GREAT SUCCESS OF ATHIENOU MUNICIPALITY – APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSAL AS A LEAD PARTNER WITHIN THE URBACT EUROPEAN PROGRAM FOR THE TRANSFER OF ITS GOOD PRACTICE FOR THE VOLUNTEERISM

On Wednesday, January 10, 2018, it was the deadline for submitting proposals from transfer networks, to transfer the Good Practices approved, in other European cities, within the framework of the European Program URBACT. With too much work from two volunteers, who worked with zeal and excessive time, even during the holiday days, absolutely free, who the Municipality of Athienou congratulates and at the same time warmly thanks, Dimitris Kouzapas and Constantinos Kareklas, the Municipality of Athienou prepared and submitted as Lead Partner, for the first time in the history of the Municipality, an integrated proposal for the first phase of the transport networks entitled “Volunteering City – Promoting Social Inclusion and Inter-generational Cohesion in Cities, through Volunteerism” and with partners the city of Capizzi of Sicily and the Kildare County Council of Ireland, for the dissemination of its Good Practice for volunteerism, that was awarded the Good Practice Medal in Tallinn, Estonia.

The results were communicated by the Monitoring Committee of URBACT on 4/4/2018, after a meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. 25 transmission networks were approved and the proposal of the Athienou Municipality was successful.

The Municipality will now submit an implementation proposal for Phase 2, which will include 5 other European cities that have already contacted the Municipality and expressed interest and that will seek to promote the Pan-European promotion of the Volunteerism of Athienou. The maximum budget for each of the successful networks is € 600,000, plus € 110,000 for an expert who will help with the work of the network.

Implementation of the proposal will lead to various studies, production of various printed materials, pan-European conferences in Athienou and other European cities, etc. Local action groups will be set up to promote the aims of the network in all 8 European cities participating in the network. The transfer network will deal with the development of sustainable policies to combat poverty and promote social inclusion. The proposed policies to be developed are designed to address the problems faced by social groups in cities following the success of the Good Practice of Volunteerism in the Municipality of Athienou.

The transfer network will use a bottom-up participatory approach where active citizens will be organized in cities on a voluntary basis and the tools and legal and other support will be given to: i) identifying social groups and their needs in the community. (ii) the creation of the necessary social programs to meet the needs of identified social groups; (iii) the involvement of community members in the actions / policies implemented; and (iv) awareness and education of the general public on current social programs and needs.

Other announcements will follow during the implementation period of the proposal.

The Municipality of Athienou thanks and congratulates once again its volunteers, Dimitris Kouzapas and Konstantinos Kareklas, for the excellent voluntary work they did, which resulted in the approval of the proposal.