Via Marzabotto 3
42122 Reggio Emilia
Italy
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- Gender
- Heritage
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Media
- Religion
- Research
- Youth and education
ondinsieme 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: promoting intercultural dialogue and fostering a society based on cultural pluralism in full compliance of human rights; supporting active participation and inclusion of cultural minorities and all the people, Italians and foreigners, in cultural, economic, political, and social activities of the city; preventing and fighting any kind of racism, discrimination, and exclusion; preventing and fighting against any kind of cultural and religious extremism; advocating women initiatives and cooperation in intercultural perspective; enhancing the intercultural métissage of youngsters with Italian and foreign origins; improving intercultural management skills of decision makers, community leaders, operators, and workers of public and private bodies or companies; increasing the value and the impact of diversity and narrative capital due to migration and global mobility.
Our project and activies are related to a series of 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. In 2013 the first representative of the associations and of the members has been elected in the governing Board of Mondinsieme: Aia Radwan, a university student of 21 years old. “For the first time – Aia said – the first generation of migrants, along with many Italians, have trusted with their vote the second generation, the youth. I believe this reveals the city is ready for new challenges”. Also, we have brought associations of migrants in the squares of the city with annual events, in the university to meet students and schools; we have involved them to improve health services. Mondinsieme supports association once they have to set up polling station for the election in the native country.
Intercultural education at school and in extra-scholastic contexts, with projects such as Spring Against Racism and annual intercultural workshops: all the high-schools of the district of Reggio Emilia signed an agreement with Mondinsieme to create a permanent board of teachers that plans education workshops, intercultural strategies, and annual public events together. Also, we have started mother tongue courses in high school: thestudents of Arabic have visited Morocco; we have brought students abroad to create theatre show with their European peers.
Second generation youth's empowernment, that has lead us to create a regional network of intercultural youth associations, to sign an agreement with the Government of Morocco to increase exchange between second-generation moroccans and Italian youngsters; to be awarded by Federculture for the promotion of diversity and intercultural issues in the field of contemporary art for the Centre-Periphery international award for young artist. Also, we have started a tutoring service in mother tongue against scholastic failure, organized great annual events about hiphop and street-art, the Multicultural Rap Day. We have shot two documentary film bringing a second-generation daughter in the country of her family with the family, travelling in Burkina Faso and in Morocco to tell the relation and the sense of belonging between her native country (Italy) and the one of her parents.
Initiatives for women emancipation and activism in intercultural perspective: we have provided the access to the pool and to swimming courses for people previously excluded for cultural and religious causes. We have animated the museum with stories, traditions,
clothes of women with African origins.
Intercultural journalism and media diversity, collaborating with the mayor local and national newsmedia, such as Rai, Corriere della Sera, Babel Tv, Resto del Carlino, and develloping intercultural digital tools devoted to a new and interactive way of storytelling, such as the project MultiWalks: we have created Mondinsieme Reporters, a team of young media makers who decided to form an association dealing with creativity and intercultural innovation, because art and communication help to live better together: they are the soul of the Mondinsieme newsroom;
Training and consulting on intercultural communication, relationship, and diversity advantage, with enterprises: Mondinsieme has taken its diversity advantage approach to one of the biggest Italian shipping company, SDA-Express Courier. Mondinsieme
has designed with the consulting firm Inventa Language Training Brokers a project that aims to enhance the integration of workers of different origins and cultures inside the SDA network. “Our goal is to build a mood that facilitate relationships among workers of different cultural minorities involved in the production flow, thus overcoming the limit set by linguistic and cultural barriers”.
Training for administrators, leaders, operators, and workers who operate in multicultural contexts: we have listened and trained teachers of high school, bus, drivers, police officers, health service officers; we have edited a guide about safety ad work in Arabic, Chinese, Urdu, French, and English.
Training and consulting on anti-discrimination issues: the youngsters who are in touch with Mondinsieme are sensitive to episodes and stories of discrimination around the city and the country, ready to point out how hard life can be in front of the troubles of exclusion: many times their testimonies have appeared on local and national media. Mondinsieme offers support for legal consultancy and realizes multilanguage campaign such as "Don't Get Carried Away By the Wave of Discrimination" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxQfEFJH4Lw
Training and researching on intercultural policies worldwide: Mondinsieme has been invited to Mexico, Japan, and Canada to present and explain its model. In Japan, we have meet in many cities local administrator to train on intercultural education and youth policies.
Mondinsieme can contribute to the networkl with its local, regional, and international networks with its competences and with the people joining its activities, creating partnerships and best practices exchanges.
For example, youngsters and students come with us to live new experience around the world, as delegates of Mondinsieme in institutional events and discovery travels: they are our new voice. Farida and Ihssan were back to visit their respective families’ country for a documentary in Burkina Faso and Morocco; Walla has been in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe Youth Assembly; Marjorie was with other European reporters in Bordeaux; Alessia, Amro, and Sara toke part at the Young Mayor Election in Lewisham, London; Katarzyna was in Dublin for an Intercultural Cities meeting; Hajare, Jessica, Mariam, and Eugenia were in New York to get the Plural + Award; Aia spoke at the European Integration Forum in Brussels; we were in Morocco with 40 students.
They might exchange their experience with the Network of ALF in Italy and in other euromediterranea countries.
Also, Mondinsieme can share their experience on international relations developed, for example, with the Government of the country of origins of migrants or others in need of knowing best practices. Agreement and projects have been developed with Morocco, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Japan, United States.
At last, Mondinsieme can promote the activies and other outcomes of the Network within the Intercultural Cities Programme, that gather together 24 cities and about 60 associated cities.
Mondinsieme would like to join the ALF Network for its engagement on euromediterranean relations, intercultural education, and intercultural media.
It is an opportunity to increase its networks and partners in order to develop new projects together, to exchange, and to know what other organization are doing.
ALF Network may offer also opportunities of exchange that we believe are important to increase a feeling of intercultural citizenship for all the youngsters and all the associations that are joining our activities.
For Mondinsieme, it would be great to share its experience, task and responsibilities with other organization joining the Network.