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Olympiads for Change (O-Change)

Region

Global

Programme Summary

On the cusp of the Olympic Games (Beijing, China) in August 2008, Bridge Initiative International launched a global information and communication technology (ICT)-driven process designed to engage youth and others in balancing out the power of globalisation through participating, listening, cooperating, and transforming relationships. Three years in the making, Olympiads for Change (O-Change) is intended to last at least 4 years in between the Beijing Olympics and the London (United Kingdom) Summer Olympics in 2012, with a possible peak in the middle (the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics). O-Change is designed to give life to the original ideas of the modern Olympic Games as Pierre de Coubertin imagined them: participation and peace.

Communication Strategies

O-Change's starting point is the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which it is using as a framework to bring individuals together in a "world games" of sorts meant to promote cultural diversity and collective creativity through symbolic competitions. O-Change combines an interactive virtual platform with a series of festive, artistic local and global events and actions. Launched during a time when the world comes together to celebrate human potential and the quest(s) that bring us all together - that is, the Olympic Games - O-Change seeks to generate a feeling of global citizenship that is respectful of local diversity.

Specifically, the virtual platform seeks to provide a spring-board for a new political space where the actors of globalisation in all their diversity can come together by, for example, taking part in a 5-question online survey that is designed to invite people to express how they feel about such issues as what is most needed to spark change from "the bottom" up. In addition, a forum invites people to debate themes related to human rights and various global crises. This idea of fostering a shared process of civic engagement will, as the initiative develops, also be reflected in an online game focusing on the Articles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, as well as a space where media professionals, athletes, and artists can contribute the work they are doing to raise awareness.

Using this internet process as a springboard, teams will form to compete in 5 disciplines through which they will illustrate, give life to, and - possibly - adapt the Articles into a document of global citizenship that represents the duties, responsibilities, and rights of each person. Those 5 disciplines could include: a short film or play; a song; a poem or a painting; a simple speech; a kind of physical performance; or an educational project. The resulting new framework will - after a period of listening, consultation, and common construction – be communicated (e.g., through interactions with the United Nations) - in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The idea is to draw on people's creative vision to consolidate their lobbying power to generate change in global governance.

Development Issues

Rights, Democracy and Governance.

Key Points

Bridge Initiative is a French non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to create and sustain a neutral space for dialogue by using tools that allow those engaged in the debate over globalisation's future to participate in meetings, public debates, and broadcast events designed to inform and engage their fellow citizens.

Partners

Madmundo.tv, Rue89.com, Dailymotion, Global Voices.

Contact

Patrice Barrat
Bridge Initiative

20, Boulevard Poissonnière

Paris
F-75009
France
Tel: 33 1 55 33 52 60
Fax: 33 1 55 33 52 62

Source

Email from Patrice Barrat to The Communication Initiative on August 14 2008; "Bridge Initiative Association statement on O-Change's (Olympiads for Change’s) Launch in August 2008"; O-Change website; and O-Change in Brief [PDF]; and Bridge Initiative website.


Placed on the Communication Initiative site August 14 2008
Last Updated August 14 2008



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