Summary in English

The LEARN (Local Entities against racism network) project, funded by the JUSTICE& RIGHTS, EQUALITY AND CITIZENSHIP Programme of the European Commission under the ACTION GRANTS 2020 call for proposals, started on 18 February 2021. Its implementation period is 24 months (until 18 February 2023).

It is a project led by OBERAXE (Secretary of State for Migration) with the following partners:

• Municipal Police of Madrid (Madrid City Council)
• Barcelona Provincial Council (DIBA)
• Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP)
• Cidalia, diversity consultancy

The overall objective of the LEARN project is to:

• Improve the capacities of Local Entities (EELL) to favour the social inclusion of all citizens guaranteeing equal treatment and non-discrimination.

And the specific objectives:

• To build a “model” municipal reference structure (Antennae) for the management of diversity and the fight against discrimination, racism, xenophobia, hate crimes and other forms of related intolerance.
• Create a learning and mutual exchange network of Local Bodies, for social inclusion and equal treatment and against discrimination, racism, xenophobia, hate crimes and associated intolerance.
• To generate a set of lessons learned that can be transferred to other municipalities, both Spanish and European.

Background

In the last quarter of 2019, the Directorate General for Integration and Humanitarian Care (DGIAH) of the Secretariat of State for Migration, in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), carried out a study to identify the plans, programmes or actions of the Autonomous Communities and Local Administrations on public policies on immigrant integration, diversity management, equal treatment and the fight against racism and xenophobia, which could serve as reference models or constitute success stories.

In order to carry out the study, 178 local entities were selected, representing 2.20% of the total number of municipalities in Spain and home to 59.5% of the population of foreign origin registered in our country.

Registered in our country. One of the main conclusions of the study is the lack of local plans, programmes or policies to combat racism, xenophobia and other related forms of intolerance in 96% of the municipalities studied. This lack of action is in addition to the need, confirmed by most of the municipalities, for training in these matters and knowledge of resources, protocols for dealing with victims, recording of incidents, current legislation, etc.

The aim of the LEARN project is to train at least 50% of the municipalities that have participated in the aforementioned study in the fight against racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance. This will result in a set of trained and informed local authorities (antennae) capable of preventing, detecting and acting in their municipalities to reduce racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance.