The Arrival Cities Partners present their Action Plans at local level

The first to organize the signing off event has been our Lead Partner, the Municipality of Amadora, which on the 2nd March 2018, in collaboration with the URBACT Local Support Group organized a dissemination event during which the II Municipal Plan for the Integration of Migrants of Amadora 2018-2020, has been approved by the Social Network of the City.

The elaboration of the Municipal Plan benefitted from the resources of the Migration and Integration Asylum Fund (FAMI), in particular for what concerned the Local Support Centers for the Integration of Migrants, and from the URBACT III Program which through the Arrival Cities project, supported a Transnational Exchange program, which allowed all the partner cities to review current practices and to develop Integrated Action Plans at local level, taking into account the lessons learned from the transnational exchange program. As a result of the two years consultation processes that lead to the finalization of the Action Plan, the Municipality agreed to integrate it into the wider Municipal Plan for the Integration of Migrants that was approved in occasion of the event.

The priority areas targeted by the Municipal Plan for the period 2018-2020 are:

§ Reception, Integration and Solidarity Services;

§ Employment, Education and Training;

§ Culture, Citizenship and Civic Participation; § Media and Public Opinion Awareness

The event was attended by over thirthy representatives among which we saw the presence of local stakeholders, local authorities representatives and migrants associations which participated on a different level to the participative process that lead to the creation of the Integrated Action Plan.

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The European Anti-Racism Week 2018 provided an excellent platform for revealing the importance of ARRIVAL CITIES for building inclusive societies. “Patras Municipal Development Enterprise for Planning & Development-ADEP SA” (being the project partner organisation) organized a dissemination event targeting further promotion and awareness on "ARRIVAL CITIES" project and especially the signing-off of the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) of the city. The action took place at the auditorium of the new Archaeological Museum of Patras. Various representatives of education, culture, business, consulting, civil society sectors had the opportunity to find out more about the project implementation and how this project is linked with the intercultural strategy of the city of Patras, the IAP and the values of the European Anti-Racism Week 2018.

The event was launched by the greeting speech of the President of the “Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Patras”, Mr Vassilios Thomopoulos, who conveyed the greetings of the Mayor of Patras, Mr. Kostas Peletidis, stressing that the issue of mass refugee migrants movements is not temporary or opportunistic, that this is what our societies are confronting with.

Later on Mrs Georia Alexopoulou, archaeologist, Dean of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and Museums, representing the Achaia Ephorate of Antiquities, referred to the active role of the institution in enhancing networking to manage the intercultural character of Patras and taking various initiatives in this direction.

A greeting speech followed, delivered by Mrs Sofia Christopoulou, Head of Scientific and Pedagogical Guidance for Secondary Education of the Regional Directorate of Education of Western Greece, which emphasized on the crucial role of the education sector, targeting migrants themselves, educators, those who provide services to vulnerable groups, the wider public.

Chrissa Geraga, being Patras scientific coordinator of ARRIVAL CITIES highlighted the content of Patras Integrated Action Plan within ARRIVAL CITIES and the multifaceted interface that ADEP SA and the Municipality of Patras achieved, through the city-networks of "ALDA: European Association for Local Democracy", "Intercultural Cities" and "UNITED". 

During the evening other important interventions - Mrs. Glykeria Katifori, member of the Managing Authority of the Region of Western Greece; Dr. Efrosini Kostara, Secondary Education Directorate of Achaia - Cultural Issues, emphasized on the action entitled "On the Edge: An Interactive Dialogue with Vehicle Poetry and Culture Against Racism"; Mrs. Yulika Christakopoulou and Alexandra Kotsakis about the innovative actions of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Achaia along with a lively debate animated the over fifty particinats.

The second part of the event was dedicated to the interventions of the Associations of Migrant Communities, the representatives of Russian Community Association SOYOUZ (in cooperation with the “Institute of Intercultural Relations”), the Romanian Community Association LUCEAFARUL, the Latin American Union UNIONLATINA and the Albanian Community Association EMIGRANTI who told about the cultural actions developed by their organizations which aims at stimulating feelings and highlight the the respect of human values.

To read more about ADEP SA Dissemination Event click HERE