Purpose:
SAFE aims to reach and involve public servants, intercultural mediators, school principals and families. It has been developed to give the school a central role in the process of social integration of foreign families and to value the competences and social capital of second-generation youth, which represents 35% of the whole foreign population in Italy.
Stimulus/Rationale:
SAFE is a European project headed by the municipality of the City of Reggio Emilia, with the involvement of the Intercultural Centre Mondinsieme, which encourages the social integration of foreign families through initiatives that involve local schools with diverse students.
SAFE is operated in partnership with the Italian municipalities of Arezzo and Torino, the City of Lewisham (UK), and the Efus (European Forum on Social Security) and is co-financed by the European Fund for the Integration of non-EU immigrants and the Italian Government.
Process:
The project intervened to find the suitable means for families' social inclusion and to stimulate dialogue and networking between the participating cities.
In particular, its activities aimed to:
- Increase knowledge and analysis of good polity and practices about supporting foreign families inside the school and through educational processes, both at national and European levels.
- Foster exchanges, debates and a structured benchmarking actions between the more advanced European experiences.
- Promote and broaden a structured portability of good practices in order to implement new policies supporting foreign families through school.
SAFE supported the engagement of local authorities, teachers, and cultural mediators in all its steps towards the development of policies that support foreign families.
Impact:
Key reference documents: https://www.mondinsieme.org/safe.html
