(Council of Europe). The municipalities of Reggio Emilia and Novellara in Italy released the handbook “Valuing religious communities as key actors of social cohesion” thanks to an inter-city Intercultural cities programme (ICC) grant.
The handbook intends to support public administrations in managing increasingly complex local contexts, where religious pluralism is one of the fundamental aspects of promoting intercultural dialogue. It includes indications on potential concrete actions that local authorities could put in place to foster the creation of intercultural contexts and make the places of worship potential interlocutors in the cities.
Also, experts and academics at Italian and international level offered their expertise through thematic focuses, providing insights and suggestions which could inspire further considerations on the subject.
The publication includes the outcomes of a questionnaire launched in September 2020 and targeting the cities belonging to the ICC programme and the leading twin municipalities. Officials from 25 local administrations answered the survey, 17 of them belonging to the ICC network. The questionnaire allowed to collect effective practices from Europe and from outside, including Africa (Pemba in Mozambique and Ekurhuleni in South Africa), Asia (Hamamatsu in Japan and Beit Jala in the West Bank) and America (Montreal, Canada).
These city experiences guided the analysis, and some of them have been included in the handbook as inspiring practices.
“Valuing religious communities as key actors of social cohesion”, edited by Fondazione Mondinsieme, thanks to an inter-city ICC grant, is already available in English, French, Italian and Arabic.