Politics

The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira and the Municipal Executive have decided to establish, for the first time in the city of Porto, the role of the Ombudsman, in order to act as "a tool for citizen participation".

Porto City Hall provides its staff with training regarding mental health in the workplace. The specific training, themed "Ouvir o que não é dito, Primeiros Socorros em Saúde Mental" [Make the unspoken heard, First Aid in Mental Health - free translation], started today and it will last the entire week, in a total of 18 hours. This initiative is jointly organised with Time to Change Campaign and Mental Health First Aid England.

The Information Office and Victim Support Centre in Porto (GAIV) was established five years ago. During this time, 6.577 people have benefited from this project. The most usual crime is domestic violence and the victims are predominantly women, between the ages of 30 and 40. A packed Almeida Garrett Municipal Library auditorium debated Domestic Abuse and Gender Equality with the Porto Metropolitan Command of the Police Force, Porto City Hall and over 70 institutions involved in this project,...

Today, 8 March, the International Women's day, women are being gifted flowers at the Citizens Bureau in Porto. At the City Hall's initiative, throughout the day every woman heading to this municipal service will receive a camellia to mark women's Day.

The news portal "Porto." now provides the talking version of its online text, with the added ReadSpeaker functionality. This Text-to-Speech technology not only allows people that suffer from reading disabilities, dyslexia, and visual impairment to access the news website but also assists non-native Portuguese users and people who choose not to read from screens or who don't have the chance to read.

Porto Trade Association honoured Rui Moreira as its 36th President, presenting his official portrait, which will be on display at the association together with the portraits of former presidents of the same association.

For the first time ever, a Portuguese scientist has won the 2018 Sackler Prize, worth 100 million dollars, given by the Tel Aviv University, from Israel, which awards, every two years, young researchers (aged up to 40), with major contributions in the fields of physics and chemistry.

The European Commission has approved the application submitted by Porto Municipality to host a Europe Direct Centre, for the period 2018-2020. Porto City Hall has put forward a working programme under the motto "Europe close to all" and will therefore, continue to be the host institution of the European Information Centre, which comprises all the municipalities of the Porto Metropolitan area.

Porto City Hall will establish the Ombudsman within the Municipality, in the beginning of 2018. The Municipal Ombudsman is an impartial entity who will be in charge of receiving inquiries of each individual citizen, male or female in an open and inclusive way.

On 1 October the city of Porto has expressed its will in the polls and has validated the mandate of Mayor Rui Moreira. The formal inauguration of the Municipal Executive for the four-year period 2017-2021 took place on 25 October. Mayor Rui Moreira' second inauguration speech happened in Rivoli Theatre. This ceremony usually takes place at the City Hall, so this was a signal of the importance that the Municipal Government attaches to culture.