MURAL stands for ‘mutual understanding, respect and learning’. It was an international project that ran from January 2018 until December 2019 in six countries: Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and the UK.
MURAL was led by the British Council, working partner organisations in each country. It was co-funded by the European Commission under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme.
WHAT WAS THE GOAL OF MURAL?
The MURAL project was a response to a call from the European Commission for a project that could counter worrying negative narratives about our rich cultural diversity in Europe. It aimed to create a network of empowered social activists who could positively change attitudes to diversity in their communities.
‘I learned that I can make a big difference if I fight for it and that there are so many good people making a difference everywhere. MURAL was life changing for me.’
MURAL participant feedback
HOW DID MURAL WORK?
Working with our partners, MURAL went straight to people who are active or want to be active in making their communities more inclusive and standing up to discrimination.
MURAL also used a specially adapted version of the Active Citizens methodology, which enables people to develop skills for intercultural dialogue. The two-year programme involved a mixture of training for facilitators and international study visits for participants.
Our six local partner organisations work with different audiences. This meant that our participants ranged from social workers and community activists to students and people who simply wanted to get to know their neighbours better.
The project was founded on the British Council’s approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. This is central to everything we do as an organisation. We respect people’s rights to hold and practise their religion or belief as part of our commitment to international human rights principles and social justice. Read more about our equality, diversity and inclusion policy here.
‘My most important learnings: How to promote tolerance. Different and motivated tools. Contacts. Meet interesting and diverse people.’
MURAL participant feedback
OUR PARTNERS
Click on the links to find out more about each programme partner and their involvement in MURAL.