Local decision makers and young educators act and increase awareness about identity issues, discrimination, and violence in their community.

Over three years, the Recognise and Change (R&C) project offered training to young educators (between 19 and 26 years) active in their communities and local groups. Once trained, they worked with school students (11-19 years) bringing awareness on three themes: 1) relationships/identity; 2) inequality/discrimination; 3) violence, particularly against women and migrants.

Parallel to working in education, the project called upon local politicians to proactively address issues raised by the youngest citizens in their community. With an official resolution, the City of Turin declared anti-racism a ‘common good’: “We are the first city in Italy to adopt such a measure”.

According to the project Snapshots from the border, being part of a DEAR project allowed “to strengthen the links between civil society and institutions, but even more fundamentally, to put local governments […] at the centre as facilitators of relationships. In this sense, the coordinating role that local governments can play […] [generates] greater trust in institutions and a ‘community climate’ conducive to mutual understanding and non-discrimination.”