Dare to Overcome (DTO)

Advancing Intercultural Understanding for Peace & Unity

Dare to Overcome (DTO, DareToOvercome.org) is the premier global initiative that celebrates and promotes best practices in workplaces with regard to being allies while representing differing cultures, marketplaces and societies, thereby building peace, justice and strong intuitions (SDG 16). Teamwork Arts produces Dare to Overcome in India.

Teamwork Arts is a highly versatile production company with roots in the performing arts, social action and the corporate world, produces the global edition of DTO annually in New Delhi, India. For over 30 years, Teamwork Arts has taken India to the world and brought the world to India, presenting the finest of Indian performers, writers, change makers and visual artists in the knowledge and arts space in India and abroad. Every year, we produce over 33 festivals in 72 cities and 26 countries in the fields of performing & visual arts and literature. We produce the world’s largest literary gathering: the annual Jaipur Literature Festival; JLF international now travels to the US, UK, Canada, Australia, the Maldives, and Europe. Even amidst the upheaval and unsettling times of 2020 and through 2021, Teamwork Arts successfully launched the digital series, JLF Brave New World and Words Are Bridges, which were viewed by over 4.8 million people in their first season. Through its digital avatar, the Jaipur Literature Festival reached over 27 million viewers in January 2021. The digital series Be Inspired was launched in 2021 – a series that crystal gazes into the future with conversations on science, technology, innovation, environment and more. Two on-ground editions of ‘Be Inspired – Festival of Ideas’ were held in 2023 and the first edition of Sikkim Arts & Literature Festival was launched in May 2023.

More information at: www.teamworkarts.com

A. BACKGROUND and MISSION

DTO Chair Dr. Brian Grim– at the invitation of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) – led and published the first strategic research on how businesses can support Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. The resulting UNGC report, BUSINESS: A Powerful Force for Supporting Interfaith Understanding and Peace, was launched in Indonesia with former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the 2014 United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) meeting. The report identified key ways that businesses promote intercultural understanding and peace ranging from promoting diverse and inclusive workplaces to incentivising change through awards and competitions.

This research laid the foundation for DTO’s global mission, which is to educate the business world about their power to foster intercultural understanding and peace, to incentivise business leaders in advancing cultures of peace, to help companies benchmark their success in creating diverse and inclusive workplaces, and to model CSR for intercultural peace in action.

This mission is accomplished through four main lines of work.

B. LINES OF WORK

(1) Global Events

DTO holds global events for business leaders to share and celebrate best practices, virtues, and values in being allies of differing communities and cultures in workplaces and marketplaces, thereby building peace.

The first global gathering was in Rio de Janeiro (2016) with the support of Brazilian President Michel Temer. It then moved to South Korea (2018) under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s patronage, to Tokyo (2021) with former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s active support, and then to Washington DC (2022) when American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, became DTO’s official airline and partner. DTO USA is held annually in Washington DC, and a premier global edition is now held annually in India. The first India edition was held in New Delhi on 4 October 2023. The 2nd edition will be held in New Delhi in December 2024.

(2) Leader Awards

Dare to Overcome promotes SDG 16 through the King Husein Global Business & Intercultural Peace Awards. In 2023, they were given on 4th October 2023 to CEOs advancing cultures of mutual understanding in their workplaces and marketplaces. The Awards recognise business leaders – current or past CEOs – who have demonstrated leadership in championing intercultural understanding and peace in three categories developed in collaboration with the UNGC:

Core business. This includes internal procedures, human resources hiring practices, training, product/service development, sourcing policies, supply chains, as well as the development of products and services that promote interfaith understanding and peace.
Social investment and philanthropy. Financial and in-kind contributions, and strategic social investment support for NGOs, UN and/or multilateral agencies or directly to affected communities and/or contribution of functional expertise through volunteering efforts.
Advocacy and public policy engagement. Fostering social cohesion and inter-group dialogue and relationship-building in the workplace, marketplace and local community.

The Awards are named after King Husein, the Founding Patron of Dare to Overcome India. The Indian-origin King Husein is Chairman and CEO of Span Construction & Engineering, the largest metal construction company in the US. He received the 2021 Global Business & Intercultural Peace Prize in Advocacy.

(3) Research & Corporate Awards

The Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Awards is the premier benchmarking survey of a company’s commitment to including culture, religion and belief as part of its overall diversity initiatives. The REDI Index is an international benchmarking survey that companies use to track their progress in (and be recognized for) embracing culture, spirituality, and belief as an integral part of their overall commitment to workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.

The REDI Monitor allows us to assess the state of faith diversity inclusion in all Fortune 500 corporations. For the first time, we also published the 2024 FTSE 100 REDI Monitor in a separate report. In 2024, we will publish the REDI Monitor for the 100 largest companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Under this umbrella, top-scoring companies are recognised in prestigious awards ceremonies in Washington DC, USA, London, England, and New Delhi, India.

(4) Modeling CSR

One of the outcomes of Dare to Overcome 2023 was that the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India invited Dare to Overcome to curate Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 — Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions — on their Manthan platform. Through this platform and in partnership with others, Dare to Overcome will initiate and promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives addressing SDG 16, and begin with influencing young minds by piloting the Dare to Overcome Human Rights, Business Skills & Peace Secondary School Curriculum.

Dare to Overcome Human Rights, Business Skills & Peace Secondary School Curriculum

In 2024/25 we will pilot our Dare to Overcome Human Rights, Business Skills & Peace Secondary School Curriculum in India. The curriculum will teach soft business skills that reinforce both knowledge of human rights and inclusive peace. The curriculum has ten 30- to-60-minute lessons on 10 distinct human rights categories and associated business skills.

Providing a foundational knowledge of ten important human rights guaranteed by the laws and the Constitution of India as well as recognised by the United Nations will be goal under the curriculum. Each right will be explained in combination with an introduction to soft skills on business communication and analysis and a demonstration of how these skills promote inclusive peace.

For example, the knowledge portion of Lesson 3A is Freedom from Discrimination, and the associated soft business skill is networking. The activity of trying to find someone “just like you” teaches the value of connecting with others no matter their differences. The step towards peace happens as students recognise and experience the good that comes from knowing and networking with people who are different from us.

C. UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION

We are taking these projects to universities along with companies, as universities play a vital role in preparing the next generation of the work force and leaders in the global economy. We already have partnerships with the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Bengaluru, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), and the Maharashtra Institute of Technology World Peace University (MIT-WPU) in Pune. New Delhi

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