Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) for intercultural dialogue

18-19 February 2025

Gary Smith represented MET at the 26th Meeting of the Spanish ALF network (ReFAL) held in Alicante. The central aim was to draw up a roadmap for 2025-2026 as a guide for civil society action in spheres such as mobility, social inclusion and culture as a cohesive force in this region of the world.

The event was attended by Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs Diego Martínez Belío online and by IEMed’s president Senén Florensa in person: both stressed the importance of civil society involvement in fostering intercultural dialogue beyond governmental activity.

The representatives gathered in Alicante contributed ideas to build cultural bridges and counter the negative messages flooding social media regarding international cooperation, migration, diversity and an understanding of cultural differences. Gary sought to network with organizations of possible interest to MET on the Mediterranean’s southern shores.

23-24 March 2023

Eleanor Staniforth represented MET at the annual meeting of the Spanish ALF network (ReFAL) in Madrid. The meeting was well attended, with 70 participants from 56 different organizations working on social and cultural issues on both sides of the Mediterranean. A report on the network’s institutional activities was followed by an interesting session where participants shared their ongoing projects with a view to partnering up with other organizations. ReFAL runs a mobility programme, which offers funding to member organizations to invite other members of the network to participate in their activities.

The programme also featured training sessions on fundraising and new methodologies and trends in social innovation. Eleanor’s networking focused on the role of translators in intercultural dialogue – a core feature of this network of networks – and new avenues for collaboration between MET and other members of the network.

5-6 March 2020

MET sent Mary Ellen Kerans* and Eleanor Staniforth to the annual ALF (ReFAL) meeting in Seville on 5-6 March. The main news was that funding for this “network of [national] networks” has recovered after years of tight budgets, and projects coordinated by staff in Alexandria have started up again. One example is the working group on translation in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Mary Ellen and Eleanor’s ReFAL networking covered several fronts. One was exploring new sources for literary or other “out-of-market” texts for MET’s workshops (now that we no longer collaborate with the Sea of Words competition) and another was contact with several researching academics in attendance, to help them understand the type of author editing and translation work many MET members do.

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