Fostering Strong and Diverse Communities

ended

The Gzira Local Council (MT), in partnership with the Comune di Enna (IT) and the NGO The Islands (MT) are applying for a town twinning project. Both Italy (Sicily) and Malta are facing a shared reality: our communities have faced an extremely rapid increase in the number of foreign residents (both from other EU countries and TNCs). The challenges posed by multiculturalism tend to be especially felt by small islands, which by virtue of their geographical make-up tend to be more cut-off and have less experience in dealing with the inter-mixing of people and cultures. The experience of Covid was also more keenly felt by the two small islands, given that they tend to depend on tourism. Within this background context, the participating organisations are presenting a transnational project which has the general objective of promoting integration at the local level; by enhancing residents’ engagement, their sense of belonging and ownership to their local community and to Europe as a whole, with all its multitude of people and cultures. The project proposed is a 3 day activity held in Gzira that will address the following topics: -Day 1: Celebrating the linguistic, cultural and historical connections and diversity between Enna and Gzira; -Day 2: Multiculturalism: The Challenges and Opportunities for Small Mediterranean Localities; -Day 3: The Impact of Covid on Small European Localities In order to achieve our general objective, engagement with residents is key The topics will be explored through a number of citizen discussions, workshops, public forums and presentations. Additionally, core to our project is a number of public awareness raising activities that will be implemented jointly by Gzira and Enna whilst the Twinning takes place. The rationale behind including a number of larger-scale public events is to draw the attention and participation of as many residents as possible, given that ultimately we want to celebrate and promote Europe’s cultural diversity.