Daro Sakho is a diversity manager at Bologna Municipality. Along with another four people from local NGOs, Daro was nominated by the current mayor of Bologna to ensure an inclusive city in which 15% of the population has a foreign background.
The team of diversity managers is created based on an intersectional approach. “We manage all aspects of diversity, including disability, LGBTQI+ matters, foreign communities, and multiculturalism,” explains Daro. “Each of us is an intermediary between the associations in the city and the municipality.”
What does a diversity manager do?
In general, diversity managers’ goal is to make the administration more inclusive in its processes. “For instance, this Friday, we are meeting with an association that works with foreign communities to understand their needs. We have been collecting various inputs from many associations, and we proposed this meeting to ensure we are addressing all the needs in Bologna.”
Daro and the rest of the team also met with the service provider from Bologna municipality which works with refugees and newly arrived migrants to discuss those issues concerning resident permit requests. “We approached the service provider to see if they are encountering the same problems [as other organisations] and to discuss how we can address them,” explains Daro. “We also explored what other municipalities in Italy are doing since the resident permit system in Italy is very complex. There are laws and projects to expedite the process, but municipalities can choose whether to participate in these projects or not.”
We manage all aspects of diversity, including disability, LGBTQI+ matters, foreign communities, and multiculturalism
Another issue they were aware of is the lack of information on centres dedicated to families and children that could serve as a shelter with activities. To inform migrant communities, the diversity team organised a meeting with embassies and consulates in the city to spread the word.
“We had representatives from embassies from various parts of the world, including South America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Northern Europe,” shares Daro.
The links in between
“Essentially, we are collectors of issues and concerns, which we then bring directly to the municipality and other institutions that collaborate with the municipality,” Daro summarises.
The administration in Italy operates on many levels, making it challenging for citizens to understand which services are managed by the municipality and which by the state. She explains that the diversity team also strives to simplify this process, making it easier for citizens to approach the institutions in general.
Daro’s team also contributes to new projects, such as developing a new tram line in the city. She explains that Bologna wants to ensure the new tram line is accessible to everyone, and with that aim is asking the diversity managers for input.
“We have been going around the city to talk with technicians, engineers, and architects to check, for example, if the stops are accessible. Is it easy to reach them? Do people understand how to get there? This is not only from a physical accessibility standpoint but also for people who don’t speak Italian or have other kinds of disabilities, such as visual or auditory impairments.”
The Intercultural Centre Zonarelli
For Beatrice Collina, who works for the new Citizens, International Corporation and Human Rights Office at the municipality of Bologna, “it’s very interesting to create connections and to actually make life easier both for the administration and the associations, the community in general.”
It's very interesting to create connections and to actually make life easier both for the administration and the associations, the community in general
Part of that is the Intercultural Centre Zonarelli, where the municipality hosts migrants’ associations activities. That’s the place where different associations with diverse backgrounds and social objectives gather to work on projects collectively.
“The municipality really pushes everyone to work together,” explains Daro, who is involved in the organisation of the activities of the centre along with the other Diversity Managers.
The diversity managers propose projects to the non-profit organisations with whom they collaborate. “Like this afternoon, we have a training session for migrant women on how to enter the labour market,” shares Daro.
The centre is also where ideas and celebration plans for international days are generated, such as the International Day of the Mother Tongue, the International Refugee Day or the International Day of the migrant.
A festival for new citizens
The Municipality of Bologna and the Centre Intercultural Zonarelli are among the organisers of the Festival for new citizens celebrated in 2023 for the first time. The event, which will take place in mid-July this year, aims to celebrate the citizenship of those who turn 18 through performances, projection of movies and traditional songs and clothes.
“This is only a symbolic action as this is a national matter. But Bologna is very engaged on this and tries to focus attention at the national level on these aspects,” says Beatrice.
One day the municipality will work on its legs and be inclusive without the need for diversity managers
The truth is Italy does not follow the principle of Ius soli, the right of everyone to get the nationality of the country they’re born in regardless of the one of their parents. As it’s a state competence, the municipality works together with other Italian municipalities to urge Parliament to recognise it.
“If you are born in Italy from foreign parents, you are not Italian until you ask for citizenship,” explains Daro, “so we have a lot of people who are considered migrants, non-Italian that don’t have access to the administration.”
As an alternative, Bologna offers those residents a symbolic ‘Bolognese citizenship’. For minors with migrant backgrounds residing in the city and their parents, the municipality disseminates useful information for obtaining Italian citizenship at 18 years of age and informs those who are not protected by current legislation about their rights.
Also targeting students, the municipality created a working group with city officers working in the educational field and migrant parents or parents with migrant backgrounds to “review the educational services of the municipality of Bologna from the perspective of foreign families,” explains Beatrice. This is at the core of Bologna’s action plan developed within UNITES.
Bologna disseminated a questionnaire to gather feedback among those families that is currently been reviewed by an anthropologist that will “elaborate the results to understand what works in the municipality and what can be done better,” explains Collina.
UNITED for more inclusive cities
What now are seen as migrants maybe in the future they will just be seen as citizens
Despite obstacles such as lack of funding and support, cities will continue to work on integration towards more inclusive cities. Beatrice proudly shares that municipalities exchange good practices and learn from each other. For example, when Bologna city officials involved in the project UNITES visited Zaragoza, they were inspired by the Spanish city, which focuses on culture to integrate migrants in a similar context.
“As diversity managers,” says Daro, “we hope that one day the municipality will work on its legs and be inclusive without the need for diversity managers. Let’s say the administration becomes really inclusive so all processes, services and procedures are inclusive since the beginning so that we don’t need to check them.” It’s a long process, she admits, but she’s confident that the municipality can get there.
“What now are seen as migrants maybe in the future they will just be seen as citizens,” she concludes.
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This story is part of a series of articles that presents the experiences of migrants, organisations and municipalities working under the UNITES project in Europe, co-funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).
UNITES (UrbaN InTEgration Strategies through co-design) trains and accompanies local authorities to co-design integration strategies with other stakeholders and migrants.
UNITES works with eight cities to help them develop local integration strategies through co-design with stakeholders and migrants. In planning and implementing their actions, they will receive guidance from colleagues from other cities and migrant organisations in peer workshops and peer visits to each city.
