Pangaea
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Mission Statement
Pangaea, a non-profit organization in Kyoto, Japan, creates "Universal Playground" where children around the world come and enjoy personal bonds with their international peers, through the shared experiences of its fun international understanding programmes. Our future is in the hands of the children. Whether children grow up to discriminate, repress, and create conflict based on cultural intolerance, as in the aftermath of 9/11 and the suspicion of anyone of Arab descent, depends on how children come to know different cultures, how their interests in other cultures are developed, and if children are able to communicate with individuals from other cultures. Pangaea upholds the spirit of the Cultural Diversity Treaty approved by UNESCO on October 20th 2005, by creating a space where participants can learn to respect cultural diversity and recognize individuals as they are, regardless of their social backgrounds. Pangaea creates international understanding programme and it is called "Pangaea Activity."
About This Cause
[Overview] Pangaea is a non-profit organisation founded in Japan in 2003. It respects cultural diversity and upholds the spirit of the Cultural Diversity Treaty approved by UNESCO on 20 October, 2005. The aim of the organisation is to create an environment where participants can learn to respect cultural diversity and recognise individuals as they are, regardless of their social backgrounds. Powered by cutting-edge ICT, the ‘Universal Playground’ was created to provide a place where youth from all over the world could feel a personal bond beyond the barriers of language, geographical distance, economic circumstances, and cultural backgrounds. Pangaea’s headquarters is located in Kyoto, and has been conducting youth programmes called "Pangaea Activities" in Tokyo, Chiba, Kyoto and Mie in Japan, as well as in Seoul (Korea), Wienna (Austria), Nairobi (Kenya), Sarawak (Malaysia), Mekong Delta area(Vietnam), and Phnom Penh (Cambodia). About 10,000 youth from 3rd through 9th grade have participated in over 500 Pangaea activities and more than 350 registered volunteers support Pangaea Activities around the world. Ideas are exchanged with the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, the Korean MIZY Center in Seoul, and the National Museum of Kenya. Our work with these organisations includes providing activity programmes called the ‘Pangaea Pack’. The programmes have been so successful that we are seeking more organisations, centres, and groups around the world to work with. [Youth Programme: Pangaea Activities] We have named our hands-on workshop programme for youth, ‘Pangaea Activities’, which is offered as a yearly programme once or twice a month. About 10 to 30 young people from all over the world join each activity. The target age is from 9 to 15. In Pangaea, we only have one rule for our young participants: ‘Do not do what others do not want to be done’. Based on this rule, our young members end up thinking for themselves and, in the process, become mature in the process. There are two types of Pangaea activities that are provided: one is ‘Local Activities’ and the other is ‘Webcam Activities’. - Local activities offer face-to-face interaction among young participants at each activity site. During the activities, participants in the programme are allowed to utilize PangaeaNet, which is a safe and secure internet environment for youth and an effective communication tool for those who are in different countries and time zones. By using the PangaeaNet programme, our young members share the artwork they have made including animations, pictures, and drawings with their peers. Attending the year-round programme can help our young participants generate interest in different cultures, improve their communication skills, and cultivate consideration for others. - Webcam activities, which take place a few times a year, are designed to offer real-time interaction among the youth through multiple networking activities both locally and globally. Our young members, who have already met through our local activities, can develop a deeper sense of bonding by experiencing face-to-face communication and playing our original games via webcams. [Peace Engineering] Within our programme, we describe the technical developmental efforts as ‘Peace Engineering’. When technical volunteers come together to develop programmes for Pangaea, they find it rewarding to know that their efforts are directed towards promoting peace, and not the kind of defense or military activities that today’s engineering projects are so often connected with. We develop its own content and software for building interpersonal connections among children, as we have a strong interest in new technologies, and actively employs them in cooperation with researchers and associations both inside and outside Japan. We utilizes information and communication technology as a way to connect to multiple global locations without difficulty and as a tool for fostering spontaneous and productive interaction among children, regardless of geographical distance.