The City of Brno’s project for the integration of foreigners will begin with efforts to integrate the children of foreigners in the city schools. This is the first step towards Brno’s Strategy for the Integration of Foreigners 2020-2026, approved in September 2020. The Jiří Mahen Library and SocioFacto are participating organizations in the project. Photo credit: KB / BD.
Czech Rep., Jan 15 (BD) – Brno City Council’s “Integration of Foreigners II” project is part of a wider strategy for the further integration of foreigners in Brno. One of the aims of the project is to deal with the context-specific problems of foreigners, and an important part of this process is creating better strategies for education.
The Strategy for the Integration of Foreigners was approved by Brno City Council in September 2020, covering the period from 2020 to 2026. The development of the project involved approximately 150 actors, including several foreigners, and identified education as a priority area. The project, therefore, targets the integration of children of foreigners in Brno schools, along with their parents.
“We will focus mainly on helping Vietnamese children, and kindergartens and primary schools who need support communicating with their parents. The Jiří Mahen Library also took part, preparing activities on Ukrainian and Vietnamese literature and culture in cooperation with intercultural staff from Brno City Hall,” said Marek Fišer, Chairman of the Committee for National Minorities and Council Member for Culture.
The number of foreigners living in Brno is around 36,000, which underlines the need for a systematic integration policy. “It is important to work on the integration of foreigners. Brno has long established itself as an international city with a strong emphasis on science and research, which is why we must look for ways to facilitate the integration of foreigners into Czech society, especially at the systemic level. Since 2018, there has been a network of intercultural staff in the city, who are actively promoting safe, harmonious coexistence, and helping remove obstacles to integration through personal contact with the communities in question,” added Robert Kerndl, the Deputy Mayor for Social Work.
The council is applying for a subsidy of CZK 1.2 million for the Integration of Foreigners II project, which will be divided between the organizations implementing the project, including the City of Brno’s Social Department, the Jiří Mahen Library, and SocioFacto.
