Good intercultural practices in social services projects

Abstract

This article reflects part of the results obtained from a wider research project aimed at the elaboration of a “Map of Good Intercultural Practices” in several areas of Social Intervention in Andalusia (Spain) and reports the results obtained from the analysis portion related to the participating projects within the Social Services. Intercultural assessment was conducted at the level of institutional intervention through a 32-item questionnaire that was sent to 139 intercultural project-leading institutions, but also considered the intercultural sensitivity factor of the individuals answering the questionnaire. A definition of the fundamental concepts of “Interculturality” and “Good Practice” is given to support the foundations of “Good Intercultural Practice” (GIP). Such definitions help in the design and validation of a GIP Scale that was used in the analysis of 60 Social Services Projects with an intercultural component. The results obtained underline the relevance of aspects such as intercultural empathy and show significant differences between the Social Services and other intervention sectors. The relevance of this study relies on the future posibility to find an explanation to such differencesand to study GIPs in other intervention sectors. With respect to this, the private sector offers a completely blank area of research both in itself and in comparson with the results obtained from the public one. Also, the transferability of the instruments and methodology used makes it possible that the research presented in the present article is conducted in other geographical area.