The Intercultural MAP of your city aimed to tackle intolerance, stereotypes and other key sociocultural concerns by promoting mutual respect within and between local communities in the South of Italy.

In order to achieve these aims, the organisers concluded that it would be essential to promote finding a common language for understanding and respecting cultural differences; comprehending the value of all the communities living together and giving young people the chance to act as actors for change.

During the course of the project several activities were carried out. These included a training course on community mapping based on non-formal education methodologies. The course was held in Palermo from the 25th to the 29th of July with 15 participants from different partner organizations and young representatives of foreign communities.

The activities also included the launch of a website and an application for smartphones with intercultural maps of Palermo and Naples identifying cultural expressions of foreign communities living in the cities. These cultural expressions included restaurants, associations, handcrafts, religious places, dance and music groups.

The final events were held in Palermo and Naples on the 10th of December, on the occasion of the International Day of Human Rights. These included numerous activities that were organized in cooperation with other organizations and informal groups such as stakeholders from local authorities, representatives of foreign communities, third sector and cultural enterprises; intercultural tours of the cities with dance workshops, visiting mosques and Hindu temples, language exchange with a focus on disability and accessibility; and a night event with traditional food and music from different countries.

During the course of its implementation, many young people acquired the skills needed to act as actors for change in representing their communities and fostering the dialogue with others, people living in the included cities had the opportunity to discover the richness of neighbouring communities and to interact with each other in a peaceful way through the use of an intercultural map of their city. Regarding future activities, the aim is to involve more cities in the app and enrich the map with more and more places which are still unknown or much hidden.

In total, the project lasted for seven months, from June to December 2016 and it was promoted by CEIPES – International Centre for Promotion of Education and Development, in cooperation with 7 members of the Italian Network of Anna Lindh Foundation from the South of Italy.

For more information on the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8YEbz4PBKw, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjABgsZfx9Q&feature=youtu.be