Our main objective was to produce a set of tools, materials and opportunities for guided reflection to raise awareness in international families that they’re not alone. Through the project, we aimed to strengthen common values, civic engagement and participation of our audience. We also wanted to provide inspiration on how international parents can educate their children that being international is an asset, how to fight stereotypes or how to create a mindset of a global citizen. The International Families Project was also about providing a public forum for international parents and their children to make their voice heard on highly timely topics such as nationality, culture and the sense of belonging. Last but not least, we wanted to enhance our skills and expand our radius of action. We wanted to establish new, lasting collaborations between the project partners, get in contact with new audiences and diversify our portfolio of activities.
Mobility in the world increases steadily. Particularly in larger cities, relationships between people from different countries of origin become quite common, and as a result international families are on the rise, with more and more children being raised with multiple cultural backgrounds. Judging from our experience and reports by others (i e https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15278-8_1), we know that multicultural families experience many common challenges and opportunities. Often, the challenges and difficulties are in focus, and the wonderful opportunities and advantages of living an international family life are omitted. We wanted to change that. We set out to uncover and highlight the common themes of multicultural family life, independent of country of origin or residence, and to showcase the success stories. Our aim was to instil a sense of community and shift the focus from the individual to the “system”. Furthermore, by providing tools for self-reflection, we wanted to improve the individuals’ coping mechanisms in situations when their life choices are questioned by themselves or the external world.