Project name: Support for the integration of temporary protection holders on the territory of the Statutory City of Ústí nad Labem 2024
Sub-project: Communication is the way in 2024
Duration of the sub-project: 1.5.2024 – 31.12.2024
Place of realization: Ústí nad Labem
Implementer: The Statutory City of Ústí nad Labem
Implementer of the sub-project: The Counselling Centre for Integration
Financing: The Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, UNHCR
The aim of the project is to improve coexistence between foreigners and the majority society in the city of Ústí nad Labem, to facilitate and improve communication between foreigners, institutions and the public.
The sub-project targets not only foreigners themselves, but also the majority society, which needs to be introduced to different cultures and thus eliminate tensions and prejudices between foreigners and the majority.
The sub-project provides 2 key activities:
– providing interpretation/intercultural assistance,
– Colourful Planet Festival.
Through the services of intercultural assistants in the city of Ústí nad Labem, interpretation, providing basic information/advice, overcoming the language barrier between the target group and the staff of authorities and institutions, orientation in the new environment and preventing possible misunderstandings are ensured. Intercultural assistants assist with accompaniments and meetings at authorities (City Hall, Labour Office, OSPOD, pedagogical-psychological counselling centre and others), schools, doctors, employers and other institutions. If necessary, they help with the translation of information materials into the mother tongue. Intercultural assistants also monitor the needs and problems of the target group by regularly visiting hostels and large-scale accommodation facilities in the relevant locality.
Thanks to the support of interpreters/intercultural assistants, the target group’s dependence on mediated or incomplete information is reduced, self-sufficiency and orientation in society is strengthened, and the target group’s competence for integration into society is increased.
The Barevná planeta festival is a festival of different cultures that aims to prevent xenophobic attitudes in society. The aim is to introduce and familiarize the Czech majority society with the legally living foreigners in the Czech Republic and thus to help to bring them together non-violently, to promote mutual understanding and to promote smooth coexistence between foreigners and local citizens. The foreigners themselves participate in the implementation of the festival, presenting their different cultures in various forms, e.g. through music, dance, photographs, demonstrations of traditional clothing or food tasting. The festival involves the communities of foreigners living in the Czech Republic, as well as many volunteers, elementary schools, theaters and other institutions in Ústí nad Labem. The festival, which eases the integration process, is free for all.
The event is organized within the project “Communication is the way in 2024” focused on the integration of temporary protection holders co-financed by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic and UNHCR.
