European report about Intercultural Cities: Sabadell one of the most active and developed cities managing diversity policies (October 2014)

EUROPEAN REPORT ABOUT INTERCULTURAL CITIES: SABADELL ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AND DEVELOPED CITIES MANAGING DIVERSITY POLICIES (OCTOBER 2014)

 

 

Last October 2014, the European project Intercultural Cities evaluated Sabadell, which joined the program in 2011, as it is one of the members in the RECI (Spanish Network of Intercultural Cities).

The program Intercultural Cities was created to offer tools to its partner cities in order to develop diversity policies, build a positive speech and promote positive social integration among the population. The goal of this evaluation was to measure the impact of this program in the management of intercultural diversity in the city. As a result of this evaluation, Sabadell City Hall was considered one of the most active and developed cities on diversity policy management in Spain. The report “Intercultural cities, Sabadell Case Study” highlights the implementation of innovative services and structures in the city, necessary to promote diversity. In concrete, Sabadell has been able to develop the following:

An intercultural strategy which has reached an agreement in the political and citizens sphere. This consensus led to the creation of a municipal agreement on racism, xenophobia and homophobia “Sabadell lliure de racisme, xenophobia i homophobia” (on January 24th) and the motion for driving sensitivity policies on rumours “Impuls de polítiques de sensibilització per desmuntar rumors enfront la diversitat i en pro de la convivència a Catalunya” (Decembre 2014).

An strategy which has focused on driving actions in learning environments, such as promoting the language; exchange of ideas and knowledge (the gastronomic month), open-door event in places of worship, kitchen 2.0; sensitization as, for example, values-based education within the program Ciutat- Escola and the project to create a Coexistence rap; creation of intercultural public spaces such as libraries and the building Estruch Fàbrica de creació. This strategy has also counted with the support of the media to fight racism, xenophobia and intolerance.

According to the report, as a result of the strategy implementation, there has been a change in the perception and attitudes towards diversity. For instance, employees of the administration seem to be more open-minded about intercultural concepts and ideas; teachers, students and parents, now feel more comfortable when interacting with people from other cultural backgrounds; people have improved their communication and relationship in the neighbourhood. Furthermore, foreign people themselves feel more integrated, participate in associations and detect a better social cohesion.

Thanks to the commitment of the whole society with the program Intercultural Cities, Sabadell has been able to join the project C4i: Communication for Integration in order to fight rumours and prejudices on foreigners, together with other 10 European partner cities. Sabadell has shared its experiences and it is now internationally known as a successful example in cultural diversity management.

In order to elaborate this report, specialists from the program Intercultural Cities interviewed representatives of associations, citizens and city managers during October 6th-9th 2014. Nowadays there are more than 80 cities joining the network.

This experience brought the Council of Ministers and the Council of Europe to recommend the development of this strategy to other cities of the State members. (See the Letter sent from the Council of Europe to Sabadell City Hall and the Text recommending the strategy, dated on January 21st 2015.)

Based on the results of the experience in Sabadell and in other cities from the program Intercultural Cities, last January 21st, the Committee of Ministers adopted the Recommendation CM addressed to the State members. This was aimed to promote and support the implementation of an intercultural strategy for integration in the cities. In concrete, the text points out that the intercultural mainstreaming for integration should: promote a public speech that emphasises the values shared in the community and a speech that aims to build a plural and diverse urban identity. It should guarantee that policies, institutions and services conform to a diverse society. Furthermore, it should fulfil an intercultural competence among civil servants and local agents, as well as nurture active participation from the local government.

This recommendation invites the State members to use the guide “Step by step: Practical guide for applying the urban model of intercultural integration.”