U Thant Institute, Friendship Across Cultures Program :

Overview

Launch of the Program: U Thant Institute, in an effort to foster peace through education and to promote intercultural understanding, launched the Friendship Across Cultures program on 13 June 2007. The Program was launched with the support of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization), UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, wife of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Mission: Guided by the ideals and vision of U Thant, the U Thant Institute seeks to help future generations build a global society that values diversity and encourages its citizens to demonstrate the virtues of tolerance, cooperation, understanding, and compassion.  Toward this end, the institute has developed a program entitled “Friendship Across Cultures.”

Goal and Objective: The goal of the Friendship Across Cultures Program is to create a network of young students from middle schools around the world who, through their connections with one another, will explore their mutual values, break down cultural prejudices, and practice tolerance, cooperation and mutual understanding  and respect.

In turn, they will realize the value of diversity and promote the idea of interdependence and the concept that we are all citizens of “One World.”

Pilot Program:

•    The Institute developed lessons with list of activities and themes that reflect the goals of the program: Theme 1: Who we are, Theme 2: Who are the peacemakers, and Theme 3: What we can do to contribute to peace.

•    The Institute established a pilot program which linked middle schools in Algeria and the Republic of Korea with the United Nations International School in New York City.

•    Offered as part of a media club, the students in the “Friendship Across Cultures” pilot program were introduced to each other “virtually” by making short videos about themselves and their schools and videos         were exchanged.   Students met weekly, with students at each site creating an online magazine/newspaper that was published three times over a 15-week period.

•    Students researched and wrote about many topics related to peace, shared their ideas with each other and responded to articles and postings from students at partner schools.
•    Each weekly meeting began with a variety of peace-related activities to develop students’ knowledge, leadership skills, and cross-cultural understanding while simultaneously acquiring media, writing and communication skills.

Future Program:

The Institute has received inquiries from schools in US and abroad express their desire to  join the Program. The Institute hopes to add 2 schools each year.  Riverdale Country School in New York will adopt the Program in their  curriculum this Fall.

It is the Institute’s hope that the Friendship Across Cultures program will help promote intercultural understanding and create culture of peace.  The Program will further the legacy of U Thant , who firmly believed that education could counter intolerance and fear-often the root causes of hatred, prejudice and violence.

ADVISORY TRUSTEES

The Advisory Trustees of the U Thant Institute provide policy and regulatory guidance for the Board of Directors which, in turn, makes policy decisions on the nature and scope of activities to be implemented by the Executive Office of the President.

CHAIRMAN: His Excellency Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations; former Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs, Egypt

The Honorable Syed Babar Ali, Pro-Chancellor, Lahore University of Management Sciences; former Finance Minister of Pakistan

Mrs. Sylvia Fuhrman, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for UNIS; Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations

Mrs. Connie Greenfield, Philanthropist; Member, International Hospitality Committee of Southwestern Connecticut

Mr. Stewart Greenfield, Co-founder & Chairman, Alternative Investment Group; Director, Santa Fe Institute; Director, Greenfield Environmental Venture Fund; former Chairman, Oak Investment Partners

The Honorable Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Political Issues; Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Myanmar; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria

The Honorable Anand Panyarachun, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; former Prime Minister of Thailand

Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; former Ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Morocco

The Honorable Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen, Pro-Chancellor, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; former Foreign and Defense Minister of Malaysia

Sir Brian Urquhart, former Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, United Nations

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHAIRMAN: Dr. George J. Delaney, President, Summit Resources, Inc.; former Vice President, Consolidated Edison Company, New York

SECRETARY: Paul B. Edelberg, Esq., Counsel, Murtha Cullina LLP; President, ChinaTrade2USA

Ms. Janet F. Filling, Executive Director, American Red Cross (Mid-Fairfield County Chapter)

General Patrick J. Garvey, Chairman, Cavalry Security Group; former President, National Maritime Historical Society; former Commanding Officer, Camp Smith

Dr. Rajinder P. Ghandi, Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery, Columbia University; Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Harlem Hospital Center, New York

Dr. Joseph N. Hankin, past Chairman, U Thant Institute; President, SUNY Westchester Community College; Adjunct Professor of Higher Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Mr. Katsuhide Kitatani, Chairman, NPO 2050; former Assistant Secretary-General/Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund

Dr. Jean E. Krasno, Fellow, International Security Studies, Yale University; former Executive Director, The Academic Council on the United Nations System, Yale University

Dr. David L. Levinson, President, Norwalk Community College; Adjunct Professor of Higher Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Mr. Matthew G. McCrosson, Partner, O'Connor Davies Munns & Dobbins LLP; former Senior Manager, KPMG Consulting

Dr. Tyn Myint-U, President, US-Asia Pacific Technology Group; Fellow, Harvard University; former Chief, United Nations Asia-Pacific Program on Transnational Corporations; former Professor of Mathematics, Manhattan College

The Honorable Dr. Nyi Nyi, Member of the Board of Directors, International Trachoma Initiative; former Director, UNICEF; former Minister of Mines and former Deputy Minister of Education, Burma

Daw Aye Aye Thant (ex officio), President, U Thant Institute

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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Daw Aye Aye Thant, President

Mr. Anthony Fouracre, Vice President for United Nations Affairs

Mr. Willard Hass, Vice President for Information

Mr. Ronald Cantwell, Treasurer

Ms. Christina Hennessy, Director of Communications

Ms. Alexandria Faiz, Director of Membership Development

Ms. Amanda Lanzarone, Research Associate & Director of Event Planning

Mr. Colin Gurd, Research Associate

Inspired by U Thant’s vision of "One World", the Institute’s mission is to advance peace by supporting educational projects related to conflict prevention, poverty alleviation and public health.

In so doing, the U Thant Institute will use its unique position to form alliances with United Nations organs, non-governmental organizations, educational establishments, philanthropic institutions, scholars and individuals.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

The Institute aims to achieve, in small and large steps, its goal of peace through education to enable comprehension of conflicts, discernment of causes, and healing of ills.

To this end, the U Thant Institute will work to reach a wide audience by bringing together people of differing cultures, faiths and religions in educational, civic and social forums that address the diversity, challenges and possibilities of our world.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U Thant Institute Launches Fund for Myanmar Cyclone Disaster Survivors

NEW YORK, May 7, 2008 – The U Thant Institute, led by its founder and president Daw Aye Aye Thant, a Myanmar national, today launched the Emergency Myanmar Cyclone Relief Fund to provide immediate and longer term assistance to the cyclone-ravaged nation of Myanmar.

Following the catastrophic destruction unleashed by Cyclone Nargis on May 2, leaving an estimated 60,000 dead and many more thousands missing, the Institute plans to use its Emergency Fund to support and bolster existing survivor care management at the local level.

As the world continues to grapple with the sheer scale of this appalling tragedy, the U Thant Institute is urging its network of members and all sympathetic citizens of the world to donate quickly and generously to the fund (contributions by residents and nationals of the USA are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law). Donations are being accepted online at www.uthantinstitute.org/emcrf-please-donate

You could also write a check payable to UTI/ EMCRF and send to U Thant Institute, 5 Sue Terrace, Westport, CT 06880.

About the U Thant Institute

The U Thant Institute is a non-political, non-sectarian, non-profit organization that promotes the values and ideals of the third Secretary-General of the United Nations. The institute was inaugurated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on December 3, 2003 by its founder and president, Daw Aye Aye Thant to continue the vision and honor the accomplishments of her late father, Maha Tharay Sithu U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971.

U Thant, the first Asian Secretary-General, was born in Pantanaw in Delta Region, Myanmar which is believed to have been totally destroyed by Cyclone Nargis.

CONTACTS: Bill Hass, Vice President for Information, U Thant Institute, +1-203-454-7685

Aye Aye Thant , + 1- 203 -341 -0477