They know the task is ambitious and not easy, but they are confident. “I think the biggest challenge is being able to make sense of things that are happening, building narratives that make sense, because today there are many quick and easy solutions. We need to get people to participate in projects that require more time, patience and resilience, that cannot be resolved just with an isolated product or service, but that actually require, in addition to these interventions, a change of mentality”reflects the Brazilian. She sees this as one of Portugal’s biggest problems: Technologies are not interconnected and solutions are thought of separately, which does not always generate good results for people. “What we mainly want is to get to the root of the issues. To do this, we will need a lot of support from academics”, highlights Arielle.
For now, The team has ten people, formed in an interdisciplinary way. They are professionals from anthropology, technology, law, science, programming, sociology, brand management, among others. This “mix” of knowledge on the same topic is what they intend to apply to solving problems. In addition to this permanent team, the idea is to hire more professionals for each project – and they expect there to be many projects to execute. “I’m confident, because I think that’s what’s most lacking here. There are many companies in Europe that are already working with systemic innovation and not in Portugal”, says the designer. Heitor is also confident and takes the reflection further. “People are suffering in Portugal, immigrants, Portuguese, look at the price of pensions here, the houses without thermal comfort, the long hours waiting in the emergency room, it was all this discontent that made me leave my job and do something for society, that’s why Arielle’s invitation was perfect”highlights.
immigration
The way immigration and immigrants are seen in Portugal today is one of the duo’s main motivations. Heitor had a childhood of moving house several times. In adult life, too. There came a time when I wanted to choose a city to live, work and raise a family.. And this city chosen was Lisbon, where the 33-year-old’s parents also live today. Arielle’s choice was strategic: study and knowledge, with a desire to act in public policies, knowing that in Portugal it could be easier and have a life here in the long term.
Both they like Portugal, but admit that they once liked it moreespecially Hector. The young man, who studied Law at the University of Lisbon, has always been involved in projects with the immigrant community. He was one of the creators of the now implemented project to lower the price of Law course tuition for Brazilians. “Lately, the pride I had in saying that I live in Portugal has diminished. I am very unhappy with the country, with the narrative that immigrants are a problem, when we saved Social Security. I see a lot of xenophobia, even among Brazilians”, he laments.
Arielle feels the same way. “We can try to channel this anger against us immigrants into other things that are, in fact, productive, and not just anger in itself, out of hatred. The dialogue needs to return, I need to know what a person has against me and what they think, to know their motivations. Honestly, I do not invalidate any feelings, we have a job of listening, understanding and understanding ahead of us. Otherwise we won’t be able to understand what exactly is happening”, he reflects.
Based on these thoughts, one of the UM Institute’s first projects will be the “Fica immigrante”, an online platform to show the importance of immigration and integration in the country. In 2018, Heitor participated in the creation of an immigrant pocket guide.
Recently, talking to João Inneco, who works at Fábrica Braço de Prata, they thought it was time to update the guide, given so many recent changes. But they soon understood that a paper flyer wasn’t going to cut it. From meetings at Fábrica Braço de Prata in the “LAB Imigrante” that takes place every Monday with immigrants, they understood that a dynamic and more ambitious platform was needed, “Fica Imigrante”. More details about the initiative will be known next Thursday, December 18th. The date is not by chance: it is immigrant day.
amanda.lima@dn.pt