Purpose

The aim of the Foundation for the Enhancement of Intercultural Contact (FEIC) is to improve relationships between people of different cultures. The starting point of this non-profit making organisation is that all cultures are interesting and that no culture is inherently good or bad. Yet problems arise between cultures. Therefore, it is important to train people how to deal with their own and other cultures. For that end FEIC organises lectures, workshops, and intercultural training meetings. In addition, the foundation is involved in the development of instruments to study intercultural interaction.

Target Groups

• Persons who reside abroad for longer periods of time. Examples are those who are employed by a foreign company, students who want to acquire international experience, military personnel on a peace mission, diplomats. In general, these groups do not have to worry about their economic situation, but their eventual success abroad does depend on their intercultural effectiveness.

• People who for professional reasons have to deal with persons of a different cultural background. Examples are: teachers, police officers, general practitioners, sollicitors, nurses. In fact, nowadays everybody has to deal with persons of a different cultural background.

• People who stay in the Netherlands for a longer period of time. Examples are: foreign workers and immigrants. Immigrants are often doubly disadvantaged. Upon arrival, they may not have a job or they are employed in a position below their status. Moreover due to a combination of cultural and linguistic distance to the local population they find it harder to become integrated. These problems apply in particular to non-western immigrants.