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Assembly of European Regions

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You are here: Home / Archives for EU migrants inclusion

Interculturalism for Intercultural Regions to be!

13 October, 2022 By Birgit Sandu

Are you interested in knowing more about how a region can become intercultural and inclusive, yet you missed our first online capacity-building session on interculturalism for regions and local stakeholders?

Also, are you keen to know more about who is the EU-BELONG team and how you can work together with us in the coming years?

Dive into this quick article and rewatch the recording of the training below!

A Warm Welcome in the EU-BELONG Team to the Local Stakeholders

Last Thursday, the AER and all EU-BELONG partners were glad to meet and welcome an enlarged EU-BELONG team. Over a hundred regional representatives and local stakeholders working on the implementation of EU-BELONG gathered to attend the first online capacity-building session on interculturalism.

Who we are…
..and where are we from


Introduction to Interculturalism and Intercultural Competences

EU-BELONG develops a series of online and in-person capacity-building activities to support regions, their stakeholders, and other interested actors in fostering key intercultural competences that can be applied across several regional policies related to migrants’ inclusion.

The online training ‘Introduction to Interculturalism and Intercultural Competences‘ run by Carla Calado, trainer and Coordinator of the Portuguese Intercultural Cities Network, is the first introductory course for regions and local stakeholders. It aims at:

  • Building a common understanding of the key concepts and principles of interculturalism.
  • Provides first guidelines about how to develop an intercultural region step-by-step (building on the ‘The intercultural city step by step‘ guide developed by the ICC Programme).
  • Sharing tips and strategies for the organisation of training sessions on interculturalism

Additional resources on interculturalism developed within the Intercultural Cities Programme of the Council of Europe can be found below:

  • The Intercultural Cities Programme by Nichola Howson
  • Intercultural Competence by Carla Calado
  • Intercultural Cities
  • Intercultural Competences
  • Intercultural Cities Step-By-Step guide: new edition
  • ICC Course – The intercultural city step-by-step Survey (surveymonkey.com)
  • About the Intercultural Cities Index
  • ICC Intercultural Citizenship test

The session was the first official transnational activity within the project and hence an occasion to present its broader framework to the numerous key actors involved in its realisation. Ms. Madaraic, AER Vice President for Inclusion, Diversity & Equality, and Ms. Howson, Project Officer at the Council of Europe, were thus happy to share how EU-BELONG builds on the positive experience of the Intercultural Cities Programme coordinated by the Council of Europe and the long-lasting expertise of the AER and its partners in the field of inclusion and interculturalism aiming at adapting and testing the intercultural integration approach to the regional level. The project is an important first benchmark seeking to result in a stronger, broader, and more sustainable Intercultural Regions Network.

…and more is coming: some fresh news from the EU-BELONG Steering Committee Meeting in Salzburg

With an eye on the ongoing capacity-building process and the other on future milestones, combined with a strong wish to meet in person and share experiences and challenges, the EU-BELONG partners met in Salzburg on 28-29 September. The meeting brought about very enriching exchanges and a strong motivation for the upcoming activities that will be implemented. On the one hand, the development of a model framework for regional intercultural integration strategies will be available for all regional authorities wishing to develop their own intercultural integration strategy. On the other hand, the setting-up of the transnational knowledge exchange will be the space where the organisations and regions of the project will meet and exchange with other international organisations and regions to harness the diversity advantage across policy fields.

Greetings from..
…the warmly cold Salzburg!

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Introduction to Interculturalism and Intercultural Competences: First Online Capacity-building Session for Regions and Local Stakeholders

14 September, 2022 By Birgit Sandu

What is interculturalism and how do we support the development of intercultural competences among regions and their stakeholders?

 

Intercultural Competence is what allows for a person to be able to navigate comfortably in complex intercultural settings. Accordingly, to the European Commission (2007), it means combining skills, attitudes, abilities, and knowledge to face, act and intervene effectively and appropriately in a variety of contexts, where cultural, socio-economic, ethnic, and other lines intersect and can lead to situations of intercultural conflict that can, in turn, damage social cohesion.

A person is considered interculturally competent if he/she can successfully communicate and relate with people from other cultural backgrounds. It means mobilizing external and internal resources and it is something that can always be developed and improved throughout our lives.  Deardoff (2006) defines it as the ability to develop targeted knowledge, skills and attitudes that lead to visible behavior and communication that are both effective and appropriate in intercultural interactions.

 

The EU-BELONG team is ready to kick-start its ambitious process of empowering regions and their stakeholders to develop innovative integration strategies for the first time applying the intercultural approach. As first step, regional decision-makers, civil servants and local stakeholder will build knowledge in intercultural integration concepts and foster key intercultural competences that will be applied throughout and beyond the project.

The first online capacity-building session will be held on 6th October 2022 from 10 to 12:30 CET focusing on ‘Introduction to Interculturalism and Intercultural Competences’. The session is addressed at the 11 regions of the project and 20 civil servants and/or local stakeholders from each region.  It aims at fostering an understanding of what is interculturalism and what are its key principles, how we can build an intercultural region step-by-step and how to develop an intercultural strategy. Lastly, the session will provide guidance on how to develop and organise a large-scale training on intercultural competences to support the regions throughout the implementation of their capacity-building programmes.


Structure and Programme

Trainer: Carla Calado, Coordinator of the Portuguese Intercultural Cities Network

Language: English

Participants: EU-BELONG partners, 20 stakeholders/local and regional civil servants from each region, experts working with the regions on the organisation of the capacity-building session, members of the Intercultural Regions Network


10:00 – 10:15 Welcoming words

  • Marina Medarić, AER Vice President for Inclusion, Diversity & Equality
  • Nichola Howson, Directorate General of Democracy Anti-Discrimination Department of the Council of Europe

10:15 – 10:45  Presentation and Ice Breaker

10:45-11:30h       Interculturalism

  • Definition of Interculturalism
  • Principles of Interculturalism
  • Ethnocentrism VS Relativism
  • The intercultural region step-by-step: assessment, building a strategy, implementing, and evaluating actions, connection to city strategies (examples from cities regarding housing, education, culture, labour, tourism, public spaces, etc.)

11:30 – Ice Breaker

11:45-12:15h    Intercultural competence training

  • Definition of Intercultural Competence
  • Why is Intercultural competence training important?
  • How does it look like in practice?
  • General recommendation for large-scale training. The blended learning approach (pros and cons).

12:15 – 12:30    Q&A and final remarks


Additional resources for exploration:

  • ICC Intercultural Citizenship test: Intercultural Citizenship Test (coe.int)
  • Online courses:
  • Diversity and Inclusion – AKF | The Learning Hub (akflearninghub.org): send an email to an automatic email will be sent to you via “the learning hub” platform with instructions. The course takes 90m to watch and it is divided into small lessons (3 to 4 min each)
  • ICC Course – The intercultural city step-by-step Survey (surveymonkey.com): this course does not need previous enrolment
  • Resources in ICC website in the dedicated page: Thematic papers (coe.int)

If you are interested in participating, please contact Birgit Sandu  ([email protected]), or Anna Comacchio ([email protected]).


EU-Belong is a 3-year project run by the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and 13 partners, and co-funded by the AMIF Programme (AMIF-2020-AG-CALL) of the European Union. Its aim is to support the adoption of innovative and pioneering regional integration strategies, based on a multi-level and multi-stakeholder framework that, for the first time, applies the intercultural approach to Regions as a key-player for the successful integration of third-country nationals.

Inclusion, Creativity & Human Potential

28 June, 2022 By Johanna Pacevicius

Labour participation is an essential building block for inclusion. It has a direct impact on access to housing, wellbeing and the ability of individuals to contribute.

A Holistic Approach to Labour Market Inclusion

The Includ-EU workshop “Inclusion, Creativity and Human Potential” on 14-15 June 2022 in Venice, highlighted regional policies and practices, that support stakeholders to build on their ideas, motivation, competences and experiences.

Speakers included:

  • Rossella Celmi, IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean, Lead Partner of the Includ-EU project
  • Gloria Bondi, The Human Safety Net
  • Angelique Petrits, DG HOME
  • Rabab Ahmad, IOM’s Regional Office for the EEA, the European Union and NATO
  • Alan Barbieri, The Human Safety Net
  • Mónica Oltra Jarque, Vice President of and Minister for Equality and Inclusive Policies of Generalitat Valenciana, Member of Intercultural Regions Network
  • Helena Castellà Duran, Adviser to the Minister of Equality and Feminism’ office, Catalonia
  • Stefano Rovelli, The Human Safety Net
  • Mays Kabouch, Coordination Entrepreneuriat IDF, Singa
  • Federico Mento, Director, Ashoka Italy

They shared how they are working to improve access to labour market -or accessed the labour market- the collaborations they implement, and how they learn from their peers to improve practices.

For the European Union, improving access to the labour market for all has deep implications both for the economy and for social cohesion. The challenge of integration and inclusion is particularly relevant for migrants, not only newcomers but sometimes also for EU citizens with a migrant background.

The EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027 states that

Ensuring effective integration and inclusion in the EU of migrants is a social and economic investment that makes European societies more cohesive, resilient and prosperous.

Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027, COM(2020) 758 final

This workshop therefore specifically focused on the benefits of peer learning for better policies and practices. It actually created a space where meaningful exchanges between peers would occur. At a time when everything is available online, it was important to design an experience that would nurture the network and encourage further collaborations.

Tapping Into Human Potential

In the afternoon, the interactive exhibition at the Home of the Human Safety Net provided participants with an opportunity to explore different dimensions of human potential and their own character strengths: Creativity, Perseverance, Leadership, Team spirit, Hope, Curiosity.

These character strengths were also highlighted in the exchanges with Yousaf Marufkhel, Mohammad Hossaini and Ali Rezai from the Orient Experience, an ethnic catering company founded in 2012 by political refugees and asylum seekers in the city of Venice.

It was born from the idea of making the experience and memory of the migrants’ journey (from Africa and the Middle East to Venice) meaningful through the proposal of a “menu” of dishes that retrace that itinerary.

The Migrant As An Innovator

In fact, the dishes are the result of the migrant’s encounters with other cultures and a personal reinterpretation and adaptation to the place where they are proposed. The Orient Experience makes it possible to transmit new knowledge and live a new sensorial and relational experience, through the conviviality offered by the food, the care of the place of refreshment where this otherness is breathed in.

The Orient Experience highlights the potential offered by the encounter between different cultures, and diversity as a source of innovation and education. It is a testimony of the figure of the migrant as an innovator.

Attendees had dinner at the Orient Experience to actually live the concept.

Collective Intelligence To Improve Practices

On the second day, participants were invited to work in small groups using the co-development methodology developed by Adrien Payette and Claude Champagne. This professional development approach focuses on the group & the interactions between participants to promote understanding and better practices. Co-development has two general objectives:

  1. improving a professional practice
  2. learn how to solve complex problems.

Co-construction, collaboration, sharing, individual and collective reflection are at the center of this approach, based on the idea that it is possible to “learn on your practice, by listening and helping colleagues to progress in understanding and improving their own practice”.

This session was the first of a series of sessions to be facilitated in upcoming events of the project. The  6-step co-development methodology helped participants to take advantage of the presence of their peers to unlock challenges and seize opportunities in a very concrete way.

Strategic Partnerships For Integration

The afternoon session started with a plenary moment, which includes the presentation of:

  • the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies on their multi-annual integrated programmatic document for work, integration and inclusion 2021-2027;
  • the Fondazione Leone Moressa, a private research institute dedicated to the study of the economics of immigration who will focus on the economic added value of migration.

This Includ-EU workshop was hosted at the premises of the Human Safety Net, a foundation created by Generali, which brings together non-profit organisations and the private sector in Europe, Asia and South America. It was therefore quite natural to look at strategic partnerships to tap into expertise, networks and resources outside government.

The two roundtables gathered the following representatives:

  • Simona Torre, Fondazione Italiana Accenture
  • Kenny Clewett, Ashoka – Hello Europe
  • Paola Cavanna and Dina Ulinici, IM Italy – Alt Caporalato
  • Massimiliano Giacomello, Consorzio Comunità Brianza –
    Hope Fund and the Bonvena Network
  • Carlo Massini, Hogan Lovells
  • Alice Dalfovo and Stefano Buzzati, Diagrammi Nord – Una casa per l’uomo
  • Anna Filippucci, MicroLab
  • Gianfranco Della Valle, Region of Veneto – Navigare

Exchanges showed the importance of getting opportunities to discuss shared objectives, ways to facilitate the work of NGOs, as well as the challenges related to different standpoints and perspectives.

Additional Resources

Here are some more resources from the Includ-EU project and findings:

  • More on labour inclusion in Includ-EU countries: https://includeu.eu/labour-inclusion/
  • Includ-EU Thematic Briefing on Education: https://includeu.eu/second-includ-eus-briefing-education/
  • Includ-EU Thematic Briefing on Housing: https://includeu.eu/first-includ-eus-briefing-housing/

Avoid FOMO: Follow Us!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to the Includ-EU Newsletter, this is the place to be.

To get regular news about the project, the pilots, resources and upcoming events: follow Includ EU on Twitter @Includ_EU

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The Includ-EU Project Launches Its Own Newsletter!

18 February, 2022 By Anna Comacchio

Stay up-to-date with innovative practices on migrants inclusion in Europe, from access to housing, health care and education, by subscribing to the Includ-EU quarterly bulletin!

We are glad to share with you the first issue of the Includ-EU newsletter, a project of which we are partners and promoters.

Includ-EU aims to contribute to building more inclusive and cohesive European societies by enhancing transnational knowledge and experience sharing, cooperation and partnerships between local and regional authorities from Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.

Funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union, it is structured around key thematic areas consistent with the EU Action plan on integration and inclusion: labour inclusion, health care, education, active citizenship and housing.

The project website, designed as a platform where local expertise on inclusion can match migrants needs for information on local services and opportunities, presents overviews of the national and specific regional context related to the mentioned thematic area in each country involved, inspiring good practices and integration successful stories, news, events and information materials, along with a space where users can share their project and/or story.


Includ-EU is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Stay updated with our activities: subscribe to our quarterly newsletter!

For more info: [email protected]

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