Purpose:
The XEIX project aims at promoting commercial associations as a meeting point and generation of neighbourhood identity. The project is about fostering intercultural relations in multi-ethnic districts through raising the level of interaction of businesses with each other and their communities.
Another key objective of the project is to combat rumours and misinformation about the Chinese community.
Stimulus/Rationale:
The project was first implemented in 2012 in Fort Pienc, a neighbourhood with an important presence of Chinese families (18% of foreign population) where long-established businesses were closing down and being bought up by Chinese and Pakistani family businesses. The city initiated the establishment of a Retail Association to help revitalise the neighbourhood and manage community relations. In collaboration with the association, a strategic plan was prepared. It enabled the introduction of intercultural mediators and interpreters, starting with an expert in Chinese language and culture and, later, another working with the South Asian community, who went door to door in the shopping district.
Project XEIX was awarded first prize in the Council of Europe’s Diversity Advantage Challenge in 2015.
Government Measure – 2013 Fort Pienc
Process:
In December 2011, the Eix Fort Pienc Traders' Association (ACEFP) was created with the aim of working to reverse the first of the points of the commercial diagnosis of the neighbourhood. The community methodology in the management and dynamics of the Association stands out. In 2012, the Eixample District launched the XEIX project.
Initially, it was hard to convince shopkeepers that there would be benefits to them and their communities by engaging. Little by little they became aware that joining the association could be a way of accessing valuable information, and a way of improving their image in the neighbourhood as good citizens who make a positive social and economic contribution. Another challenge was to persaude them of the value of opening up to, and interacting with, each other and the wider community. To overcome these challenges the association organised activities for its members (annual and members of the Board meetings) as well as public events (fairs, festivals, etc.).
The Retail Association is a place where all local shopkeepers can find useful information (in different languages), develop advocacy for common interests vis-a-vis the administration, and train to keep their business up-to-date with new technology.
XEIX project also provided specific training for shopkeepers of Chinese origin, with simultaneous translation and with a programme designed for the needs detected and expressed through daily contact and participation in the Association.
More recently, the Association has created the ‘Diverse routes’, which consist of visiting shops with a Chinese cultural background. Visitors, while listening the history of Chinese migration in the city, visit shops of all kinds and interact with their owners.
Impact
The XEIX project began in 2012 as an intercultural project to promote the inclusion in local life of the many traders of Chinese origin and cultural background who ran businesses in the Fort Pienc neighbourhood, in Barcelona's Eixample district.
Over time, the project has adapted and expanded its objectives, the territories and the communities involved in favour of an increasingly inclusive territory.
The fundamentally commercial character of its beginnings has evolved towards a community intervention, which makes it unique and pioneering.
Today, different organisations such as local immigrant organisations (Chinese language schools), institutions (Casa Asia, the Confucius Institute, Universitat Autònoma, etc), cultural facilities (National Theatre), non-profit organisations (ACCEM-refugees) and private enterprises are also encouraged to join the project. There has been an organic process of federating the local actors to foster initiatives, ideas and collaborations.
The Retail Association has now become a catalyser of all local initiatives, both economic (fairs, shopping campaigns) and cultural (local festivals, exhibitions). The social and cultural activities carried out in the neighbourhood involve all communities (e.g. the health fair involved ayurveda, acupuncture, blood donation and herbalist stands) and promote participation, interaction and mutual acknowledgement in public spaces.
The implementation of the XEIX project in its first phase allowed to:
- Establish bridges of communication between Chinese businesses and services and the Fort Pienc Traders' Association.
- Promote the incorporation of shops and services run by Chinese people into the neighbourhood traders' association.
- Achieve the active participation of Chinese traders in the activities designed in the neighbourhood's commercial and social development plan.
- Design a strategy to combat rumours/misinformation about the Chinese trade and community.
One element that stands out in the evaluation of the first experience of the XEIX project is the progressive incorporation of the Chinese community into the associative life of the Fort Pienc neighbourhood, which has already begun to bear fruit.
One of the aspects to be highlighted is the incorporation of new arrivals, both Chinese and non-Chinese, into the training offered by Barcelona Activa and the District for small businesses. This action began in May 2013 with a significant number of participants from different traders' associations in the district.
