Project “GRASE – Gender and Race Stereotypes Eradication in labour market access”
31 December 2020
Understanding race, racism and antiracism in migration studies, comparatively across Europe and beyond
2 February 2021
Project “GRASE – Gender and Race Stereotypes Eradication in labour market access”
31 December 2020
Understanding race, racism and antiracism in migration studies, comparatively across Europe and beyond
2 February 2021

Project “ITACA – Italian cities against discrimination”

ISMU Foundation together with ICEI (Project leader), Mondinsieme Foundation, the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and the Municipality of Modena join forces to prevent and tackle systemic and institutional discrimination.

Along with this partnership, other five municipalities members of the ICC Intercultural Cities Network (Viareggio, Olbia, Casalecchio di Reno, Fucecchio and Novellara) will be involved in identifying mechanisms, within their own municipal administration, that can lead to both direct and indirect discrimination.

ITA.C.A. was developed on the assumption that the systemic and institutional discrimination as well as the racial-ethnic issue remains a barely debated subject, despite the fact that case law has often examined these issues.

The project is implemented together with UNAR (National Antidiscrimination Office), ASGI (Association for Legal Studies on Immigration) and the Intercultural Cities Program of the Council of Europe.

Objectives

  • ITACA aims to promote the effectiveness implementation of non-discrimination policies and practices so as to prevent and tackle direct and indirect discrimination within municipalities.
  • ITACA aims to have a dual impact: improving the skills of the municipalities staff in the field of non-discrimination – promoting the definition of operational tools within administrations – and working with civil society to raise awareness on this topic.

Such goals will be pursued through the following activities

  • mapping of anti-discrimination practices within municipal services
  • conducting training sessions for municipal staff on anti-discrimination policies and practices
  • implementation of operational tools to counter systemic and institutional discrimination, which will lead to the drafting and testing of “Guidelines on anti-discrimination policies and practices within municipalities” in two pilot cities (Reggio Emilia and Modena)
  • creating workshops and training labs on discrimination and advocacy for civil society organizations and municipalities’ staff involved in the project
  • designing local events as well as a communication campaign to promote a positive narrative on diversity with the aim of informing and raising awareness.

Expected Outcomes

  • increased skills and knowledge among municipalities’ staff
  • strengthened Public/Private Cooperation to ensure the effective application of anti-discrimination legislation.

The dialogue with the ICC Cities network (InterCultural Cities program)

Alongside the activities foreseen within the Italian context, ITACA will also explore the European perspective.
This will be possible thanks to the attendance to the Council of Europe events, a study visits to an ICC Network City, and the organization of a policy sharing event held in Brussels.

ISMU’s role

ISMU offers its know-how in the field of scientific research and training on social phenomena, thanks to a team made up of researchers and experts from many different research areas.

Within the project ISMU will manage the preliminary research (monitoring and mapping of good practices) and the training phase. Furthermore, will be supporting the Municipalities of Reggio Emilia and Modena in the design of the guidelines for the anti-discrimination policies.

Duration

from November 2020 to October 2022
(24 months)

 “ITACA – Italian cities against discrimination
is co-financed by the European Commission through the “Rights, Equality and Citizenship” programme.

ITACA is coordinated by ICEI in partnership with
the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, the Municipality of ModenaMondoInsieme Foundation
and ISMU Foundation

and is promoted in collaboration with
the UNAR (Ufficio Nazionale Antidiscriminazioni Razziali – Italian Equality Body)
ASGI (Association for the juridical studies on immigration)
and the Intercultural Cities Program of the Council of Europe