Experiences with and impact of discrimination and racism in three Rotterdam communities
Rotterdam Beyond Discrimination was launched out of the conviction that effectively addressing discrimination and racism benefits from strengthening the capacity of those who are
are affected. In advance Putnam’s conceptual framework, built around the notion of social capital seemed to provide the right tools for this.
This largely came true, especially concerning personal growth of the involved ambassadors and development of their cooperation, resulting in the anti-discrimination agenda for Rotterdam. The project, which had a duration of two and a half years was a process of trial and error, of designing, sometimes going down the wrong path, going back to the ambassadors, standing still and resuming to finally develop the best feasible approach.
The commitment and trust of the ambassadors from the three communities was of great significance in this. They committed themselves without restraint for their own communities and for each other to bring about change for a better Rotterdam. Many thanks for the commitment and support they showed in recent years that made it possible to move forward In a field of painful experiences and confrontations in which we asked them for trust that had so often been betrayed elsewhere.
Thanks also to the team members of the Rotterdam Municipality, RADAR and Art. 1 who prepared and guided the meetings, and who did so with great dedication. They distinguished themselves through commitment, care and deployment of all their competences and professional knowledge. Finally, I would also like to thank the European Union, who placed confidence in our approach and was willing to make a significant contribution to the financial realisation of the project. I hope that the methodology we have developed in Rotterdam will be an example to be followed in the fight against racism and discrimination in cities across Europe, with empowerment and capacity building at its core.
In this document, we summarise the research findings collected since 2021. Together with the anti- discrimination agenda, methodology and evaluations, these are the project’s supporting documents that can be found on the website https://radar.nl/rotterdam-voorbij-discriminatie/
