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Interculturalism and Social Cohesion
- Introduction
- Local projects
- Support for professionals
- Music for raising awareness
- Projects that back diversity
Introduction
Growing socio-cultural diversity caused by increasing immigration in recent years has prompted "la Caixa" Foundation to implement measures aimed at enhancing intercultural relations and the proper management of cultural diversity to guarantee a unified society.
Local projects: reality and challenge
Diversity is a feature of our everyday lives and intercultural relations take place in different areas of daily life: at work, in public places, and at school, etc. Encouraging real and peaceful interaction is the basic challenge in the construction of a unified society.
We have introduced a community project to be implemented in local neighbourhoods, the basic value of which is the coordination of strategies that encourage civil coexistence among cultures from a grassroots level. The project is focused on all the people who live in the neighbourhood: children, young people, families, associations, professionals, and institutions, etc. Their involvement is the key to its success.
Support for professionals, the key to good diversity management
Language, customs or beliefs and differences between each country's systems sometimes complicated relations between experts and professionals and users from different cultures.
We therefore run training initiatives and assign resources aimed at professionals with a view to improving their cultural skills and providing them with the keys to good diversity management. Intercultural mediation therefore plays an important role in the health sector, which is why we remain committed to the mediator figure and their professionalisation and recognition.
Music for raising awareness
Appreciating the music of other cultures tends to be the first step towards getting to know them in greater depth. On this premise we created Diversons, música para la integración (Different sounds - Music for integration), an open call for musical performers from different parts of the world with a traditionally inspired repertoire.
Encouraging the growth of projects that back diversity
Through the Interculturalism and social cohesion project awards, we at "la Caixa" Foundation aim to foster projects that directly respond to social needs arising from cultural diversity and migratory movements, the social relations established among groups of different origins, and situations derived from the coexistence of these groups.
We are currently collaborating on 63 projects.

