Via Marzabotto 3
42122 Reggio Emilia
Italy
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- Gender
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Media
- Religion
- Research
- Youth and education
Mondinsieme has been founded in Reggio Emilia, a city selected by the Council of Europe to take part in the Intercultural Cities programme, both for its intercultural policies and for the high presence of migrants, about the 18% of the total population.
The Centre promotes the intercultural dialogue, the reciprocal exchange, and the participation of foreigners and Italians in a process of inclusion and mutual empowerment. Mondinsieme is convinced that understanding and meeting each other prevents situation of cultural marginalization and the rise of identity radicalism, as well as fostering intercultural citizenship.
Thus, it operates for a shared integration among Italians and foreigners with the role of Institutions as values-based mediators, to enhance intercultural relations and the diversity advantage.
Mondinsieme focuses on people’s lifes and experiences and it strongly believes that the one who migrates is not only a person in need, but he/she is someone who can give something to the society. This is the reason why Mondinsieme looks at integration as a bidirectional process in a cross-cultural perspective. In this sense, mediating means fostering the construction of a new intercultural identity in the society, starting from what people already share. Consequently, following an developmental approach, the cultural diversity is perceived as a value, and mediation becomes a relationship-related necessity.
The main mission of the Centre is being a laboratory of best practices, a space of active citizenship, and a network of connections, skills, relationships at the disposals for winning the challenges of integration.
Its goals are: fostering a society based on cultural pluralism; supporting foreign citizens participation and inclusion in cultural and social activities; preventing and fighting against social and cultural discriminations; developing the intercultural competences of decision makers, community leaders, public administration and private sector’s professionals; offering opportunities of intercultural trainings.
Our intervention fields are: migrants and intercultural associations, with projects devoted to support active participation of migrants in the city life and to strenghten relations between country of origins and Italy; intercultural education at school and in extra-scholastic contexts, with projects such as Spring Against Racism and annual intercultural workshops; second generation youth's empowernment, that has lead us to create a regional network of intercultural youth associations; intercultural journalism and media diversity, collaborating with the mayor local and national newsmedia; training and consulting on intercultural communication, relationship, and diversity advantage, with enterprises; training and consulting on anti-discrimination issues. With the experience of many people, youngsters and adult, we want to promoting intercultural dialogue and the sharing of cultural pluralism in full compliance of human rights; supporting actkive participation and inclusion of cultural minorities and all the people, Italian and foreigner