO meeting dedicated to Afro-Arab cooperation in the fields of education, teaching, qualification and training, as well as scientific research. From June 24 to 27, 2024, the pan-African NGO ANA took part through its Secretary General. This meeting brought together representatives of international institutions, governments and civil society to discuss the challenges of partnership between Africa and the Arab world.
For the organization, this presence met a specific objective: to highlight the cultural relations that unite the Arab world and several African countries that share the Arabic language. There is nothing incidental about this link. It crosses history, exchanges, knowledge and shapes the identity of entire populations on the continent.
The Arabic language is much more than a tool of communication. It constitutes a common heritage, bearer of literature, science and thought, which brings together societies separated by geography but united by the same heritage. By valuing this proximity, the ANA intends to recall that the dialogue between Africa and the Arab world is based on ancient and solid foundations.
The areas selected by the meeting are particularly suitable for this dynamic. Education and teaching train future generations. Training and qualifications prepare young people for the jobs of tomorrow. Finally, scientific research makes it possible to meet the challenges of development together. In each of these fields, the pooling of experiences, exchanges between teachers and students and partnerships between institutions can produce concrete results.
For an NGO that has made African fraternity its fight, the approach is coherent. It consists of building bridges rather than walls and making culture a level for bringing people together. In this perspective, civil society has a role to play: to give the voice of communities, to feed the thinking of institutions and to contribute to translating orientations into actions.
The Tunis meeting thus offered a framework to recall that Afro-Arab cooperation is not limited to diplomatic or economic relations. It is rooted in culture, in knowledge and in the desire to build a common future. By participating in it, the ANA wanted to bring this conviction into the international debate, under the aegis of UNESCO. The challenge now is to extend this momentum: to transform exchanges into projects and meetings into lasting partnerships, for the benefit of African and Arab youth.Help me with 3 title in english
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