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Young Malian aged 15 wins “Pathways to a Culture of Peace” contest
an article by UNESCO
Olga Katilé, a young Malian adolescent aged 15, is
the winner of UNESCO’s “Pathways to a Culture of
Peace: Global Contest for Mutual Understanding “,
in the category “Essay” for her poem “If peace
...” (“Si la paix …”). She received the award on
Thursday 13 February 2014 in Bamako, the capital
of her country, from Mamadou Diarra Gaoussou ,
Minister of Youth and Sports of Mali, accompanied
by her parents and professors from the schools
Kalanso and Kodonso.
click on photo to enlarge
The competition was launched on 21 September 2012,
on the occasion of the International Day of Peace,
within the framework of UNESCO’s Programme of
Action for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence.
Young people were asked to express themselves
through artistic creation on their practice of
“everyday peace” and its intrinsic values. More
than 1,300 young people, between 14 and 25 years
old, from 55 different countries, participated in
the competition in four categories: essay,
photography, video and graphic arts.
Artworks were judged by a jury on the basis of the
originality and creativity. The competition
invited young people to consider the “Other” in
the rich diversity of its origins and its culture.
The promotion of these values is also at the very
heart of the International Decade for the
Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022) proclaimed
by the United Nations General Assembly in December
2012.
After listening to the winner reading her poem,
the Minister of Youth and Sports of Mali, Mamadou
Diarra Gaoussou, expressed his “pleasure” to
preside over this ceremony. “Your international
recognition honors Mali. It makes you an
ambassador of the Dembé generation which we
support and would like to help emerge. Therefore,
you must illustrate excellence and exemplarity to
also influence the entire nation.”
Referring to the theme of the competition, the
Minister also noted that it “is of particular
interest to Mali which has emerged from a period of
trouble and has started to work on its
reconstruction.”
For Lazarus Eloundou, Director of the UNESCO
Office in Bamako, Mali, the “brilliant work” of
Olga “testifies to the creative spirit of the
Malian youth.” He also expressed his hope that the
example of Olga Katilé, student at the Kodonso
high school, will stimulate others in the country
or on the continent.
In the words of Olga “Peace depends on the
behavior of every single person vis-à- vis others
... I am inspired by the dramatic situation we are
currently living in my country, Mali, this
situation which has already lasted for more than
one year ... My poem is intended, through its
various verses, to make people understand the
importance of the state of mind of everyone in a
society ...”
(Click here for a French version of this article)
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
Will UNESCO once again play a role in the culture of peace?,
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Latest reader comment:
It is very appropriate that this new impulse for the culture of peace at UNESCO should come from Côte d’Ivoire, since the global movement for a culture of peace was initiated at a UNESCO conference in that country in 1989. See Yamoussoukro and Seville in the early history of the culture of peace.
Note added on September 2:
The official reports from the UNESCO Conference in Abidjian are now available:
English
French
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