Etterbeek (Belgium), a Brussels’ suburb, offers to its 47.000 citizens a range of public services: schools, health, sport and leisure, police, urban development, culture, etc. We have a high rate of foreign populations (47% – 150 nationalities). This diversity is for a great part due to the proximity with the European district in Brussels, where important EU institutions are located (the Commission, the Parliament, the Council…). But there are also other profiles: international students, economic migrants, family reunification, etc. These communities tend to form separate socio-demographic groups, sometimes at the expense of social cohesion. This is why we develop specific activities for social inclusion, such as a new participatory socio-cultural programme called « Crossroad of the Regions », that dedicates a new public infrastructure to showcase the cultures and knowledges from regions of the world represented by the diverse population of the neighborhood (exhibitions, debates, cuisine, language courses …). As CRISCO coordinator and partner, Etterbeek will experiment and review its own local integration initiatives and exchange experiences with the CRISCO network, with a view to gain experience and share good practices, and so contribute to a more inclusive and intercultural Europe.
