The IOA – UN round table: for a new pedagogy model

A UN delegation on a very high level took part at the initiative promoted by the International Ontopsychology Association (IOA): an Association which has been enjoying the special consultative status of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations for years. In the framework of the theme promoted by the ECOSOC for the year 2013, “Science, technology and innovation, and the potential of culture for promoting sustainable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals”, the IOA organized an international conference in order to present projects pertinent to the 2013 topic. A UN delegation, which accepted the invitation to take part in the round table held on the 22nd of March 2013 in Lizori, was sent.

Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, High Representative of the UNAOC (United Nations Alliance of Civilizations) and President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, was leading the delegation. He was accompanied – together with Sorbonne lecturers, experts of international finance and their staff – by Hanifa Mezoui, Permanent Representative of the AICESIS (The International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions) to the United Nations. The core theme of this well-structured round table was the importance of promoting a new pedagogy, founded on the specific identity of the individual as well as of different populations.  Because this is the key passage needed in order to support an authentic culture of civilization and progress, a culture capable of giving a functional and comprehensive answer to the challenges of an increasingly interconnected and globalized society.

The most sensitive issue which Meneghetti touches upon is the deep division characterizing the Arab world, a division which not only undermines the native strength of the local communities but jeopardizes as well the peace process which, today more than ever, seems to advance with hesitations. Taking back possession of its own resources, being united in itself:  this is the main message to the Arab world, launched – not by coincidence – from the ambiance of the Lizori hamlet: the first “demonstration” of merits of the ontopsychological pedagogy in educating people and setting-up locations able to produce social values and to become masters of civilization in development.

Passing through Recanto Maestro in Brazil and Diostan in the Russian Federation, Nassir Al-Nasser defines Meneghetti’s work as an “educational model to be replicated” in order to promote, throughout the world, a new pedagogy of human being, a totally cross-culture one, “like Ontopsychology did”, underlines the UN High Representative. Motivations that range from ecobiological and sustainability values, through innovation, intercultural issues and integration, to the endorsement of private enterprise, art, interdisciplinarity, youth and innovation, female management as a priority: motivations that coincide precisely with the 8 “Millennium Development Goals” as defined by the United Nations.

And that is how even a physical place can become a universal expression of that perennial humanism on which the human soul foundations are laid. The human soul being for Meneghetti “the carrier of any value on this beautiful planet”.In the picture: Antonio Meneghetti with Nassir Al-Nasser, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, during the round table held in Lizori on the 22nd of March 2013.