Santa Lucía de Tirajana coexists, the first municipal plan for intercultural coexistence in Gran Canaria

 

The Santa Lucía de Tirajana City Council has been working for more than seven months on the development of the Santa Lucía Convive Intercultural Coexistence Plan. This Wednesday, the coordinators of this project presented the diagnosis of the plan to municipal workers from different areas that make up the Technical Board. After the conclusion of the diagnosis, the 1st Santa Lucía de Tirajana Convive Intercultural Coexistence Plan will begin to be prepared, which follows the guidelines of the Canarias Convive autonomous plan and the Gran Canaria Convive Cabildo plan.

 

 

 To prepare the diagnosis, an interdisciplinary team conducted an online questionnaire to municipal staff and citizens, work days with group and individual sessions were held, a technical table and a driving group were established, and documentary sources were searched.

 

The questionnaire was administered to 20 municipal workers, and to 112 people residing in the municipality, 88 people of Canarian and Spanish origin and 24 people from other countries. The group sessions were held with 13 municipal workers, 14 from social groups, 21 from Punto J., 13 from different groups, 16 young people, 16 migrants, 12 from the Local Council for Children and Adolescents (CLIA) and 7 from the Canary Islands Covive. In addition, a technical table was established with representatives from different municipal areas. 288 people have participated in the diagnosis phase, 156 in face-to-face spaces and 132 in virtual spaces.

 

In the conclusions of the diagnosis, the need to develop a set of actions, norms and practices implemented by the municipal administration to guarantee the full exercise of fundamental rights and equitable access to essential services for all residents of Santa Lucía de Tirajana. It is recognized that policy has been made recognizing multiculturalism but less work has been done on the management of cultural diversity. 

 

Language is one of the main barriers for migrants. Greater coordination between the different municipal areas is also necessary when responding to citizen demands. It is important to train municipal personnel so that attention to citizens is not affected by prejudices or ignorance of other cultures. In surveys and in the testimonies of migrants, a positive evolution in the last 20 years is recognized in the attention to people of different cultures. 

 

The Councilor for Solidarity, Ofelia Alvarado, highlights that “based on this diagnosis that is being presented today, the preparation of the First Intercultural Coexistence Plan Santa Lucía de Tirajana Convive will now begin where we will put the tools to address all the indicators and problems that provides us with this diagnosis”