SOS Malta - Valletta Living Together

The intercultural city strategy for Valletta 2015-2018

Between 2014 and 2015, SOS Malta led a 16 month project, Valletta Living Together (VLT): Promoting integration through Achieving Intercultural City Status, co-financed through the European Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals.

The project’s main objective was to promote integration, intercultural exchange and diversity in Valletta through achieving the Council of Europe’s intercultural city status. The project aimed to develop through a series of workshops and exchanges, a strategy for Valletta to become an intercultural city through adhering to the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. The strategy presented in this document seeks to promote and enable the Integration of Third Country Nationals in Malta through strengthening Valletta’s intercultural credentials.

SOS Malta collaborated with Valletta Local Council and the Valletta 2018 Foundation, as well as other local and national stakeholders to carry out the Intercultural Cities Programme process involving exchanges at an international level on good practices for integration as well as national level events. This project focused on the Council of Europe intercultural cities approach as a model through which integration may be achieved.

The intercultural cites process involved a diagnosis of Valletta’s intercultural status, followed by an expert visit from the Council of Europe.  Representatives from Malta participated in exchange visits to other intercultural cities to exchange experiences and good practices with international experts in the field of integration and intercultural cities. Various stakeholder meetings were held to consult on the content of the strategy. These activities have resulted in the development of this intercultural city 3 year strategy for Valletta.  Valletta’s achievement of intercultural city status will play a key aspect in delivering the Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture objective of growing internationally from the world within us.