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The General Directors of Diversity and Participation present the graduation diplomas to the students of the fourth edition in a vindicating closing ceremony
The School of Citizenship generates an extraordinary political and social impact after training more than 170 leaders and opening spaces of participation to citizens of migrant origin
The closing event of the fourth edition of the School of Citizenship for Migrants in the Valencian Community put the finishing touch to a course with a markedly political and vindictive character in which political meetings were held with all the candidates for the presidency of the Generalitat during the election campaign and visits to the Congress of Deputies in Madrid and the Valencian Parliament.
During the closing ceremony, the Director General of Diversity, Stephane Soriano, and the Director General of Transparency and Participation, José Salvador Tárrega, presented diplomas to Hanan Kaddoura, Youssoupha Demba, Edgard Vega and Andrea Lara, representing the students of the fourth graduating class. The four of them took the opportunity to highlight the value of the empowerment they have gained during the course and their desire to continue actively contributing to Valencian politics. There were also words to call for peace in the Middle East and in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who for the last 20 days have been suffering bombardment by the Israeli army after 75 years of occupation.
In addition, the Director of the Migration Institute of the University of Granada, Francisco Javier García Castaño, gave a talk entitled 'Overcoming apathy. Analysis of political disaffection in Spain. Consequences and proposals for participation' in which he reflected on the 'revolutionary' role of the School of Citizenship. 'It is a provocation: 'Why do we think it is only aimed at migrant citizens and not at the whole population, and why not a School of Citizenship for the political class?
A transformative impact on society as a whole
VIDEO | Learn about the transformative impact of the School of Citizenship on society as a whole.
The Director of the School of Citizenship, Boutaina El Hadri, highlighted the 'extraordinary' social, political and media impact of this pioneering project throughout Europe, led by Jovesólides, ACOEC and Espai Obert El Marítim since 2019 to promote the participation and presence of people of migrant origin in politics, institutions and public decision-making spaces.
El Hadri explained that in four editions, the EoC has already trained more than 170 leaders and has opened new spaces of participation for migrant citizens such as parliamentary seats, political parties or government institutions. It has also managed to put the under-representation of migrants in politics on the public and media agenda.
After their time at the School of Citizenship, 76% of the students have started to get involved in some social organisation and 27% have joined a political party. In addition, 37% of students voted in the last municipal elections, while 28% voted in the general elections. 99% of those who do not have the right to vote say that they would have voted if they had been able to do so.
The impact on political parties is also remarkable 'although there is still a lot to do', said El Hadri. In the campaign for the municipal and regional elections of May 2023, four political parties included in their electoral programmes some of the 15 measures promoted by the EoC; almost all the parties launched campaigns to attract the migrant vote and some included people of migrant origin in their candidacies, although they did not place them in leading positions to guarantee the representativeness of the group in the institutions.
On the other hand, in the last four years, the School of Citizenship has had a great impact in the media with 44 interviews, coverage and news on radio, television and in the press. For all this, the EoC has received recognition from the Platform for Volunteering, the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Migration Forum.
Escuela de Ciudadanía is an education for global citizenship and development project funded by the Second Vice-presidency and Regional Ministry of Social Services, Equality and Housing. You can follow all the news about the project with the hashtags #EscuelaDeCiudadanía and #MigrantesEnPolíticaYA on social networks.
