The Project of Intercultural Mediation in Public Services (MISP) consists in an intercultural mediation of a communitarian focus, based on three principles that are crosses among them and fed continuously: the principle of mediation, the principle of interculturality and the principle of communitarian intervention. It is a project developed by City Councils in partnership with entities of the Civil Society, namely, immigrant associations.
In this model of intervention to highlight the role of the autarchies as privileged structures to promote, locally, the social cohesion and the intercultural conviviality, taking on also the role of a close management of social cultural diversity, namely, with the mobilization and participation of all local protagonists, public and private, organizations and individuals.
The implementation of MISP has been ensured by the co-financing of the European Fun to the Integration of Nationals in Third Countries (FEINPT), takin on the ACM, I.P. the status of a delegate structure.
The main goal of the Project of Intercultural Mediation in Public Services (MISP) is that of contribute to the social cohesion, improving the life quality and intercultural citizen conviviality in municipals with a significant cultural diversity, by doing a positive and preventive management of that same diversity, throughout the mediating intervention and the participations of local protagonists.
And more specifically:
1. Ease up the relation and communication between the different protagonists of the community (institutions, professionals and citizens).
2. Increase the participation of the protagonists to strengthen and develop the community.
3. Adequacy of the institutions and services to the characteristics of the community and its needs.
4. Promote the prevention and regulation of obvious and latent conflicts of the local community.
The MISP is structured in lines of global actions, specific and transversal.
Support to professionals and Institutions – Clarification about several matters: relevant cultural codes; linguistic translation; immigration legislation; nationality and access of the nationals to third countries to several services and institutions; awareness and capability of the public services; institutional adequacy between the different actors.
Note: This support to professionals is not only focused in their individual support, also aims to implement significant changes in the institutions and services both in their efficiency and effectiveness;
Citizen Social Participation – Help to promote the citizen and social participation of all citizens with special relevant to nationals for the third countries.
Intercultural Conviviality – Help to promote the constructive interaction between different groups of citizens, especially in groups of different cultural matrices.
Intervention in different areas taking into account the needs detected in the diagnosis (example: education area, housing, etc.);
Communitarian Strengthen– Help to promote actions, in the territories of intervention, that contribute to their sense of belonging, to the social cohesion and grouping and that enhance also the common aspects, taking into account that the communities are increasingly diverse.
Communitarian Strengthen– Help to promote actions, in the territories of intervention, that contribute to their sense of belonging, to the social cohesion and grouping and that enhance also the common aspects, taking into account that the communities are increasingly diverse.
Line of Transversal Action:
Conflicts Mediation – Promote the prevention and regulation/solution of obvious and latent conflicts in the Council/ territory of Intervention, namely, giving response to occasional signed situations.
Municipals teams of intercultural mediation (EMMI)
The project envisage the constitution of municipals teams of intercultural mediation (EMMI), based in the municipals that promote the intervention.
Aiming the previous points mentioned and seeking a more efficient intervention in different contexts, each EMMI must be heterogeneous regarding the ethnical origin, nationality, sex, age, migratory experience or professional training and/ or academic education.
Each team has 3 to 6 Agents of Intercultural Mediation (AMI) nominated by the partner entities, municipal and associations. The municipal indicates only one AMI that takes over the tasks of Coordinator of EMMI.
The AMI are indicated and recruited by partner entities of the civil society, preferably association of immigrants represented in the council.
By the nature of this model of intervention, the mediation agents accompany the citizen in situation of a more social disadvantage to the services and established links to other institutions, always working with these services and never replacing the their professionals.
Each EMMI has a coordinator, a professional of the City Council 100% linked to the project and a team of Intercultural Mediation Agents, placed by the partner ONG.
Competences of the intercultural mediation agents
The agents of intercultural mediation have the following competences:
- Render support to professionals and institutions, enhancing the communication channels as well as the institutional adequacy;
- Advice the social agents in their relation with belonging groups, minority group in themes of interculturality, cultural/ethnical diversity and inter communitarian relations;
- Support the citizens in order to increase the individual capacity;
- Ease up the access to public services as well as public and private resources;
- Prevention, mediation and resolution of conflicts:
- Support all protagonists to able them to organize themselves, to use the existent resources, give value to new ones, seeking other programs and projects that give response to the identified needs;
- Encourage the closeness, the communication, the articulation and relation between several resources that the community has, seeking answers in order to integrate the citizen’s needs;
- Promote interculturality by participating, freely, by learning the conviviality, new ways of relating, where other people recognize themselves as interlocutor, dialogue and mutual enrichment.
Central team and Project coordination
Coordination: High Commission for the Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue
Coordination: High Commission for the Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue
