So it was in Nicosia, and in front of the Presidentof the Republic of Cyprus, that our sixth World Congress opened on 5th September with the theme: ‘UNESCO Clubs – a bridge for cultural diversity’. Work then continued over the following days in Limassol.

This edition is entirely devoted to this important event. You will find in the following articles the summaries of work topics which exercised for four days the minds of almost one hundred and twenty participants from our five geographic regions. Fourteen National Commissions were represented, and actively contributed to the success of this Congress. Likewise, the presence of our guest members and our advisors greatly enriched the debates.

The Congress’s greatest strengths are in advancing the movement and setting the main guidelines for the future: reading through the Resolutions demonstrates that whether on the subject of cultural diversity, or the WFUCA’s operations and its relationship with UNESCO, those taking part knew how to best prepare the future. The newly elected members immediately got to work, and important workshops such as the reform of our statutes, the development of Clubs in many of the World’s regions - including the United States - as well as our project database, have already started.

The exhibition of our federations’ creations was highly praised, as much by members as by external visitors. Once again, the WFUCA and UNESCO were highly present within society at large.

As this edition goes to press, the second European Social Forum is ending, after seeing almost sixty thousand people taking part in its temporary home near Paris. As one of the members of a judges’ panel for an international children’s drawing competition on the theme of Children’s Rights, the WFUCA gained recognition as a major actor in society. Indeed, many national federations had contributed in preparing this competition by inviting their members to enter, on the theme of: ‘A world to be shared, rights to be stirred’.

Some may say that comparing the WFUCA’s 6th Congress to the European Social Forum is somewhat daring, and yet… those who attended that forum arrived to claim that ‘another world is possible’, just as the representatives from national federations came to Cyprus to build another planet.

New world, new planet, new WFUCA– everyone left Cyprus with new ideas, new contacts, new projects.

And enough enthusiasm for the next four years.