town twinning projects - european commissionec.europa.eu/citizenship/pdf/doc534_en.pdf · with...

Town twinning projects

on Social Inclusion Innsbruck, AUSTRIA 10-12 May 2006

Social inclusion – an important element ofthe Active European Citizenship

Today, European societies are confronted with certain social tensionswhich, to different degrees of intensity manifest themselves on local,regional, national and European levels. These tensions are caused byvarious socio-economic factors such as unemployment, discriminationand the fragmentation of society. Social relations become fragile, and thevery concept of active citizenship is questioned.

Many Europeans choose not to participate in public life and in thedemocratic processes. Therefore, we need actions that reinforce thevalues underpinning the European integration process such as solidarity,equal opportunity, tolerance, social inclusion and inter-culturalunderstanding. For this reason the European Commission supportswide range of activities in the area of active European citizenship.For example some 1400 town twinning projects receive support everyyear. In the future years similar activities will be supported through thenew “Europe for Citizens” programme.

In this publication, which is a part of an exhibition organised by theEuropean Commission in the framework of 23rd Annual Assembly ofthe European Council of Regions and Municipalities, six case studies ontown twinning contributing to social inclusion are presented. They wereidentified as inspiring and motivating projects which promote socialinclusion and European co-operation, and thus serve as an example ofactive European citizenship

Brochure of best practices - 3

Pierre MairesseDirector Youth, Sport and Relations with the Citizen

Half of Mazara del Vallo’ fishermen are immi-grants; nonetheless they face continuous precari-ousness as they lack technical and linguistic skillsand are the most exposed to the oscillations of thework market. For this reason the Sicilian town ofMazara del Vallo has taken on the agenda of towntwinning an important local issue: social inclusionof Mahdia’ fishermen.

• The project “Euro Mediterranean – Culture, economicsand development thanks to the vivacity of citizens”was organized by Mazara del Vallo (IT) in July 2003with their twin towns of Mahdia (TU), Santa Pola (ES)and Volos (GR).

• Its dense programme focused on the social inclusionof immigrants in the economics of Mazara del Vallo,prevented by a close system of integration ofthe immigrant community. The Fisheries sector ispointed as the appropriate sector in favour of thisinclusion: need of an abundant workforce and a largedemand compared to other sectors.

• The objectives of this project were multiple: promot-ing and developing international cooperation for theeconomic development of the territory; promoting theknowledge of the cultural and artistic patrimony as wellas productive activities such as fishing and artworks;sustaining and saving resources of the environmentalsystem; promoting the diffusion of the information toall citizens…

MAZARA DEL VALLO (IT)

MAHDIA (TU)

SANTA POLA (ES)

VOLOS (GR)

CONTACT DETAILS

MAZARA DEL VALLO - Comune di Mazara del Vallo Tel: +39 0923 93 29 19 Fax: +39 0923 93 31 77 E-mail: [email protected]

Mahdia

Mazara del ValloSanta Pola Volos

4 - Brochure of best practices

Twinning for social inclusion ofMahdia’ fishermen in Mazara del Vallo

Town twinning projects on Social Inclusion - Innsbruck, Austria 10-12 May 2006

Twinning for social inclusion ofMahdia’ fishermen in Mazara del Vallo


CONTACT DETAILS

MAHDIA - Mairie de MahdiaTel: +216 98 408 826 Fax: +216 73 695 330E-mail: [email protected]

SANTA POLA - Ayuntamiento de Santa PolaTel: +34 96 541 11 00 Fax: +34 96 669 27 72

VOLOS - City of VolosTel: +30 42 12 30 93

• More precise objectives were to outline the difficultiesof integration between the communities of Mazaraand of Mahdia and identify solutions, mainly for theTunisian immigrants working in the Fisheries sector.

• Concrete actions were therefore undertaken duringthis meeting, namely the creation of a Counter forinformation, orientation and training of the immigrants,within the Fisheries Service Centre of Mazara delVallo. This would provide immigrants with : multilingualinformation and orientation on opportunities andadministrative modalities of work, organisation ofItalian language course, training in relations to theirworking activities including a training on “on boardsecurity rules”, and definition of means to validatetheir competences.

• The meeting resulted in defining agreements betweenthe Sicilian authorities and their counterparts inMahdia for the implementation of the following actions:host and create more opportunities for potentialTunisian fishermen who intend to include themselvesin the fisheries sector in Mazara, and define for themtraining sessions and recognition of their competences.

• These thematic actions reinforced consequently theexisting links of Mazara del Vallo with Tunisia.


MAZARA DEL VALLO (IT)

MAHDIA (TU)

SANTA POLA (ES)

VOLOS (GR)

• This new town-twinning relationship encompassesan important theme of disabled citizens’ participa-tion in the community life and of support othermembers of local community, especially youth,can provide to them through voluntary work.

• Within the framework of the signing of the newTwinning Agreement between San Lawrenz (MT) andColle Umberto (IT) in 2005, a project “DiscoveringEach Other through Culture, Environment andTradition” involved all sectors of the disabled community,from the young, to women, to the elderly.

• The meeting mainly dealt with the issue of full inclu-sion in the educative, cultural and social sectors.Integration in social life was particularly emphasised.

• To make it easier and more affordable for disabledpeople to participate in the citizens’ meeting, San Lawrenzorganised a direct charter flight from Venice to Malta.

SAN LAWRENZ (MT)

COLLE UMBERTO (IT)

LA BALME DE SILLINGY (FR)

CONTACT DETAILS

SAN LAWRENZ - Local Council Tel: +356 21 56 35 56 Fax: +356 21 56 36 56E-mail: [email protected]


Town twinning – contributing tosocial inclusion for disabled people


Colle Umberto

San Lawrenz

La Balme de Sillingy

Town twinning – contributing tosocial inclusion for disabled people


CONTACT DETAILS

COLLE UMBERTO - Associazione GemellaggioTel: +39 0438 501558 Fax: +39 347 30 14 953E-mail: [email protected]

LA BALME DE SILLINGY - Comité de Jumelage Tel: +33 04 50 68 87 67 Fax: +33 04 50 68 87 67E-mail: [email protected]

• As a follow-up several projects to promote the integrationof disabled people into local society have already beencarried out by San Lawrenz and Colle Umberto.

• One such project encouraged citizens to do voluntarywork with disabled people. To this end, San Lawrenzcouncil sent a student to Colle Umberto, also involvingthe French town La Balme de Sillingy for nine months todo voluntary work with people with disabilities.

• Disabled people also participated in another jointproject between the two towns: an English-languagecourse was held in San Lawrenz for students fromColle Umberto, a considerable number of whom haddisabilities. The students stayed with residents of San Lawrenz so that the two communities couldexperience living together.

• These projects enabled the citizens from San Lawrenzand Colle Umberto to find out about each other andtheir respective cultures and lifestyles in the new twintowns. The twin towns intend to embark upon furtherprojects involving all sectors of both their communities.


SAN LAWRENZ (MT)

COLLE UMBERTO (IT)

LA BALME DE SILLINGY (FR)

A network of 7 twinned towns brought togetherchild-care specialists and practitioners to exchangetheir experience and to propose solutions on howto protect the rights of one of the most vulnerablegroup - children from disadvantaged backgroundand how to integrate them into social life on locallevel. They further explored the role of socialorganisations in partner towns vis-à-vis the provi-sion of specialized services. This is a type of eventwhere participating towns can learn from eachothers experience and thus improve their ownactivities in the area of social intervention.

• Child care experts from Kaunas (LT), Brno (CZ), Grenoble (FR),Lavrio (GR), Tartu (EE) and Wroclaw (PL) came togetherfor a series of discussions and study visits on how to ensurethe well-being of children and youth who live withoutparental supervision.

• The main objective of the meeting was to exchange experiencesand best practices with regard to safeguarding the rights ofchildren living in poverty and unfavourable social environ-ments, organising after-school activities and providingservices at social institutions.

• Key topics included the protection of children’s rights,organisation of after-school activities, crime preventionprogrammes, providing services at social institutions suchas day-care centres and maintaining the relations betweenchildren and parents.

• This meeting started with each city introducing their situationin the field of child’s protection and child’s care in order toshare experiences and practices.

KAUNAS (LT)

BRNO (CZ)

GRENOBLE (FR)

LAVRIO (GR)

TARTU (EE)

WROCLAW (PL)

CONTACT DETAILS

KAUNAS - City Municipal AdministrationTel: +370 37 424011 Fax: +370 37 425443 E-mail: [email protected]

Kaunas

Tartu

Grenoble


Towards social inclusionof disadvantaged children


Brno

Wroclaw

Lavrio

Towards social inclusionof disadvantaged children

Brochure of best practices- 9

CONTACT DETAILS

GRENOBLE - Ville de Grenoble,Service des Relations Internationales

Tel: +33 4 76 00 76 84 Fax: +33 4 76 00 76 88E-mail: [email protected]

BRNO - Statutarni Mesto BrnoTel: +420/544 233 513 Fax: +420/544 210 825E-mail: [email protected]

LAVRIO - Municipality of Lavrio Tel: +30 22920 25060 Fax: +30 22920 22413

E-mail: [email protected]

TARTU - Municipality of Tartu Tel: +372 7 361 308 Fax: +372 7 361 301


WROCLAW - Urzad Miejski Wroclawia Tel: +48 71 777 77 42 Fax: +48 71 777-81-52


• Study visits to day-care centres and other socialinstitutions which provide services to the childrenand youth of Kaunas were followed by discussions onhow to use available funds more efficiently, the capacityof social organisations to provide their services in atimely, relevant manner and the best practices currentlyused in each of the participating cities.

• By sharing their experiences and the best practices ineach of the five twin cities, the network explored thevarious means of improving the social situation ofchildren and youth who live in difficult social environments.

• Participants were confident that the contacts andcooperation initiated during this project will serve asa basis for future cooperation. They strongly supportcontinuation of the project in order to analyse urgentissues in each of the participating cities.


KAUNAS (LT)

BRNO (CZ)

GRENOBLE (FR)

LAVRIO (GR)

TARTU (EE)

WROCLAW (PL)

This bilateral town twinning demonstrates howyoung people can be involved in the local lifethrough sport and at the same time recognise andsupport the hidden values behind these activities. The idea stems from the “European Year ofEducation through Sport” initiated and supportedby the European Union in 2004. It focused on suchimportant issues as prevention of violence anddiscrimination as well as promotion of tolerance.

• The partnership between the two towns dates back to1999; several projects have been implemented by thetwo towns in the past: in 2000 with the project“Friendship house” and 2002 with a project around cul-ture and sports. The two towns recognized the impor-tance of the social inclusion issues, result of which wasa project involving young people from both communi-ties. Young people from Gattatico (IT) and Zierenberg(DE) took part in a meeting to discuss issues relating tosocial inclusion in the European youth community.A first session took place in 2004 in Zierenberg and thesecond session was organised in 2005 in Gattatico.

• Police, community workers, local schools, sports clubs,prevention councils and citizens of the twin towns alsoparticipated in the conference, which was attendedby regional and supra-regional politicians.

• The conference examined issues such as how to makesport into an attractive alternative to drugs and alcohol,and how to replace racism and violence with fairnessand tolerance.

ZIERENBERG (DE)

GATTATICO (IT)

CONTACT DETAILS

ZIERENBERG -Förderverein StädtepartnerschaftenTel: +49 5606 531277


Gattatico

Zierenberg


“Yes to Sport – No to Drugs,Violence and Racism”


“Yes to Sport – No to Drugs,Violence and Racism”


CONTACT DETAILS

GATTATICO - Comune di GattaticoTel: +39 0522 477939 E-mail: [email protected]

• The project, involving young people from Zierenbergand from Gattatico, included lectures and discussionson how to combat racism and violence through sportrelated activities. One of the aims of the debate wasto relay information on the principle “Yes to Sport – No to Drugs, Violence and Racism”.

• The meeting also involved sports activities and avisit to ‘Ballance 2006’, a street-football tournamentto promote tolerance amongst the European andinternational youth communities.

• The participants also formed a joint team to playagainst American schools, present in Zierenbergthanks to a school exchange programme.


ZIERENBERG (DE)

GATTATICO (IT)

This particular project focuses on an importantand complex issue of integration of disabled peopleinto professional life. There can be no full integrationunless it also takes into account work opportunitiesfor people with disabilities. This event provideddisabled people from different countries of theEuropean Union with an opportunity to identifybest practices and limitations they face concerningfull professional integration.

• Within the context of a 20-year-long twinning agreementbetween Marvejols (FR) and Cockermouth (UK),a thematic workshop took place in 2004 in Marvejolsbetween disabled people from the twinned towns andfrom Lousa (PT) and Galway (IE).

• The week-long event had two objectives: to havedisabled people from different countries meet, work andparticipate in cultural activities together, and to organisea European meeting on the theme of social andprofessional inclusion for the disabled.

• Participants in the event realised that in all countriesyoung people with disabilities have the same difficultiesin integrating. They also highlighted the importance ofsheltered workshops, such as Les Ateliers de la Colagne inMarvejols and West House in Cockermouth, which helpprepare young disabled people for the professional world.

• The meeting gave each town an opportunity to analyseits strengths and overcome its weaknesses in the fieldof professional inclusion for disabled people.

MARVEJOLS (FR)

COCKERMOUTH (UK)

LOUSA (PT)

GALWAY (IE)

CONTACT DETAILS

MARVEJOLS - Les Ateliers de la ColagneTel: +33 4 66 42 62 00 Fax: +33 4 66 42 62 09E-mail: : [email protected]

Cockermouth

Lousa

Galway

Marvejols


Integration of disabled peopleinto professional life


Integration of disabled peopleinto professional life

Brochure of best practices- 13

CONTACT DETAILS

COCKERMOUTH - West HouseTel: +44 1900 67 777 Fax: +44 1900 68 137E-mail: [email protected]

LOUSA - Câmara MunicipalTel: +351 239 990 300 Fax: +351 239 991 989E-mail: [email protected]

GALWAY - Daughters of CharityTel: +353 91 528 122 Fax: +353 91 528 150E-mail: [email protected]

• Disabled people from Marvejols (FR), Cockermouth(UK), Lousa (PT) and Galway (IE) spent a weektogether as part of a project for social and professionalinclusion. During the week they participated in manyactivities: making wooden boxes, maintaining park-lands in Marvejols, cooking and serving their sharedmeals, staging a play and a percussion concert whichwas put on before an audience of 400.

• This European meeting on the theme of social andprofessional inclusion for the disabled allowed itsparticipants to share experiences and listen totestimonies from educators, directors of shelteredworkshops, regional representatives and disabledpeople. Three video projectors simultaneously relayedthe speeches in three different languages.

• Through sharing their experiences, the towns reachedthe conclusion that despite legislation for the integrationof the disabled, many firms would rather pay a finethan hire disabled people. This highlights the need forcentres for the disabled to encourage visits fromcompanies and to organise internships for the disabled.


MARVEJOLS (FR)

COCKERMOUTH (UK)

LOUSA (PT)

GALWAY (IE)

Partnership between Belgian Geel and RomanianSlatina-Timis demonstrates the active role town-twinning plays in overcoming division of Europeand building strong links between the citizens ofthe old and the future member states of theEuropean Union. It is an excellent example of howtwo communities can create long-lasting co-operationand indeed friendship on human level.Furthermore it also shows the power of partnershipin changing people’s and community destiny.

• Geel (BE) and Slatina-Timis (RO) first entered into aTwinning Agreement in 1992, since when a number ofstructural development projects have taken place inSlatina-Timis. Geel has also set up a not-for-profitorganisation staffed by equal numbers of councillorsand volunteers to work on matters connected to thetwinning agreement.

• Cooperative projects between inhabitants of the twotowns have been established and managed by volunteers,with the support of Geel’s council. The priority of theseprojects has been ‘people development’: organisationsfor women, men and young people have been createdto act as local partners for planning and implementingprojects, with many exchanges and reciprocal visitstaking place.

• All the initiatives undertaken as part of the twinningpartnership are good examples of the inter-communalcooperation which now exists between over 120 initiativesin Flanders and their Romanian partners.

GEEL (BE)

SLATINA-TIMIS (RO)

CONTACT DETAILSGEEL - StadTel: +32 14 58 20 07 E-mail: [email protected]

Slatina-Timis

Geel


Twin towns working together on localdevelopment and social inclusion


Twin towns working together on localdevelopment and social inclusion


CONTACT DETAILS

SLATINA-TIMIS - Adam Slatina-TimisTel: +40 255 26 08 07 E-mail: [email protected]

• The twinning partnership between Geel andSlatina-Timis has lead to cooperation in many fields,such as capacity building, schools, public works, utilities,cultural activities, etc.

• The first major project in Slatina-Timis aimed toimprove hygiene and health standards: this was donethrough education (films, lessons, leaflets, etc. onhygiene and nutrition) and practical measures(improvements to the water supply, sewage system,rubbish dumps, waste collection, etc.).

• A second project addressed front-line health care andhealth prevention: a local social-medical centre wasdeveloped offering over 20 services (GP, dentist,chemist, meeting rooms, etc.). This project was usedas a model for establishing similar projects in 10 otherRomanian cities and villages.

• Projects organised by the twin towns aim to reach allgroups of society: an exchange took place betweendisadvantaged women from Geel, Slatina-Timis andResita (RO), in association with the Romaniantrade union Cartel Alfa. Participants in theexchange discussed issues relating to social exclusionmechanisms and ways of overcoming these mechanisms.

• Future projects hope to develop rural tourism as ameans of encouraging the economy and creatingextra income for households.


GEEL (BE)

SLATINA-TIMIS (RO)

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