Intercultural communication for You - ICU
Start date: Sep 1, 2016,
End date: Aug 31, 2018
PROJECT
FINISHED
Götene municipality is among the ten municipalities in Sweden that has recieved the highest amount of immigrants in relation to the number of inhabitants during the autumn of 2015. This means that about ten percent of the people living in Götene do not speak Swedish, are not familiar with the Swedish systems and culture and are new to the area of Götene as well as the local, regional and national customs. This evokes new challenges for the citizen office when it comes to information and communication. The citizen office is to serve the inhabitants of Götene, visitors and others with information and guidance in the areas where they need assistance. There is thus an urgent need to develop new work methods and skills to create intercultural awareness among the staff to be able to better understand and meet the needs of the new inhabitants. The objective of this project therefore is to find new methods and ideas on how to develop a point of societal service where anyone, regardless of cultural background, language or time of being a resident of Götene at any time can get guidance on how to handle his or her errand. At the end of this project we want to be able to augment the service level, to be able to meet the citizen on a mental level where he or she wishes to be met and in a way in which he or she feels confident and comfortable doing so. We also want to be an active part in increasing the citizen’s possibility and ability to influence and take part in the democratic development of the municipality. Participants in the project will be ten persons from various professions within the municipal organisation. Most of them are working at the citizen office or work closely with the integration of immigrants. There will also be a high number of indirect learners in this project as the results of the project will be spread within the organization as the whole municipal organization is affected by the immigrant situation. The professions of the ten participants are: communication strategist, web manager and communication officer, citizen office personnel, integration strategist, primary level teacher and head of unit. This Mobility roject is made up of several activities: - Education in intercultural communication in collaboration with the University of Skövde (Skövde Högskola). - Job shadowing during the mobility activities- Method and skill development after job shadowing- Dissemination of the results of the project to different target groups within the municipal organization as well as local, regional and national organisations. The methodology used in this project is based on active learning and collaborative learning, on sharing experiences and ideas. This will improve language skills and intercultural skills. All these benefits will also have a positive impact on our municipal organisation. The envisaged long term benefits, results and outcomes of this project are: - Raised intercultural awareness and understanding of participating personnel- Networks in an international context- Enhanced competence of foreign languages- New ideas on how to develop methods and skills to suite the local situation- Personal development of skills and competence of participating personnel
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