Although nation-states were, in the past, frequently identified with a common
language, history and culture, modern societies are increasingly multicultural.
Even as they celebrate diversity and difference as sources of strength, countries
around the world seek a common denominator of respect and understanding among
their citizens. The Fifth Global Conference on National Youth Service
addressed the challenge of achieving social integration that respects cultural
diversity. Conference participants learned about models of NYS as a force for
social integration in both developed and developing countries and explored questions
of service outside of one's community of origin, exposure to different cultures
and languages, and service in mixed groups. The plenary discussion identified
potential conflicts between values of integration and fears of assimilation. Participants
in the plenary discussion examined the collective rights of minorities to remain
separate from the broader society in light of the civic responsibilities of individuals
to participate fully in their society. Here follows a summary of the conference
session cultural integration.
Canada
is a country built by many cultures including those of the Aboriginal Nations,
the English, French and other European colonists. In 1985 the Canadian Government
enacted the Multiculturalism Act. This Act aimed to encourage civic duty and participation,
as well as - most relevant for our purposes - promoting cultural integration.
In the Multiculturalism Act we see an acknowledgement of the advantages to social
justice and civic participation in promoting social integration. Limits
to Integration It is of course important to note the limitations of
integration. Many countries benefit from the presence of reasonably distinct cultural
communities. Complete assimilation of individuals into a predetermined set of
values does not always provide the incentive for these individuals to contribute
actively to the development and growth of society. Social recognition and acceptance
of different cultures can be powerful tools that provide the opportunity and incentive
for every individual in society to become an active citizen. Katimavik
Program Katimavik (the Inuit word for 'meeting place') is a National
program that provides training and volunteer services to young Canadians. Since
1977, with a break in 1985 when the program was abolished and then renewed, more
than 20,000 participants have taken part in the program. Katimavik volunteers
serve in Canadian communities, carrying out useful work projects that could not
be completed without volunteer assistance. Groups work in a number of different
communities, in French-speaking, English speaking, rural and urban settings. Katimavik
volunteer groups are diverse. As well as socio-economic differences, participants
in each group are also from different linguistic backgrounds, with two-thirds
native English speakers and one-third native French speakers. Building
an Integrative Program Katimavik is a successful program with a number
of features that can be transferred to other settings. A number of these features
stem from the realization that National Youth Service programs involve education
as well as service. Katimavik uses partners to provide work related training to
volunteers, not just to improve their work, but also their understanding and skills.
Language instruction (groups are bi-lingual) is another form of training, even
more closely related to cultural integration. Values education is important,
and treated as such, within Katimavik. Katimavik is pro-active in creating a culture
of diversity within its groups, thus impacting upon the values of participants
who live within these groups. This respect of diversity allows participants to
grow to know and like themselves and others. A good way to create a sense
of togetherness amongst young people is to have them work on a common project.
Participants in Katimavik groups work together on activities where they can achieve
shared objectives. Although at first there are often difficulties caused by the
diversity of the group when faced with a difficult task, eventually this type
of approach tends to strengthen the links uniting them. It also takes attention
away from their differences. Furthermore, with a choice of projects reflecting
their collective interests, young people discover that they have fundamentally
similar fears and dreams. General Benefits to Youth Although
strictly speaking beyond the scope of this paper, it is worth listing briefly
the benefits to young people of participating in a Youth Service program such
as Katimavik's. Apart from the social integrative effects that will be examined
below, there are three kinds of ways in which these young people develop: in skills,
in knowledge and in values. In terms of skills, young people improve their
language, computer, vocational, and decision-making abilities. In terms of knowledge,
young people become more politically aware, have greater understanding of their
country's problems, and deeper comprehension of social differences. Young people's
values change in terms of their attitudes to education, the work place, relationships,
volunteering and service. Benefits of Integration Having outlined
the Canadian situation and the work of Katimavik, and seen how National Youth
Service can help young people who serve, we now turn to our main question: how
does National Youth Service serve as a socially integrative force? The
first way in which Katimavik encourages social integration is on the direct level
of the group. By living together as a group for seven to nine months, participants
from diverse backgrounds confront a range of different customs, opinions, and
perceptions. In time, regardless of the differences amongst them, individuals
come to gain a deeper understanding of cultural diversities, helping to develop
a greater tolerance. Confronting young people with different cultures can also
lead to a greater self confidence and self knowledge, from having to explore their
identities with reference to the Other. In this context, 94% of Katimavik participants
feel that they have a good understanding of Canadian cultural diversity. Not
only do participants in Katimavik's program come to understand each other better,
they also become friends with one another. As the program evolves, they grow closer,
and begin to create a multicultural social network across the country. This social
network tends to promote a set of common values, helping social integration. In
addition to the social networks that form among young people, social ties are
also made to members of the host communities. Each Katimavik group stays in two
English speaking communities and one French speaking community. Over the course
of the program, participants are billeted into families from the host communities
for a two week period. Placement with families is carried out by a local program
committee, but also only happens after face-to-face contact has been made. This
placement is an important element of enrichment; this part of the program helps
develop a reciprocal knowledge between host and participant, and creates long
lasting personal relationships. Here the greater understanding and tolerance that
exists within a group of young people is spread to members of the host community.
Returning to their community of origin, young Canadians who have participated
in Katimavik programs speak positively of their experience and inform their peers
about other parts of the country and the people living there, thus helping to
dispel prejudice and predetermined notions. Finally, it is worth noting
that Katimavik participants contribute to the economic and cultural health of
the communities they visit, again, perhaps, helping the integrative process. We
can see that National Youth Service schemes have the potential to lead to social
integration in a number of ways: by changing the views of participants and those
they come into contact with, by building inter-cultural friendships, and by contributing
to the attractive development of society as a whole. To conclude, according to
a young Katimavik participant, working and living with a group in British Columbia
- Western Canada: "These programs bring together young people from various
parts of the country and the world to share an experience, which is new and unique
to each of them... Language, religion, and all other traditional barriers are
broken as the groups grow and create their own cultures to integrate various parts
from each individual." (Hina Zaidi- Montreal, Quebec). The Nigerian National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)
was established three years after the bloody civil war of 1966-70. Nigeria is
a large country, with an ethnically diverse population. 374 ethnic groups with
three major languages and around 250 dialects make national unification a difficult
task - one that the National Youth Service Corps was expressly set up to accomplish. The
NYSC is essentially compulsory for graduates of university first degrees and polytechnic
Higher National Diploma Certificate courses, provided they are under 30 years
old. Those graduates who do not participate in the scheme are consequently prevented
from working. However it is not at all clear that the compulsory nature of the
scheme is what determines such a high rate of participation - when the Nigerian
Government considered lowering the maximum age of participants to 25, there were
demonstrations against the move. The National Youth Service Corps started
in 1973 with 2,460 participants from five tertiary institutions. Twenty-seven
years later it has grown to a size of around 100,000 participants (although this
figure varies year by year) from 105 institutions. The NYSC is not only a large
scheme, but is also well supported, and is now the longest running inter-state
program in Nigeria. The National Youth Service Corps members serve for a
year in groups of mixed ethnic background. Service is in an area outside of a
participant's own state, and in a different linguistic community. Social and cultural
integration comes not only from interaction within the group of ethnically diverse
participants, but also from interaction with the host community during the eleven-month
placement period. The year long program starts with a one-month orientation
and training course. Participants live in a State Camp and are initiated into
the philosophy and rationale of the course. They learn leadership skills, and
participate in military drills in order to ensure that they are well equipped
to cope with the potential difficulties they might face during their placements.
The training camps work with groups of mixed ethnicity, thereby serving as the
start of the social integration process. During the training camp, members of
the NYSC from different geographic, linguistic, social, and cultural backgrounds
get used to one another; they cook together, hold meetings together, and learn
to tolerate one another's beliefs, cultures, and general way of life. Importantly,
this process is not left to chance; rather a program of activities such as games,
lectures, traditional dances, and even cooking competitions ensure interaction
amongst participants. One of the key indicators used to measure the success of
the scheme is the number of inter-ethnic marriages that occur. Many of those inter-ethnic
marriages that do occur are traced back to this initial orientation and training
course. For the bulk of the main eleven months of the year, Corps members
are posted around the country to work in their Primary Assignment. Where possible,
work is matched to the members' area of expertise. During this period, scheme
members are paid a stipend but not a salary. The NYSC members' activity contributes
to public life and economic growth, helping the communities within which they
work. More directly designed to help host communities are the Community
Development Service (CDS) program and the Integrated Rural Development (IRD) program.
The CDS program asks Corps members to improve their host community in some way.
Corps members generally participate in rural development projects such as road
construction, public building schemes, running or teaching adult literacy or other
classes, health campaigns, refuse disposal services, or even public art projects. The
IRD program is currently in its pilot stage. This scheme, instead of focusing
on public development programs, is more closely targeted with its goal of the
alleviating and preventing poverty. The IRD program includes food hygiene work,
mass literacy programs, the setting up of small rural industries, and alternative
technology work - such as the building of solar power generators. Both the
CDS and IRD programs ensure that NYSC members are kept active and occupied, and
that, in addition to the social interaction that they have with each other and
their host communities, they make a significant contribution to their host community.
This encourages social integration by changing attitudes - of the host community
who see the positive work Corps members do for them, and of the participants,
who come to empathize with the problems and needs of their hosts. Award
schemes and competitions are common throughout the NYSC program, and these help
to ensure that participation is active and energetic. Awards are given to the
best volunteers from each state, depending upon their contribution, and winners
usually receive the guarantee of employment and some prize. Host communities also
offer awards to successful Corps members by bestowing traditional titles upon
those who make the most noticeable contribution. Competition is also used
at the team level. Corps members compete in football, volleyball, dancing, and
drama competitions, with teams selected from within the ethnically mixed groups.
The teams compete at different levels - including inter-platoon, inter-state,
and inter-zonal (around six states comprise a zone) competitions. States draw
pride and pleasure from their team's performances, despite their cheering for
a group that is not originally from their own state. The competitors and fellow
Corps members are unified by the competition, although they too are from different
ethnic backgrounds. The NYS Corps, whilst having an almost completely national
focus - with the integration that is sought an intra-Nigerian one - does contribute
to West African society too. Managers of the NYSC scheme are sent to other countries,
where they lend valuable expertise. The NYSC program is considered a success
within Nigeria. It is well known, and has affected a lot of people who occupy
positions of power. Most high-level Civil Servants, for example, have participated
in the scheme. By focusing on university and polytechnic graduates, the Corps
impacts upon future opinion formers and policy makers within Nigeria. The
chosen measures of success for the NYSC are those most directly indicative of
an integrative effect - inter-tribal marriage and participant relocation. These
indicators, which are readily measured, give an idea of how much progress towards
social integration can be made with a well-designed NYS program. Inter-tribal
marriage, which would once have seemed strange, is increasingly common. Around
a quarter of Corps members remain in the area of their Primary Assignment after
it has finished. We can see that the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps
program contributes to the breakdown of geographical segregation, tribal exclusivity,
and negative attitudes towards people of a different ethnicity. This achievement
relies on built-in ethnic integration, meaningful and plentiful activities and
work projects, and a healthy measure of personal and team competition. The success
of the NYSC is such that it is said in Nigeria to be the 'fulcrum upon which our
national unity balances.' * Integration is conceptually problematic. It is far from clear that
integration is desirable, when this has the connotation of assimilation of smaller
ethnic groups and minority cultures into the national norm. Programs must be designed
to promote tolerance and mutual respect, thereby allowing participants from minority
cultures to maintain their own cultural identity. * Integration into the
national polity might well be desirable, but it remains important for a wider
view to be taken. Especially with increasing globalization, it is important that
young people be encouraged to feel as if they belong not only to a nation, but
also to the international community. Service need not be given exclusively within
a participant's home country. Work within the field of human rights, or economic
development, could be performed by mixed groups from one country, or even international
groups. There could be benefits to participants and their countries of origin
if skills needed in the global marketplace - such as the use of English - were
developed. * Dialogue between young people from different backgrounds is
unlikely, as of itself, to achieve the desired integrative results. Programs should
be built around service, with participants attempting to accomplish difficult,
yet socially useful, tasks together. This process brings young people together
in pursuit of a common goal, whereas dialogue can sometimes serve to magnify differences.
Dialogue will be more successful when used to enrich joint work programs. *
Inter-ethnic marriage might not be as good an indicator of integration, or of
the integrative effects of programs, as has been claimed. Bosnia and Serbia had
high rates of intermarriage before the conflict there began. * NYS takes
place within a wider political context, and political support is essential. It
is important that NYS programs are not used as assimilative tools by governments. *
In order to succeed in integrating young people into society, and building a new
level of tolerance and respect within society, NYS programs need to be designed
with an awareness of the integrative process. Time must be built into the program
for participants to reflect upon their attitudes and experiences, and supervisors
need to be able to intervene in the non-formal educational process if the desired
effects are not observed. * Although it is preferable to break down ethnic
boundaries by forming ethnically mixed participant groups and having young people
serve ethnic communities other than their own, this is not always possible. It
is better to have young people serving their own community in homogenous groups
than for them not to participate in NYS at all. Over time a program such as this
might well develop into a socially integrative one. * NYS can contribute
not only to cultural integration but also to the depth and strength of a national
culture. The Russian experience demonstrates how this is done: by interaction
with older members of society. NYS participants visit older people and offer them
help with household tasks. They also probe them about the past in Russia - a country
with a volatile history - about folk customs, the local past and so forth. This
activity builds knowledge of the national culture, preserves the national culture,
and helps to build pride in a shared history. "I believe the concept of 'cultural integration' should be
revised (or reviewed). What do we want to "integrate"? This is very particular
for each country" "Some friends, especially from Israel, had a problem with
the word integration - one religion integrating into another? But they were satisfied
with the idea of integrating into the human family" "Very informative, but
only scratched the surface. More work need on the issue of collective identity"
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