Since January 2019 we have been appointed Coordinator of the Italian Network “Città del Dialogo”, a network that is part of the Intercultural Cities Programme (ICC) of the Council of Europe.
This role recognizes our commitment and our will to work alongside the Cities towards strengthening intercultural actions and policies.
The Italian Network currently includes 28 Municipalities that recognize and promote the importance of planning and managing city policies that enhance the advantages, talents, and opportunities offered by diversity (diversity advantage).
These Cities promote dialogue and intercultural inclusion, exchanges of good practices, and dissemination of the results of implemented policies, involving strategic players in this area.
Based on the approach promoted by the ICC Programme of the Council of Europe, these are the main objectives of the Italian Network:
- Enhance intercultural skills within local institutions, public services, civil society, schools, business, and media
- Promote awareness-raising actions focused on the positive values of cultural diversity, to be perceived as a resource and not as a threat
- Encourage the use of tools and practices to promote the meeting between groups of various citizens with different cultures, ethnicities, languages.
- Share and support national campaigns to promote diversity and fight against discrimination.
The Intercultural Cities Programme (ICC) of the Council of Europe addresses directly the Cities and supports them in adopting policies based on intercultural strategies to valorise diversity, bringing positive effects for the entire population.
The Programme supports cities and local actors participating in the network. Thanks to numerous tools and activities, it encourages changes and processes towards the definition of policy actions and good practices to facilitate inclusion and encourage intercultural interaction.
Every city can, indeed, achieve a great deal from entrepreneurship, variety of skills, and creativity associated with cultural diversity, if it is considered an advantage rather than a threat.
Results
Since January 2019 the following have been realized:
- 1 coordination meeting hosted in Olbia
- 1 online coordination meeting
- Several projects (co-designed by the Cities)
A new visual identity, a new website, and a Facebook page were also produced.