The overall project objective is to create a new innovative, creative and digital approach to enable project target group (people from diverse cultural backgrounds) to become Digital Cultural Ambassadors and Community Educators and use their acquired knowledge to positively contribute to intercultural dialogue in society, with specific focus on using digital platforms to raise awareness of Equality and Diversity and the same awareness raising among the local population, particularly those individuals who face loneliness in their daily life.
The DICA project has been designed to develop new innovative tools to make a key contribution in the field of inter-cultural dialogue and loneliness. Both topics have been identified as priorities within the EU and national policy setting agenda. The EU Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage states "intercultural dialogue is essential for avoiding conflict and the marginalisation of citizens on the basis of their cultural identity," whilst on the theme of loneliness a recent survey from Statista pointing that about 33% of adults experienced feeling of loneliness worldwide. Those facts have been highlighted by the recent COVID-19 crisis. We recognise that all the people have something valuable to share and something worth celebrating and through sharing they enrich all members of society. The world of learning can make a significant positive contribution in coming up with practical solutions, so we have designed a project to creatively intertwine these two themes through engaging learners from a range of ethnic backgrounds, through training to enable them to build their presentation skills to share their cultural background as Digital Community Educators and then engage them in settings to raise understanding among stakeholders.