The European project FAIR EUROPE – Fostering Awareness and Interculturalism with Roma Communities in European Cities has officially kicked off!
The project, coordinated by ICEI with the support of the Council of Europe, brings together 10 cities from Italy, France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Romania, and Ukraine to promote Plural cities and strengthen dialogue between institutions and local communities.
In particular, the cities involved — together with RPCI – Rede Portuguesa das Cidades Interculturais — will work to place the fight against discrimination at the heart of their local policies, with special attention to Roma, Sinti and Caminanti communities.
The context
FAIR EUROPE builds on the experience of the Rete Città del Dialogo, the Italian network of intercultural cities that are part of the Intercultural Cities Programme of the Council of Europe, for which ICEI acts as technical coordinator, and on the awareness that discrimination is not an abstract phenomenon, but a reality that concretely affects people’s daily lives and their access to public services.
Objectives
The project aims to:
- strengthen the intercultural competences of local authorities;
- support municipal administrations in identifying and implementing effective anti-discrimination policies at the local level;
- promote an intersectional approach, recognising how different forms of discrimination may overlap and reinforce one another.
Activities
- Training and local context analysis
Transnational training meetings will be held in Italy, alongside a fact-finding study on the situation of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti communities in the participating territories, and training pathways addressed to both local authorities and civil society organisations. - Development of shared local strategies
Through dialogue seminars between institutions and associations, the cities will develop local action plans and promote awareness-raising initiatives on Roma, Sinti and Caminanti cultures. - Exchange of good practices at European level
The project will foster ongoing exchange among participating cities, including a transnational meeting in Portugal and national conferences in Italy and Portugal to showcase experiences and replicable models. - Evaluation and dissemination of results
The project includes evaluation moments of the processes launched at local level, a final conference in Strasbourg, and a comprehensive communication plan to give visibility to the results achieved.
Funder
European Union – CERV-2025-Networks of Towns
“Promoting inclusion means transforming dialogue into concrete policies. With FAIR EUROPE, we are connecting European cities that choose to address discrimination not as occasional emergencies, but as a structural responsibility of public administrations. This project represents the continuation of ICEI’s long-standing commitment to strengthening the capacities of local institutions and building alliances between public bodies and civil society, so that rights and equal opportunities become everyday practice in our territories.”
Rosaria De Paoli, Director of ICEI
