The November networking meeting of the “Together on Interculturality” series, held on 5 November 2024 at Przejście Dialogu (Passage of Dialogue), focused on creating intercultural places for activity and integration in Wrocław’s neighbourhoods.
The meeting was held in connection with activities carried out under this year’s grant competition “Intercultural Meeting Places in Local Communities – Wrocław 2024”. The competition was launched in response to a strong need for activities bringing local neighbourhood communities together with the many new residents migrating to Wrocław. The activities were run by 14 organisations in Wrocław neighbourhoods and were planned to involve around 2,600 participants of all ages.
During the meeting, representatives of non-governmental organisations carrying out activities under the competition took the floor – from Wrocław neighbourhoods including Swojczyce (Stowarzyszenie Grupa z Pasją), Kozanów (Fundacja Animada), Przedmieście Oławskie (Fundacja ART-JTM) and the Old Town (Stowarzyszenie UP-DATE). In presenting their activities, the organisations’ representatives focused on sharing good practices that had enabled them to carry out integration activities between the host community and people with migration experience effectively. The common thread running through all the activities was strengthening the agency of migrants by enabling them to get involved and run activities themselves. The guests also attached key importance to activities focused on cooperation and on learning new skills in intercultural and intergenerational groups, as well as those that help to overcome the language barrier quickly. Among the challenges, the guests pointed to people’s limited availability and the difficulty of reaching event participants – both migrants and members of the host community.
The meeting was also attended by a representative of the Tadeusz Różewicz Municipal Public Library in Wrocław, who presented a range of educational and integration activities taking place in the library’s 39 branches across Wrocław. It is worth noting that more than 3,000 migrants are registered as readers, and the collection of books in languages other than Polish is constantly being expanded.
How to create inclusive intercultural meeting places – discussion
The meeting was also attended by representatives of many organisations and institutions, including the Social Affairs Department of Wrocław City Hall, Fundacja Ukraina, WCRS WroMigrant – the municipal information point for migrants and refugees, Stowarzyszenie Nomada, Fundacja Bente Kahan, Fundacja Umbrella, Fundacja Hobbit, Siła Kobiety and many others. The discussion covered, among other things, ways to increase participation in events by both people with migration experience and members of the host community, as well as the need to shift the narrative around activities for migrants and refugees from a typically “aid-based” one to one focused on cooperation within local communities. Participants also discussed how to respond to hate speech, as well as ideas for networking and keeping one another informed about the resources available to organisations.
We invite you to read the meeting notes, which describe the organisations’ activities and the topics discussed. We would like to thank all participants for their presence, commitment and contribution to the discussion.
Link to the meeting notes: https://dmw.wcrs.dev.foreto.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/Spotkanie-Wspolnie-o-Miedzykulturowosci-7_notatka_listopad_.pdf
The meetings are organised by the Wrocław Centre for Social Development in partnership with Dolnośląska Federacja Organizacji Pozarządowych (DFOP) and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS).
