Our global search for good examples of institutions and people successfully navigating cultural diversity for this year’s Reinhard Mohn Prize led us to Mechelen, Belgium, home to the Samen Inburgeren project. The project advances the experience of living together in diversity by bringing together local long-term residents with newcomers with non-Belgian origins. The project works with an open concept of “newcomer” in which everyone, regardless of background, whether they’ve come to Belgium for work, as a refugee or Erasmus student, is welcome to participate in exchange and help build new friendships.

In the course of our global research for the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018  we became acquainted with Barcelona’s Raval district, one of Europe’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Nearly 50,000 people live here in a space of around one square kilometer. The district’s character has been shaped by immigration since the 19th century. Its residents originate from more than 40 countries. The Tot Raval Foundation works to promote harmonious coexistence within this local diversity.

How can living together in cultural diversity be made to succeed? What can Germany learn from the world? Where is cultural diversity already handled in ways exemplary for others? These questions were the focus of the expert workshop on the theme of the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018.

German society is culturally diverse – and has been for quite a while. Several different religions, traditions and languages have long been an integral part of our country. Diversity is a lived aspect of normal day-to-day life in Germany. And while living in cultural diversity presents on the one hand challenges, it also involves opportunities. In order to ensure mutual benefits in the exchange of different perspectives while making diversity a source of societal strength, we must pro-actively shape the conditions in which diversity is experienced.