Non-governmental organizations, volunteers and activists are trying to leave a better world in various ways. Racism and discrimination are huge problems for many countries now that makes harder to create that world. BABI project is willing to contribute that wish in a dynamic way. BABI stands for better advocacy for better inclusion including many organizations by interviews and trainings.
First of all the target audience of this project is Lunaria’s partner organizations SOS Racisme, SOS Malta, Antigone (Greece). Therefore, participants from 4 countries/organizations (migrants’ and antiracist associations, volunteers, trainers, civil servants) are the target of the project. The main aim of the project is to promote participation and advocacy by helping the participants towards developing tools and strategies. These tools and strategies are meant to recommend ways to affect public policies, networking, improve communication and participation. To collect information, Lunaria interviewed with 20 organizations in Italy. Asked them about their social mission and political agenda, initiatives on participation, advocacy. This was the first step. BABI project is 24 months long project and the step after the interviews is to create training and methodologies for the participants according to what have been noted throughout the interviews. As you can observe from the national report of Italy, one of the most emphasized issue is the flaws with the citizenship law and prejudices toward the migrants or the people who has migrant roots. Even though the lack of advocacy initiative is spotted, there are important steps under communication and participation that are should be given as examples. Making periodic meetings inside the organization is important to keep updated as a team. Another thing is to directly getting in touch with the other organizations. Also to prevent prejudices, using social media is vital. Because communication campaigns have huge potential to raise awareness through the society and can provide collaboration with local authorities more easily. Art, music, photography, sports and cinema are also creative tools to be used. These tools are being used by the organizations according to their political and social missions. As mentioned above, the next step is to create methodology for the training. A pilot training will take place in Rome in the first week of June, the training is decided to be an experience-based and dynamic one. Since the advocacy initiatives are seen to lack, this is an important focus for the project. Fundamentals of advocacy and activities around this subject is vital. Other than that, context analysis, exploring participation, networking are also important. BABI training aims to improve more than theoretical knowledge. It aims to be practical by using case studies, scenarios, discussion groups and more.
You can read the Italian National Report here and the Babi Manual here
