MIgrants and Local communities Actively GROwing together for inclusive societies

ongoing

The current situation of migration flows towards Europe, and the issues related to the integration and inclusion of migrants inside local communities, makes urgent the need to provide tools and opportunities to empower both locals and foreigners to grow together, and build long lasting and positive relationships based on mutual understanding, respect and solidarity. For this reason the overall aim and common goal of the MILAGRO project is to promote and sustain an inclusive and culturally diverse democratic society that through solidarity, equality and equity can be achieved for everyone, and where diversity and differences among social and cultural groups are valued and used as an asset in order to respond to societal challenges, rather than seen as an obstacle. The project activities will target both the local community and migrants (including refugees and asylum seekers) present on the territory of the different countries participating in the project: Italy, Serbia and the Netherlands.They will include: structured meetings aimed at spreading knowledge about democratic and digital competences, training and reflective activities with the goal of acquiring those competences, storytelling activities, narrative and emotional exchanges of experiences between the target groups, the execution of summer camps in the three partner locations providing recreational and relationship-building activities, dissemination actions, intercultural mediation and coaching trainings, the creation of an observatory on inclusive society, which together with other actions will guarantee project’s sustainability. The impacts MILAGRO intends to achieve are: (1) setting the basis for intercultural understanding and mutual respect, (2) promoting democracy and democratic values in local communities, (3) providing examples of good practices for solidarity actions, (4) tackling stereotypes and prejudice thus reducing cultural and social distance between locals and migrants.