Bilbao, with around 350.000 inhabitants, is the capital of Biscay and the economic, social and cultural centre of the Basque Country. Due to the profound crisis in the 80s that affected its fundamental economic sectors (metallurgy, steel and naval), the city needed to reinvent itself and face great challenges: high rates of unemployment, environmental and urban degradation, strong internal emigration and the emergence of social marginalisation issues. Bilbao was able to achieve a transformation thanks to local political management, public-private and inter-institutional cooperation, and its success was acknowledged on the world stage: the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (2010), the European Public Sector Award (EPSA) 2011 for the project “Political Management based on Financial Rigor and Strategic Budgets”, culminating in the World Mayor award bestowed on mayor D. Iñaki Azkuna in 2012.

The most important ethnic group of Bilbao –people with Spanish nationality– constitutes 91.85% of the city’s inhabitants. People with Spanish nationality could be foreign-born, but national/non-national are the categories used by the Spanish administrations. Only 8.15% are non-nationals: this figure has notably increased in the last 10 years. In 2003, foreign population in Bilbao constituted 3.1% of the city’s inhabitants. There is no minority group that represents 5% or more of the population, although nationals from Latin-American countries represent 48.3% of foreign population. The largest minority groups originate from Bolivia (1.19%), Colombia (0.72%), Morocco (0.71%), Romania (0.67%) and China (0.53%). As of 1 January 2013, the estimated percentage of foreign-born nationals resident in the city was 2.48%.

Similar to other European cities that have developed successful strategies through the creative management of diversity, the city hall of Bilbao designed and executed the Municipal Plan for Diversity Management BI-OPEN (2011-2013) to construct a city that is educative in values of coexistence and open to diversity. In its evaluation, the result of citizen participation (both natives and foreigners) and the participation of RECI enabled the design of a Local Strategy of Diversity Management, the execution of which is scheduled for the coming years. The final objective: fostering integration, social cohesion and coexistence from an intercultural perspective.

Geri Anti-rumour toolkit for young people

Purpose:

This manual aims to provide a specific response to professional teams (educators, teachers, tutors, etc.) who work with young people in order to be able to develop anti-Rumour actions and dynamics autonomously in different work and socialisation spaces. The handbook includes a compilation of tools and exercises to be self-managed by teaching staff and educators of the centres.

Rationale:

Intervention with young people, working in the field of prevention and providing tools to improve relationships, communication and reflection is essential to promote coexistence in diversity and social cohesion. Since we launched the anti-Rumours strategy, many professionals who have been working with young people have been interested in the strategy and have wanted to develop these activities in each of their areas of intervention and have asked us for support and useful and practical working tools to address the issue of prejudices and stereotypes linked to socio-cultural diversity. This area of work, dedicated to the fight against racism and discrimination, is part of the III Bilbao Intercultural City Plan.

In addition, the framework of the Bilbao Anti-Rumour Strategy, young people represent a priority target group of intervention.

Process:

This handbook is the result of a work process developed with educators of youth centres in Bilbao and with different professionals who work on the anti-rumour strategy. It incorporates a series of basic concepts around the strategy and a selection of practical tools and dynamics to be carried out with youngsters.

The activities encompassed in the handbook include some ideas about the phenomenon of the construction and deconstruction of rumours in a relaxed way and with an easy language. In addition, they include spaces for the management of emotions and action. They also include methodologies that can be used without the mediation of a facilitator.

The handbook can be offered to other municipalities and anti-rumour initiatives. It is a flexible, adaptable and living resource that takes into consideration the new concerns, activities and proposals from educators and young people.

The activities included are classified according to the following criteria:

  1. Depth: classification that serves to understand the level of reflection about ideas (Warm up, Reflection, Deepening)
  2. Focus: refers to the place from which the activity appealed with each exercise (Reason, Emotion, Action)
  3. Level: responds to the intended scope from the activity (Single, Collective, Context)
  4. Skills: competencies that you want to train (Personal and context awareness, Assertive communication and strategies for group pressure management, Sincere listening, Critical thinking, Positive conflict resolution).

The handbook includes an evaluation system that incorporates a general questionnaire for young people and a technical questionnaire for educators and teachers who have implemented the activities with young people.

This handbook is the result of a work process developed with educators from eight youth centres in Bilbao and with other professionals who work on the anti-rumour strategy at local level.

Impact:  

The manual has been used mainly in schools by selecting dynamics for implementation with students. Since its publication, 35 schools in the municipality of Bilbao have participated with anti-rumour dynamics that have had an impact on 2,358 school children.

Key reference documents: Anti-rumours toolkit for youngsters

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