The Spanish and Moroccan networks of the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) have established the bases for a shared work programme to promote intercultural dialogue. To debate this work programme, the seminar “Constructing Bridges of Dialogue on the Strait” was held in Tangiers from 15th to 17th April, attended by around eighty representatives of civil society organisations from the two countries.

This is the first occasion that two networks of the Foundation from the North and South of the Mediterranean have shown their willingness to work in a coordinated way on the definition of a strategy and an action programme on intercultural dialogue.

In the meeting, participants began to define the joint work programme, which will be structured around the ALF’s four fields of action: culture and creativity; education and intercultural learning; regionalisation, citizenship and public space; and immigration, the media and public opinion.

Among the most notable proposals agreed are the creation of an area of free cultural exchange, which finally puts an end to the problems of South-North mobility suffered by cultural operators; the fight against stereotypes held by much of the Spanish population about the Arab and Muslim world, especially Morocco, through coordinated work with primary and secondary schools; fostering cooperation and agreement among organisations of both networks and local and regional administration, especially in this period of political decentralisation currently underway in Morocco; and the organisation of a series of meetings and debates between organisations of the two networks and representatives of the media that can create public opinion and fight against stereotypes.

The seminar also focused on the debates over the new ALF strategy for the period 2012-2014, which will consider the democratising movements shaking the southern Mediterranean today. The ALF is endeavouring to revitalise Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and respond to the demands of Euro-Mediterranean civil society with recent initiatives such as “Believe in Dialogue, Act for Citizenship”.

The meeting also served to highlight some good practices developed by organisations from both networks, such as the project of the Strait Classroom shared by the universities of Cadiz and Tangiers, the Cornisa network for coordination of development cooperation between Catalonia and Morocco or the efforts to promote Moroccan music in Spain by the cultural association La Fábrica de Ideas.