to create a platform for exchange and reflection on intercultural dialogue between different countries

1)                   Kick – off meeting – took place in Spain and was organized by the project partner EAES. In preparation of the meeting, each project partner would be assigned a working theme, to be discussed by the group of citizens created in each country. These working themes are sub-themes of the project topic – intercultural dialogue – to be chosen out of the following: the perception of interculturality by civil society; intercultural dialogue and integration; intercultural dialogue and intergenerational dialogue; intercultural dialogue and inter-religions dialogue; intercultural dialogue and mobility; what means for promoting intercultural dialogue?; intercultural dialogue and linguistic diversity.  
After the kick off meeting, each partner created an 8 pages paper on the chosen topic, translated both in English and French. The papers were structured around 5 questions to be answered during the project in order to propose some concrete answers at the end of the project. The answers also appeared as recommendations on the blog and in the guide. Each working group had responsibility over the theme discussed and the content dedicated to it on the blog, even though each group contributed to enriching the reflections on the themes of the other groups.

2) Formation of 5 working groups – from the beginning of the project, each partner, excepting the European Pole and Pour la Solidarité, had to form in its own country a group of 40 – 50 voluntary citizens, representing various social groups and observing principles of equality and non-discrimination. These working groups were to be supervised and coordinated by one representative of the partner organizations throughout the project and 2 members of each citizen group were delegated to participate in the transnational meetings. The work within groups were carried out in the national language and translated in English or French in order to be posted on the blog. As the citizen groups represent the local diversity, their common work was to represent an experience of intercultural dialogue, supervised or coordinated by a representative of the partner organization and an external animator.

          
3) Organizing 5 meetings of the citizen groups, each lasting one day: throughout the project the citizen groups met in order to reflect on the working theme chosen. The fifth meeting took place before the closing seminar of the project. For each meeting, partner organizations invited professionals working in the field of interculturality or representatives of civil society organizations from neighbouring countries, in order to deepen the work of each group and bring in different experiences. The person in charge of the group prepared in the beginning a paper on the specific topic chosen for the group, attempting to formulate and answer 5 questions relevant for the topic.          

4) Transnational meeting in France, lasting one day and a half, was organized half way of the project by MACIF Foundation. The meeting in France brought together as well two delegates from each citizen working group. The role of the meeting was to discuss the progress made with the project, exchange ideas, present difficulties encountered and find solutions. It represented a good opportunity to present the project and its first results to civil society organizations in France.
 
5) Final transnational meeting, lasting one day, was organized in Brussels by Foundation P&V. This was also the closing meeting of the project, giving the opportunity to partners and delegates of the citizen groups to present the project and the results. An evaluation was also carried out during this last meeting.

6) Interactive blog on interculturality: One of the objectives of the project was to create an open blog on intercultural dialogue. The blog was realized throughout the project with the contribution of the 5 citizen groups.
The blog was interactive, representing in itself an intercultural dialogue experience, allowing the different citizen groups to present the results of their work and reflections, in different shapes and materials: videos, photos, quotations, articles, audio testimonials, etc., along the different thematic sections. The blog also included a forum that was meant to enable participants to debate and exchange opinions and experiences on the different topics.
The European Pôle was in charge of coordinating and realizing the blog with the support of the national coordinators. This blog also facilitated the creation of a permanent link between project partners, giving opportunity for open exchange, and was desired to remain a sustainable intercultural platform of exchange and reflection on the different themes of interculturality. It also allowed citizens engaged within the project to maintain the connections between themselves. Last, but not least, the blog was intended to be an essential element of promotion for intercultural dialogue, to be maintained after the project ends as well.

7) Guide on intercultural dialogue: towards the end of the project a bilingual guide on how to promote and achieve intercultural dialogue was created, under the coordination of Pour La Solidarite. The guide presented the concept of intercultural dialogue, the project steps and a synthesis of work achieved along the project. It took on the working themes of the different citizen groups, presenting different testimonials and practices revealed along the project in the different member states, putting forward recommendations on behalf of each group starting with answering the questions formulated at the beginning of the project. The guide was published in 700 copies – 350 in French and 350 in English, to be disseminated by each partner among civil society organizations, upon completion of the project. It would also be available in an electronic format, to be disseminated via e-mail and posted on websites of project partners.

8) 2 newsletters issued in the 4 languages of the project: 2 newsletters were prepared by Pour La Solidarite, to be largely disseminated towards partners and their networks, presenting the project stages all along its developments. The first newsletter was sent out at short time after the first transnational meeting so as to present the project and the preliminary results. The second newsletter preceded the final transnational meeting in Brussels, announcing the project results and progress on both national and European level.

The the 5 local meetings along the CID project took place in Calinesti commune, Arges County gathering Roma and Romanians citizens. The meetings were meant to identify and enable discussions regarding efficient and effective means through which intercultural dialogue may improve the relations between the Roma and Romanians in this locality. Given the local realities of segregation, PACT Foundation deemed that the strategy required would not only focus on the inter-cultural dialogue per se, but would further aim to move beyond the five meetings, in order to bring the two communities together; the meetings would thus set a basis for the integration of the minority by laying the foundation for a genuine and participatory community development.

Various discussions and work themes were sustained by PACT Foundation with the support of experts in interethnic communities in Romania. The team sought that the five meetings would take place alternatively in the Roma and Romanian villages to ensure a fair and wide representation of both groups. This was an opportunity for the Romanians to perceive firsthand the life conditions in the segregated Roma community.

In the given context, the main question was: can intercultural dialogue contribute to the improvement of interethnic relations? And aspects of this issue were:

-       How well do we know our and the other’s culture? (with focus on the Roma culture)

-       What defines the Roma and Romanian culture/identity?

-       How well do we understand and how willing are we to accept the specifics of other ethnics?

-       What can we do (which would be the means) so that through intercultural dialogue there may be better relations between the Roma and Romanians?

-       How could the two communities which are geographically segregated participate in intercultural dialogue and community development?

Place and dates of the consultations

Calinesti Commune, Arges County, Romania:

13 December 2008 – Valea Corbului village (Primary School)

16 January 2009 – The Cultural Centre from Calinesti Commune

8 April 2009 -   Secondary School from Vranesti village

22 April 2009 - Valea Corbului village (Primary School)

15 May 2009 - The Local Council / Calinesti Commune Hall

First meeting: Taken into consideration the issue of stigmatization, as well as the very low degree of ethnic self identification on behalf of the Roma and the lack of knowledge of Roma culture among the Romanians, PACT team considered that before actually opening an intercultural dialogue, it was highly necessary to set the appropriate scene by focusing on the presentation of several key historical and cultural Roma aspects.

The second meeting was meant to underline the importance of knowing each other’s culture; it had to reiterate some major cultural references about Roma culture and it had a focus on the Roma and Romanian culture/traditions; thus, the groups had the opportunity to present their own traditions and their vision on what defines their culture. The debate between the two groups was aimed at defining if and to what extent there is an assimilation of Romanian traditions on behalf of Roma and to what extent the two groups knew, understood and wished to accept each other’s identity.

The 3rd meeting was held on 8 April 2009 - the celebration of the International Day of Roma. In an attempt to generate genuine community development in Valea Corbului, the meeting unfolded as an interactive exercise to determine in a participatory manner the needs that the Roma in Valea Corbului face. Within a previous project of PACT Foundation, focused on the improvement of the local development strategy in Calinesti, none of the Roma was involved. This meeting offered a favorable opportunity to update the strategy by including issues that the Roma face through the direct participation of the citizens from Valea Corbului.

The fourth meeting took place at the primary school from Valea Corbului village, focusing on raising awareness on the significance of the inclusive community education and aiming to reach out to both Romanian teachers and Roma parents from Valea Corbului to aid improve the educational situation in the village. The moderators raised and explained the subject of inclusive community school and its significance especially in a segregated and disadvantaged environment.

The fifth and final meeting took place at the Local Council in Calinesti Commune and was mainly focused on establishing an action plan together with the Roma and Romanian citizens on possible ways of local development of Valea Corbului.

The five meetings that engaged the Roma community from Valea Corbului along with the Romanian citizens from other villages in Calinesti commune triggered a series of outcomes: improved chances of collaboration between the citizens from Valea Corbului and Vranesti villages; Roma and Romanian citizens have improved their knowledge on Roma history and traditions, inclusive education, involving community in school life; increased self-esteem of Valea Corbului community, increased visibility of Valea Corbului at local and county level.

Different national contexts but a single concern: dialogue

Even if Belgium, Spain, France, Romania and the United-Kingdom all have a different history in terms of migratory flows and mixes between native and emigrated populations, they all face the question of integration.

Recommendations to the attention of national policymakers

At the national level, the partners of the project have drawn up several recommendations after the consultation process; here are the most important ones:

-          Make intercultural dialogue a priority for local public authorities, introduce a clear process of implementation of intercultural dialogue related policies, promote and strengthen the existing processes without creating new legislations;

-          Exchange experiences between different communities of a territory, create and foster meeting spaces and opportunities;

-          Use the mediation of a partner trusted by all the participants (concerning ethnic communities, for example) in order to establish a genuine dialogue;

-          Inform, use the existing resources and disseminate the pieces of work carried out on interculturality as broadly as possible;

-          Bring the citizens closer to the European institutions;

-       Increase aids in favour of the countries of origin of the immigrant populations;

-          Act upstream, try to eliminate discriminations at every level (infrastructure, education, housing, employment…);

-          Use and strengthen the already existing processes and actions;

-          Place interculturality at the heart of education and teach it. Suggest a framework of teaching how to live together in a heterogeneous society;

-          Disseminate the « good practices » and their results in order to trigger new European initiatives.

To know more about the project,  go surfing the blog of the project!  http://progcitoyennete.blogspot.com/