The Portuguese Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation was formed in 2005 simultaneously with the creation of the Anna Lindh Foundation itself.
Since then, we have grown from the initial 11 to 60 organisations, expanding the areas of intervention, consolidating little by little the notion of “network” among its members and looking for new forms of intervention to disseminate Anna Lindh Foundation’s values and objectives.
The Network works to improve the possibility of exchanging processes of collective construction, focusing our field of intervention in interculturality and dialogue, which today constitute phenomena that require a special understanding of social relations and communities at a global level.
We empower our community through activities that promote intercultural dialogue and equality and fight extremism and intolerance.
We intend to keep motivating and broadening the participation of our members and expand our network to increase the impact of our work.
Rua Nova do Loureiro
77
1200-294 Lisboa
Portugal
Aequalitas intends to guarantee the continuity of the previous work of former Heads of Network MEDesTU, MultiCulti, ACERT and Centro Nacional de Cultura through persistence in the work of motivating, stimulating and expanding the participation of its members, but also in expanding the network (over 40 members, expanding as well as the possibilities of financing its members) to improve the possibility of exchanging collective construction processes, giving increasing importance to interculturality and dialogue, which today constitute phenomena that require a special understanding of social and community relations at a global level.
Portugal due to its history has always been a society that has been open to the world since 1450, so there have always been different cultures influencing Portuguese culture, as ours has influenced other cultures. For several centuries the challenges were great. Currently there are several challenges in our society such as the integration of generations already born in Portugal who still do not feel integrated, the perpetuation of the migrants' cultures of origin without getting lost in a country with different cultures and the integration of new migrants who come from different origins. very different from the previous ones and that there are other integration problems that those of the past did not have. Therefore, as more and more people arrived in the country, the state created a strategy for integration and dialogue with these communities, the most recent of which was on February 27, 2014, created by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho (as we can see in Decree-Law Decree-Law No. 31/2014). In this decree, supported by information from the High Commission for Immigration Intercultural Dialogue, which has a member of the government in the direction, its mission is to collaborate in the definition, execution and evaluation of public, transversal and sectoral policies on migration, relevant to the attraction of migrants in national, international and Portuguese-speaking contexts, for the integration of immigrants and ethnic groups, in particular Roma communities, and for the management and appreciation of the diversity between cultures, ethnicities and religions. To reach this end, several strategies were outlined, which are described in the decree-law, such as:
• Promote Portugal's international image as a migration destination;
• Promote and encourage the reception, integration, participation and professional and civic training of immigrants and their descendants, namely through the development of transversal policies, centers and offices to support immigrants that provide an integrated response from public services; • Promote dialogue, innovation and intercultural and interreligious education, namely through support for associations and actions to value positive interaction and cultural diversity, within a framework of mutual consideration and respect for legal and constitutional norms;
• Many others To implement and put into practice these strategies, the High Commission for Immigration,
Intercultural Dialogue has several initiatives such as the distribution of funds to associations that already work directly with immigrant communities, migrant support offices to handle all the documentation needed to live in the country. and professional insertion.
