How Roma-Net has helped Torrent build good relations with our Managing Authority and make a bigger difference

Four years ago when I embarked on the adventure of working with the local Support Group (LSG) using the URBACT process, I was not aware of the skills and abilities that I would develop. Many challenges have been overcome in that time, but the most benefit to the people who are our focus; the Roma population of Torrent; has been developing the engagement of our Managing Authority (MA) in our project work.

The URBACT programme strongly encourages the participation of Managing Authorities of Operational Programmes (ERDF and ESF) in URBACT project activities. The cooperation between URBACT partners and MAs has been a highly success process in Torrent.

Firstly, we were conscious that our MA team deserved an opportunity to improve their understanding of our reality, needs and the challenges faced by cities at local level. We believed that increasing their understanding would make it easier to find funding to implement our Local Action Plans (LAPs). So, we needed ways to improve the framework for the cooperation between our MA and our Roma-NeT URBACT project.

So, having been through this process, here are Torrent’s three tips to strengthen your brand and make sure that your project leaves a mark in the heart of your Managing Authority

Firstly: we have learned to sell ourselves.

Applying for prizes and awards that celebrate what you are doing. Highlight your strengths and publish a document that brings it together. It is not enough to be good, but to promote how good you are too.

Before Roma-NeT: Torrent was a nice place, with nice people, and we wanted to do a lot of things…

After Roma-NeT: Torrent, my municipality, offers a wide range of services and infrastructure to facilitate a high quality of life among the citizens. We have a professional staff with the professional skills and professionalism necessary to meet the demands of a dynamic social environment.

Since 2010, Torrent has been a member of the CIVITAS network of cities of committed to the application of integrated strategies for cleaner and more sustainable urban mobility.

Torrent also forms part of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities (RECI), thanks to developments in a number of scopes, such as urban mobility, social innovation, the environment and energy.

Torrent has a strategic plan with specific actions to foster innovation and the use of new technologies, and has been declared one of the most transparent municipalities in Spain due to the development of its Austerity and Efficiency Plan. It has also received the Sapiens 2012 award for best Public Administration for its Torrent INNOVA 2013 Quality and Modernisation Plan.

In our City Council we work with multidisciplinary teams that focus on the welfare of citizens. Welfare which empowers people so that they can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to contribute to society. And with the URBACT methodology we have ensured that the benefits of training are addressed both technically and to affect the end-beneficiaries, in our case, the Roma population.

Secondly: collaborate with your MA and raise awareness of what you are doing with them.

Invite them to participate in your events locally, sit the MA team face-to-face with your target population and publicise their collaboration, use social networks to promote it, mark it on your favourite Twitter, retweet their tweets, sit in the front row at events where they are speaking, and generally make yourself known to them at every opportunity.