Είσοδος
Important moments marked the plenary meeting of the INFORM EU network of communicators organized in Malta by the European Commission - DG REGIO, which saw the project At the School of OpenCohesion (ASOC EU) at the center of relevant public initiatives.
The protagonists of the events – this year dedicated to the European Year of Youth and the activities implemented by the communicators of cohesion policies in Europe – were the students of the awarded schools of the 2020-2021 edition of ASOC EU, namely the Isidor’s Investigators Team from Croatia (Srednje škole Isidora Kršnjavoga – Našice) and the Arqueòlegs dertosencs Team from Spain (Institut Cristòfol Despuig – Tortosa).
Together with their teachers, the Croatian and Catalunian students were welcomed by the representatives of the European Commission and the representatives of the ASOC team in the splendid setting of the ancient “Sacra Infermeria” of the Knights of Malta, a historic monument redeveloped thanks to EU funds and now turned in a renowed international congress center. In the first day, the project leaders of each team, Božica Bjelokapić from the Isidor’s Investigators Team (Našice) and Arnau Garcia Llorac from the Arqueòlegs dertosencs Team (Tortosa), presented in detail the civic monitoring research works that were recognized as the most deserving in the 2020-2021 edition of ASOC Croatia and ASOC Spain, countries where ASOC, in different forms, is still ongoing in the year 2022.
In particular, the Isidor's Investigators team of Našice monitored the project related to the redevelopment of the Castles of Pejačević, with the aim of investigating the possible contribution of the intervention to the socio-economic development of the area of Našice from a perspective of sustainable development, while the Arqueòlegs dertosencs team from Tortona observed the project called "Museogràfic espai Tortosa Cota-0", an intervention aimed at recovering the surroundings of the Cathedral of Santa Maria through the covering, restoration and museumization of the underground archaeological site on the bank of the Cathedral of Tortosa.
The following day, within the event specifically dedicated to ERDF funds, a large session was dedicated to ASOC EU by Gianluca Comuniello (EU Commission - DG REGIO Communication Unit) and by Simona De Luca (coordinator of OpenCoesione), who illustrated the important results achieved in international experimentations from 2019 to today and underlined the founding values of the project, from the effective involvement of local communities to the wealth of information and stories of the monitoring activities carried out on the territories, not forgetting to mention the activities in progress, such as pilot activities in the Interreg area (ASOC ETC).
At the end of the event, the Croatian and Catalan students, accompanied by their teachers and the ASOC national coordinators, who were given special thanks for their dedication and commitment, received a plaque of recognition for their achievements from the hands of Karolina Kottova, Head of the Communication Unit DG REGIO - European Commission.
A moment of celebration, but also of great importance for all the members of the network who collaborate in consolidating the ASOC project at national and international level. A virtuous model that can be easily replicated in other Member States - as also underlined by the European Commission - capable of significantly increasing the effectiveness of awareness-raising and promotion of cohesion policies and of giving more and more value to civic monitoring of public funds aimed at improving the quality of life in the territories.
