World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is celebrated every year globally on the 21 May as a way of creating awareness about different cultures as well as bridging the gap between those cultures.

It was in December 2002 when this day was declared by United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 57/249 to be the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

This day bring communities together and assist them with an opportunity to deepen understanding of the values of cultural diversity and make them to learn to be tolerant of another and live together harmoniously as one nation.

We live in society with different cultural diversity, both in education and professional environments cultural diversity benefits everyone in that we learn to understand other people including their language, food and dress sense, among others.

According to the South African Government website, on the 20 October 2005 UNESCO adopted four goals on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expression which are:

• Support sustainable systems of governance for culture.
• Achieve a balanced flow of cultural goods and services and increase mobility of artists and cultural professionals.
• Integrate culture in sustainable development framework.
• Promotes human rights and fundamental freedoms.

These four goals are the backbone in making sure that community and society at large embark on learning about other cultures in order to help understand different perspectives within societies which we live in.  It will also create awareness in the need to dispel negative stereotypes and personal biases about other cultures.