SIETAR Europa New Year’s Message

30 December 2021 | Community in Action

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Dear SIETAR Europa members and friends,

2021 has been, to say the least, a challenging year for all of us. It has been a year of difficulties and restrictions to see our loved ones, especially for those with family all over the world. It has been a time of climate challenges and misfortunes that have reminded us how important it is to focus on sustainability for the health of our planet. It has been a period of social change and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion education that SIETAR Europa has fiercely supported.

We as the SIETAR Europa community have achieved many good things in 2021

Today, it is the start of a new year, and I am reminded of the many good things that we have done together as the SIETAR Europa community in 2021. We introduced the Intercultural Playgrounds to learn by playing and to connect with fellow SIETARians interested in intercultural gamification. We enjoyed eleven monthly webinars on diverse topics, as well as nine monthly Cross-Cultural Coffee Breaks for more informal discussion. We opened the SIETAR Europa Direct Members Meetups to all SIETARians. We concluded the Anti-Racism Learning Series that started in 2020, but that doesn’t mean that our anti-racism efforts stopped. We continued this learning journey in our first-ever SIETAR Europa Virtual Institute on Anti-Racism, Inclusion, and Intersectionality. We launched our brand-new website, and we even had the opportunity to celebrate SIETAR Europa’s 30th Anniversary! I am extremely grateful for all the work of our volunteers and the support of SIETAR Europa members that made all of this happen, you are the pillars of our organization!

Also, in 2021 we have conducted our first Executive Committee elections and we have restructured the Board of Directors of SIETAR Europa to improve management and operations. As the elected President, I feel very moved by all the warm wishes that I have received during the last year, and I would like to thank you for all the support you have provided to our team. We deeply appreciate your trust!

Exciting events and projects are coming up in 2022

Furthermore, there has been a lot of work happening behind the scenes and we are doing our best to become more transparent in our communication. A great part of this work has also been dedicated to the events happening this year. We are impatient to re-think interculturalism with all of you at the next SIETAR Europa Congress in Malta in May 2022, in person but also virtually! We are looking forward to continuing our trainings, conversations, and games at our monthly webinars, Cross-Cultural Coffee Breaks, and Intercultural Playground sessions (2022 events calendar). And we are very excited to show you our newest project: Curiously Intercultural!

I am very proud of our community of interculturalists, and I would like to ask all SIETARians to consider how you can support the good work being done at SIETAR Europa. The more we work together, the better!

I wish you all a happy new year 2022 and I hope the beginning of this year brings along the start of new projects, new partnerships, new friendships, and new SIETARians!

Carla Cabrera Cuadrado

SIETAR Europa President

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