A new report has been published today, analysing the results of the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities (ICC) index in Tenerife, Spain, based on data collected in 2024.
Tenerife has now become the first member of the Intercultural Cities (ICC) Programme to have completed the ICC index four times – testifying to the value and importance of this tool for local and regional authorities in Europe.
Tenerife Island Council is to be congratulated on the range and quality of the steps it has taken as an intercultural entity and the clarity of its purpose and commitment. The progress made since the last index report in 2020, particularly in the areas of welcoming newcomers and intercultural competences, is especially praiseworthy.
Other noteworthy areas include:
- Business and labour market, where Tenerife scored 100/100, as it publicly recognises the role of migrants as entrepreneurs and highlights their contributions to the local economy through invitations to business events, facilitating inclusion in business and professional networks and removing barriers to bidding for contracts;
- Anti-discrimination, where an action plan - Tenerife Against Racism – will pursue training and awareness-raising through workshops, courses, seminars and walks;
- Participation, where several bodies enabling and empowering migrants and minorities have been developed, whether it’s the “Island Table for Intercultural Living Together” tasked with monitoring the output of the island’s strategic intercultural plan; or the Island Table of Migrant Communities, which acts as a consultative body to the Assistance Service for Migrants.
Particularly notable good practices developed in Tenerife include the links between its regional government, the University of La Laguna and the Immigration Observatory of Tenerife (OBITen) which nourish evidence-based policy making in the field of intercultural inclusion. These relationships between different institutions form a strong basis for the development of intercultural strategies.
Tenerife is also an active member of the Spanish Network of Intercultural Cities, RECI (Red de Ciudades Interculturales).
The Council of Europe’s ICC Programme provides assistance to public authorities willing to implement the intercultural integration approach in communities with culturally diverse populations. The members of the programme commit to reviewing their governance, policies, discourse and practices from an intercultural point of view. Composed of 83 indicators, the intercultural cities index is the benchmarking tool that allows to assess where a city stands in relation to intercultural integration, where efforts should be focused in the future and which other cities can be a source of good practice in each of the policy areas monitored by the index.
Data from the reports is also available via the ICC interactive charts
