VALLETTA LIVING TOGETHER - VLT - (2014-2015)
To read the Intercultural City strategy, please see link below:
VLT Strategy
SOS Malta is leading a 16 month project, Valletta Living Together (VLT): Promoting Integration through Achieving Intercultural City Status, co-financed through the European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals.
The project’s main objective is to promote integration, intercultural exchange and diversity in Valletta through achieving the Council of Europe’s intercultural city status.
The project aims to develop through a series of workshops and exchanges, a strategy for Valletta to become an intercultural city through adhering to the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. This strategy will promote and enable the Integration of TCN in Malta through strengthening Valletta’s intercultural credentials.
SOS Malta is collaborating with Valletta Local Council and the V18 Foundation to carry out the Intercultural Cities Programme process involving exchanges at an international level on good practices for integration as well as national level events. This project will focus on the Council of Europe intercultural cities approach as one means through which integration may be achieved. The intercultural cites process will involve a diagnosis of Valletta’s intercultural status, followed by an expert visit from the Council of Europe.
Representatives will then participate in exchange visits to other intercultural cities to exchange experiences and good practices with international experts in the field of integration and intercultural cities. These activities will result in the development of an intercultural city 3 year strategy for Valletta which will be launched at an international intercultural event in Malta. Valletta’s achievement of intercultural city status will play a key aspect in delivering the Valletta 2018 City of Culture objective of growing internationally from the world within us.
Valletta Living Together (VLT): Promoting Integration through Achieving Intercultural City Status, will continue to build upon the work being doneby SOS Malta to promote integration as a two-way process. Through the Intercultural Cities Programme, we will support Valletta in reviewing their policies through an intercultural lens and developing comprehensive intercultural strategies to help them manage diversity positively and realise the diversity advantage.
The kick-off stakeholder workshop was held at Dar l-Ewropa in Valletta on Monday 7th July 2014 bringing together Valletta local residents, third country nationals, council members, representatives of Ministries, NGOs and others who were invited to get involved and put forward their own ideas and initiatives to help create a Valletta specific Intercultural City strategy. Participants heard from Mayor Alexiei Dingli and from Neville Borg of the V18 Foundation, as well as hearing more about the project from SOS Malta. Through the workshop, a comprehensive overview of Valletta’s strengths and weaknesses in dealing with integration issues was reached. A number of keys areas for improvement, like that of enhanced communication between different groups living in Valletta, were highlighted. To read more about the launch please see the press release: Valletta Realising the Diversity Advantage
This project is also co-financed by MSDC.
Presentations and the report from the meeting can be found here:
VLT Presentation
V18 Presentation
VLC Presentation
Your Voice Matters Research
For more information contact: SOS Malta lorna.muscat@sosmalta.org
