Local Voices for Inclusive Communities: Strengthening Diversity and Combating Discrimination in Southeastern Europe

ongoing

DiverCity is a transnational initiative aimed at fostering inclusive communities by addressing discrimination, promoting diversity, and strengthening municipal capacity to implement anti-discrimination policies. The project brings together municipalities, civil society organizations, and youth from Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Albania, Romania, Cyprus, and Serbia, ensuring a multi-stakeholder, cross-border approach to combating social exclusion. Despite the EU’s strong legal framework on non-discrimination, many local authorities lack the tools and expertise to translate these policies into concrete actions. Findings from the DiverCity consortium’s survey across seven countries highlight key gaps, including low awareness of anti-discrimination policies, limited municipal capacity, high levels of workplace discrimination, rising online hate speech, and gender disparities in access to opportunities. To address these challenges, DiverCity introduces an innovative Living Lab approach, allowing municipalities to test and refine inclusion policies based on citizen engagement. The project’s main activities include structured training for municipal officials, intercultural events to foster social cohesion, awareness campaigns to counter misinformation, and digital literacy programs for youth to combat online hate speech. DiverCity’s European dimension ensures scalability, with project outputs—such as digital toolkits and policy recommendations—designed for replication across other EU municipalities. By bridging policy and practice, the project contributes to stronger, more cohesive communities, ensuring that diversity is recognized as a strength rather than a challenge.