Charlemagne Youth Prize to an Italian project for refugee integration

“Triggering the movement for integration”; “living and appreciating diversity”; “Educating to multiculturalism, in Italy and in Europe.” In the belief that “today’s young people must be agents of change, acting as a link between different cultures,” “we believe that origin, skin colour or religion, make no difference: we are all human beings.” Solid convictions characterize the youths of Aiesec, the “global network” set up in 1948, present in 126 Countries, whose Italian chapter won the European Charlemagne Youth Prise 2016. The prestigious recognition, promoted by the European Parliament and the International “Charlemagne Prize” Foundation (the same that will deliver the eponymous prize to Pope Francis on Friday, May 5, at the Vatican), went to the “InteGreat” project, outdistancing hundreds of other projects from all over the continent. It beat down to the wire two beautiful initiatives respectively presented by Greece (Pirgetos High School, Larissa; tablet game on Charlemagne, “Father of Europe”) and the UK (annual international conference for under30s organized by the Young European Council). The basic idea of InteGreat, which conquered the Aachen panel jury, is to connect young people from all over Europe “to act upon the current refugee crisis by fostering their integration”. The project aims to involve international volunteers, local NGOs and local communities organizing workshop, leisure activities, seminars and events.  There emerges the strong motivation – that proceeds swimming against the tide of populism and xenophobia, following the pace of the arrival of refugees in Europe –

to make refugees feel that they are “people”, accepted just the way they are, with their baggage of experience, their (many) problems, cultures, languages, religious traditions.

For the young winners, who brought Italy at the top of a divided Europe, concerned about the refugee-crisis, the projects consists in providing all those arriving in Italy, Greece or other European countries “with the tools enabling them to play an active role in European societies.” Guiscardo Urso, President of Aiesec Italy, said: “InteGreat is the result of the determination of European youths to tear down cultural barriers and encourage the integration of migrants and political refugees. The challenge is to give our contribution to the resolution of one of the greatest problems currently faced by Italy and by the rest of Europe.” In practical terms, the project (which on May 2 was awarded a diploma, a medal and a contribution of 5000 euro), to be implemented in Italy, envisages the involvement of 70 young international volunteers who will co-operate for a period of six weeks with local NGOs, and organizations involved in promoting integration, thanks to educational activities for migrant children, teaching languages, board games, developing creative projects…) and for adults (e.g. with seminars to explain the social and political contexts in Italy and in Europe). There are plans to create a website and promote aggregation events and engagement with local communities, also urging media outlets to highlight the stories of the “guests” – as the migrants are politely called – in order to make them known to Italian citizens. This is the project in a nutshell, which has yet to become concrete. But it’s on the right track, without denying, as stated by InteGreat, “difficulties in the reception of migrants at national and European level.” It is not uncommon for young people to be longsighted, with open horizons.