The Vienna-based King Abdullah Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) will organize a major global forum titled ‘Image of the other’ on Nov. 18-19 in the Austrian capital to promote best practices in interreligious education.

More than 500 experts, policy makers and religious leaders from 90 countries are expected to attend.

“The forum is designed as a multi-track, large-scale dialogue and working meeting, in which attendees will discuss the global challenges of finding ways to responsibly educate people so they are better able to understand and relate to those of other religions and cultures,” said Faisal bin Muammar, KAICIID’s secretary general.

He said the forum would promote peaceful coexistence between people of different cultures and religions. “Our world today is made up of increasingly diverse communities and societies, and the universal lessons of coexistence and understanding are more important than ever before,” he said.

People should know each other to remove misunderstandings about others. “It is only through educating ourselves and others, learning about ourselves and those we share our world with, that we may begin to relate to each other through our commonalities rather than our differences,” he explained.

The forum is the culmination of four regional workshops the KAICIID organized since May 2013 in Vienna, Addis Ababa, New Delhi, and Buenos Aires. The workshop participants shared their experiences in interreligious and intercultural education, and presented examples of methods and approaches that were proving effective in their regions. They also discussed region-specific challenges in the field, and proposed recommendations to address them.

Bin Muammar said the center is excited to welcome partners with whom it collaborated across the regional workshops. “We are privileged to have these distinguished professionals with us as we continue to evaluate and showcase the findings of our work on a global scale.”

He said the forum is aimed at highlighting best practices in education from all over the world – pinpointing effective training models and exploring ways to disseminate them trans-regionally. Also taken into account will be resources to facilitate cooperation across disciplines and build lasting networks for an integrated approach to advance the fields of interreligious and intercultural education, he said.

The two-day event will feature discussions, roundtables, workshops, and dialogue among government representatives, experts, field specialists and religious leaders.