Mediatori migranţi pentru oraşe interculturale
Start date: Aug 3, 2015,
End date: Aug 2, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
The Intercultural Institute of Timisoara (IIT) has established in 2011 a network of intercultural mediators with migrant background working in the five largest Romanian cities to promote the effective integration of migrants. Since 2014 IIT planned to promote in Romania the use of the methodologies and instruments elaborated by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Intercultural Cities Programme and the role of intercultural mediators is considered essential in this process.
Initially, the project was planned to take place in partnership with the organisation Mondinsieme from Reggio Emilia, Italy. Reggio Emilia is one of the most active cities in the Intercultural Cities Network and has initiated with the support of the organisation Mondinsieme an Italian network of Intercultural Cities. Mondinsieme has also a rich local experience in working with intercultural mediators from various migrant communities. Between the submission of the project proposal and the notification that the project was selected for funding, Mondinsieme became unavailable for delivering the training course on intercultural mediation, thus we identified another organisation in Italy that would fit the profile and could deliver this training course. The association Trama di Terre has a long experience working with migrants in Italy, especially migrant women. The work of the association is focused on intercultural mediation as much as on direct assistance for reduction of vulnerabilities among migrant women or other vulnerable categories, such as women who are refugees or asylum seekers.
The project aimed at building the capacity of the Romanian network of intercultural mediators and of the team of intercultural trainers of IIT through training and exchange of experience offered in Italy by the partner organisation.
A team of 20 intercultural mediators and trainers on intercultural issues from IIT attended a 5 days training programme. Training activities included presentations, debates, community visits and dialogue with local intercultural mediators, interactive methods for developing specific adult training skills, planning of transfer of experiences to local context, reflection and evaluation. After the training, participants used the competences acquired for organising dissemination events in their cities with a focus on promoting the approach of intercultural cities.
The local impact of the project is two-fold: on the one hand the local communities, where the participants acts, benefit better intercultural mediation, and on the other hand the local communities (including migrants) had the opportunity to take part in analysing their local public policies through an intercultural lens. These aspects contributed to increasing the sense of ownership the citizens have regarding their community and to a better integration of migrants. On regional and national levels, the project contributed to a great extent to the sustainability and development of the network of intercultural mediators and trainers, empowering them to become stronger actors in Romanian society. On European and international level, the network of intercultural mediators and trainers were supported to become a valid partner in future projects and activities regarding integration of migrants and intercultural communication. After the project, both the organisation and the members of the network where invited by other NGOs either to deliver courses or to be involved as intercultural mediators on other projects.
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