The aim of this project was to organize citizens’ panels on the importance of intercultural dialogue in the context of an increasingly intercultural European Union, exploring original and innovative methodology, with the potential to encourage citizens’ participation and to stimulate dialogue between European citizens and the institutions of the European Union.

The target group of the project ACID were young people and young adults (aged 18-30 years old), migrants and refugees, adults and aged people, politicians, representatives of the civil society (NGOs, cultural associations, trade unions), teachers and educators from the participating countries. Special attention was paid to involving average citizens of different demographic, social and professional backgrounds and to involving citizens who would not have spontaneously participated in projects of a European nature.

The specific objectives of the project:

• To support citizens’ panels in all participating countries which enable the active interaction and discussion among citizens on the importance of intercultural dialogue at European level;
• To collect the opinion of citizens on a key European challenge for the future such as the intercultural dialogue in a multicultural Europe;
• To create mechanisms that enable European citizens to develop civic competences, to formulate their views and opinions on the European integration process in the form of recommendations for policy makers at European level;
• To encourage the dialogue between European citizens and the institutions of the EU, empowering citizens as regards EU policies and their impact, and ensuring appropriate follow up of citizens’ opinions by the EU institutions.

The main activities implemented by the project ACID were:

1. 3 transnational meetings among partners for coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the project’s implementation;
2. Citizens’ panels in each participating country lasting 2 days, for building individual and collective opinions on the importance of intercultural dialogue in Europe. The panels were moderated and facilitated through innovative methods such as “Open Space Technology” and “Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP)”, and other innovative methods proposed by partners;
3. Organisation of a European Panel with representatives from the national citizens’ panels, lasting 2 days to define the final recommendations addressed to the European institutions;
4. On-line forum to enable discussions among participants;
5. Production of final video on DVD

The countries participating in the project were: Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Romania.

The working language during transnational meetings and during the European panel was be English. At national level the panels were in the national languages, while the final DVD is available both in English and the national languages.

Project Duration: 1 January – 30 October 2009.

Partners

UniTS – Università del Terzo Settore, Italy – Project Coordinator – www.uniterzosettore.it

Future Worlds Center, Cyprus – http://www.cnti.org.cy

Antigone, Greece – http://www.antigone.gr

Numena, Portugal – http://www.numena.org.pt/

Intercultural Institute of Timisoara, Romania – http://www.intercultural.ro

For more details please visit: http://acid-project.wikifoundry.com