WHAT IS THE MAIN IDEA OF THE PROJECT AND WHO IS THE TARGET GROUP?

The project started a few years with the idea of communicating the existence of some fundamental values at the basis of all major religions and secular thought. This idea gained increasing relevance in Europe due to the nature of migratory flows there, in a world that is facing the unexpected return of the sacred along with deep religious conflicts.

From the very beginning, it was decided to attempt to reach the citizens of tomorrow’s Europe: young people, especially teenagers and pre-teenagers. In order to communicate the concept of common values in a catchy and attractive way, the medium chosen was comic art.

Thanks to the support of the European Commission, which has funded the project (including it in the INTI-Integration programme for migrants), a partnership of Italian, Spanish, French and Belgian organisations started a multi-subject work, supported by a Scientific Committee and a team that included European and African authors, artists and experts in intercultural didactics and dialogue between religions. The European project lasted 18 months, from May 2004 to November 2005. Nevertheless, the project implementation and promotion has continued, through exhibitions and school activities organised at local level.

WHAT DOES THE PROJECT INCLUDE?

Five values, common to different religions and secular thought, were selected: forgiveness as the highest form of love, non-violence, respect for the other, sharing and non-discrimination. Five prose tales were transformed into scripts for comic albums that were realised by professional African cartoonists of the association L’Afrique dessinée. A didactic guide for teachers was also published.

The publications have appeared in three languages (Italian, French and Spanish) and been distributed in Italy, France, Belgium and Spain, thanks to the project partners’ contacts and experience.

In some schools in the four partner countries, various didactic experiments were developed, such as workshops, activities and debates on common values and related issues. An exhibition of the comics went over their stories and delved into matters analysed in the guide. The first exhibition took place in Padua, in the old stables of Palazzo Moroni, between 5 and 14 December 2005.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE PROJECT PARTNER/S?

From the start, the project required the collaboration of different actors combining their various skills in order to ensure a positive outcome.

Lai-momo and Africa e Mediterraneo coordinated the whole work, taking care especially of the publishing and pedagogical facets of the project.

In Belgium, the partner Comptoir dealt mainly with relations with writers, while Eurodialog took care of contacts with the European Commission and the promotion and distribution of publications in the French-speaking area.

L’Afrique dessinée, an association of African cartoonists who have migrated to Europe, was an essential artistic partner, looking after script adaptations and the drawing of the comic books.

Spanish partners Translit and Grupo Comunicar jointly coordinated the activities of the project in Spain.

In addition to the partners, the Scientific Committee and the editorial staff of Fumo di China actively cooperated in every phase of the project.

HOW IS THE PROJECT FINANCED?

The European Commission (Justice, Freedom and Security) was the main financer of the project, providing 80% of the budget through the INTI – Integration of migrants programme.

Finding ways to co-finance the project, in order to cover all expenses, became necessary.

This aim was pursued in two main ways:

• Search for private and public funding. The project was integrated with other activities and presented to private foundations and public institutions. Some funding was obtained by the Fondazione Carisbo, Regione Veneto, the University of Padua and Regione Emilia-Romagna.

• Distribution and sale of publications. A focused publishing strategy which will attempt to sidestep the current difficulties of the book market is currently being planned.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PROJECT ENCOUNTERS DIFFICULTIES?

The main challenge of the project was the difficulty of achieving high-quality creative work while working out a social and philosophical 'message'.

The risk of arriving at a trivial or overly didactic outcome was clear. This was why the work group entrusted the task of elaborating the stories to accomplished authors sensitive to such issues and used to addressing a young public (they were P. Fonteneau, A. Waberi, C. Norac and T. Gunzig). These authors of fiction were able to write 'true' stories with a coherent narrative dimension.

Moreover, writers, script writers and cartoonists normally reliant on inspiration had to face the unfamiliar imposition of time limits.

In order to work out these difficulties, continuous dialogue, discussion and revision were needed from all involved. The Scientific Committee, consisting of experts in religion and international politics, provided a fundamental contribution, carrying out comprehensive studies and conducting discussions on such complex issues as the dialogue between religions and secular thought. Some comics experts from the review 'Fumo di China' continuously supervised the quality of the comics, paying special attention to their artistic and communicative nature.

What we would never do again….
„At the end of the project we have realised that the main problems arising during the initiative were related to an initial lack of organisation and clearness concerning the tasks of the different partners. This has led us to organise the next projects writing very clear partnership agreements, which can avoid future misunderstandings“ (Citazione)

WHY IS COOPERATION IMPORTANT?

Trans-border cooperation has certainly favoured the project’s success. With such a complex project, it has been essential to bear in mind the different social contexts in which activities were due to take place, and the cooperation between partners has permitted this to happen.

The potential of trans-border cooperation has become more visible, especially in the implementation of project activities such as the distribution of publications and the didactic experiments in schools.

A very targeted and specific activity such as distribution should not be implemented without the active involvement of each organisation. Indeed, each project partner was able to select the target audience of the publications they distributed. Associations, libraries, schools and cultural centres were targeted in order to reach the greatest number of people.

Schools reacted in different ways to the didactic activities. In France, for example, such activities were particularly difficult in the banlieues. Thanks to the specific knowledge of the students’ socio-cultural context and prior discussions about it, each partner was able to face the difficulties encountered.