The World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence is a global non-profit non-governmental organization dedicated to connecting researchers and practitioners across disciplines, sectors, languages and countries to advance the knowledge, research and praxis of intercultural competence globally in the pursuit of a more peaceful world.
The World Council community is comprised of collaborative network of intercultural experts and scholars (some of whom are ICC Advisors to the World Council), educators, students, policymakers, practitioners across all sectors, and anyone passionate about intercultural and global competence from around the world who come together through numerous working groups to learn from and with each other. The World Council is also active in publishing some of the latest work on intercultural and global competence through its bi-annual publication Intercultural Connector and blog.
The World Council promotes concrete methodologies for developing intercultural competence such as the UNESCO Story Circles. Its community members are interested in researching various aspects of intercultural and global competence and translating such research into real-world application, through grant-funded projects, toolkits, and other resources. The World Council collaborates with other organizations around the world with complimentary missions.
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Intercultural and Global Competence
There has been over 60 years of scholarly work on the concepts of intercultural and global competence, much of that in the Global North. There are over 30 terms used for these concepts and many different definitions. Below, we provide the first research-based definition of intercultural competence, along with a recent definition of global competence.
The World Council does not endorse any framework or definition and encourages the continued exploration of these concepts. Furthermore, the World Council focuses on interactions across difference, whatever those differences may be, i.e. gender, generation, religion, race, socio-economic status, etc.
Intercultural Competence is the lifelong process of developing targeted knowledge, skills, and attitudes leading to behaviour and communication that are both effective and appropriate in intercultural interactions
(Deardorff, 2006, 2017)
Global Competence is the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development.
(PISA, 2018)
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The World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization incorporated in North Carolina, USA. Tax-deductible donations may be mailed to World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence, 4142 Wallingford Place, Durham NC 27707 USA. If you’ve participated in a World Council webinar, event or benefited from one of our resources, consider contributing the value and impact it had for you.