Reflections and insights about linguistic minorities in Europe
Main Info
TCA Description
Cultural differences can be an obstacle for individuals to participate in EU opportunities, deterring individuals in engaging in and potentially reduce the advantages of their involvement.
Italy represents a great example of cultural richness. Italian law recognizes and protects a total of 12 linguistic minorities, in addition to that Italy is one the EU country more subject to migrants’ migratory inflows. Among them, the Arbëreshë community represents a peculiar example of successful model due to the nature of their level of cultural integration. Nonetheless, there is still weak capitalization on this and other cultural minorities in Erasmus+ projects due the scarce knowledge on them and to partial knowledge on best practices, strategies and project management’s skills, hindering the presentation of project proposals on the matter of cultural integration of minority communities.
Standing on the rich diversity of the ethnicities and cultural minorities living in the Italian territory the IT02 NA (INDIRE) is organizing a TCA with the aim of learning to recognize and make the most out of the cultural identities of linguistic minorities in its own territory and, more broadly, to promote respect for minority languages and cultural identities in Europe as positive model of social inclusion. Through a practical and peer-based approach, which includes study visits to successful urban integration models and to the local Arbëreshë community, the aim is to bolster a long-term effect on the involved stakeholders of minority (and non-) communities, facilitating processes that would eventually lead to the creation of common KA1 and KA2 projects on Adult’s Education (AE) on the themes of cultural and linguistic valorization of minority communities.
The objective of the TCA is to boost opportunities for cooperation among participating organizations, institutions and participants to help them better design Erasmus+ KA1 and KA2 projects on the promotion and capitalization of European cultural and linguistic minorities.
This objective will be delivered with a threefold approach:
- Networking: the event will provide opportunities for participants to get to know each other’s methodologies, case studies, best practices and strategies for the integration and valorization of cultural and linguistic minorities in their respective regions, facilitating the creation of networks and future collaborations. To guarantee a more inclusive and participated seminar, representatives from different cultural minorities will be encouraged to take part.
- Sensitization on intercultural dialogue: among different linguistic and cultural communities. This will be provided through: (i) cultural visits to some Arbëreshë communities in Calabria, exploring how they are effectively intertwined in their cohabitation with fellow minorities and with the Italian population and witnessing how this led, over the years, to a positive spill-over effect among the different cultures. (ii) study visit to the towns of Camini/Riace, where innovative models for best practices on the integration of minority communities and newcomers from third-country nationalities were designed and witnessed successful results, receiving mentions of value from social impact studies all over Europe and demand for replicability strategies.
- Learning: Sessions will be held by thematic experts and representatives from the involved organizations on matters of interest concerning the Programme, while in-depth knowledge on specific aspects regarding the management of Erasmus+ projects (project design, budgeting, evaluation of results, etc.) will be provided through dedicated training sessions. Finally, participants will be facilitated into project design sessions to jointly co-develop new initiatives and project proposals funded by KA1/KA2 grants on the social and linguistic inclusion of minorities
Hosted in the city of Sibari (to be confirmed) and lasting 4 days, the event will be marked by the presence of representatives from the local administrations (Mayors, regional councilor of Calabria region with responsibility for minority groups), regional authorities in charge of social inclusion, as well as experts on the Arbëreshë language, history and cultural heritage. The history of the Arbëreshë community and of its settlement into the Southern-Italian regions is quite peculiar, providing a significant example on the integration of minority groups. The community originates from a massive flew of Albanian groups starting from the 15th Century, after the death of the national hero “Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg” and the following invasion of Albanian principates from the Ottoman armies; those refugees, who firstly found shelter in the Kingdom of Naples, spread all over Southern Italian regions throughout the years
Partners and participants
Staff of adult educator organizations, municipality councilors, non-governmental institutions, volunteers working with and/or coming from areas with relevant presence of cultural/minority communities, with scarce or no experience on Erasmus+ (newcomers).
Pending booked places
Accepted places