Society

Three days of reflection on social inclusion mark the conclusion of AIIA program

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This Monday, at Centro de Congressos da Alfândega, the Forum for Social Inclusion started. Until Wednesday, a group of partners and entities will reflect on the work of inclusion and social cohesion in the city of Porto, based on the experience developed during the AIIA - Abordagem Integrada para a Inclusão Ativa program.

The event marks the conclusion of the AIIA – Abordagem Integrada para a Inclusão Ativa program, promoted by the Municipality of Porto and co-financed by the Programa Operacional Regional Norte 2020, which “was designed to respond, in an innovative and experimental way, to the persistent problems of socio-territorial asymmetry resulting from the contemporary dynamics of urban development”, recalled the councillor for Social Cohesion in the official opening speech of the forum.

“Throughout the four years of implementation of the AIIA program the basic assumptions that were at its origin were always present, and which arise from structuring objectives for the urban development of our city”, underlined Fernando Paulo, highlighting three: the creation of conditions for the social and territorial integration of a substantial part of the population residing in municipal social housing neighbourhoods, or in the large number of housing nucleus called “islands”; the primacy of innovative and experimental ways of intervention in the city, capable of triggering broader processes of social transformation; and the spatial selectivity of intervention priorities, focusing on the eastern area and parts of the western area.

This territorial identification had been previously made, within the scope of the Plano Estratégico de Desenvolvimento Urbano, recalled the councillor of Porto City Hall, noting the three underprivileged communities marked: Comunidade do Vale da Ribeira da Granja, located in the Western part of the city, in the União das Freguesias de Lordelo do Ouro and Massarelos; and Comunidade do Vale de Campanhã, to the North and South, located in the Eastern part of the city, in the Parish of Campanhã.

“A social diagnosis was also drawn up that showed the prevalence of social groups of greater vulnerability, in relation to which it was necessary to create more differentiated, more inclusive and more promoting responses for their effective social integration: young people in a NEET situation (young people who do not work, who do not study nor follow training), long-term unemployed and with low qualifications, homeless people, elderly people in a situation of social isolation or at high risk of isolation and families in a situation of social vulnerability”, he enumerated.

Coordinated Work

Stressing the “multi-sectoral commitment” that enabled the implementation of the AIIA program, Fernando Paulo congratulated himself on the coordinated work of the different teams: “From the Municipal Department of Social Cohesion, which coordinated it, and from the municipal companies Domus Social and Porto Vivo, SRU, that worked in a coordinated way in order to maximize the impacts of their action on the territories, on the lives of the communities and people.”

“From the starting point to today, four years have passed. And if the original design of the program already provided for integrated and integrative perspectives for social development, in these four years this objective has been deepened in a very concrete way. The AIIA program reinforced and amplified internal resources, but it was also strengthened and amplified by basing the initiatives and projects carried out in partnership with the entities that make up the Porto Social Network”, highlighted the councillor for Social Cohesion.

“This Forum, in addition to showing us a retrospective of the work done, is an opportunity for debate on the efficiency and relevance of intervention programs of this nature – marked by their temporality, territorial division and the exceptionality of the resources mobilized”, concluded Fernando Paulo.

In a session attended by the president of the Municipal assembly, Sebastião Feyo de Azevedo, as other members of the municipal council, the president of the Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Norte (CCDR-N), António Cunha, also intervened, starting by congratulating the Municipality of Porto and the team that led the AIIA program for their work.

“This Forum shows that Porto knows how to bring together partners in a strategy for the inclusion and knows how to cross skills. Problems are increasingly multi-sectoral and current challenges are increasingly complex and require holistic answers”, he noted.

Underlining the “high expectations” that presided over the AIIA program, and which justified having been “the largest funding for active inclusion projects” in the Norte 2020 framework, the president of CCDR-N challenged the audience to envision the future, looking to for Norte 2030: “It will renew its commitment to school success. We are committed to this goal and committed to helping you.”

“Agents in the region should seek to have a relevant participation in centrally managed instruments”, concluded António Cunha, giving as an example the Recovery and Resilience Plan and advocating increasing decentralization and autonomy in the management of these funds.

Letter from Porto for Social Innovation

On the first morning of the Forum for Social Inclusion, there was also a panel that addressed the path to sustainability of the social intervention and included interventions by the president of the Executive Committee of the Fundação Manuel António da Mota, Rui Pedroto; Smart value’s CEO, Paulo Alves; and the coordinator of the Supported Social Life project, O Fio de Ariana, Inês Miguel. The moderation was in charge of the Northern Regional representative of Missão Portugal Inovação Social, Helena Loureiro.

The Letter from Porto for Social Innovation was also presented, which results from the participation of several agents from the organized civil society, the public sector, the private sector and academia and brings together a set of municipal and intersectional commitments capable of mobilizing resources to reinforce and adequacy of social innovation solutions to the city’s social and environmental problems. The document also aims to reinforce the essential pillars of an impact ecosystem – talent, public policies, funding, and support infrastructure, as well as to coordinate efforts to implement an agenda focused on creating more value for communities.

The Forum for Social Inclusion runs until Wednesday at Centro de Congressos da Alfândega. The morning of the last day of the event will be dedicated to the work developed in the “islands” of Porto, with session dedicated to urban design, intervention models and respective challenges, and public investment in rehabilitation.

In parallel with the debates, the Forum includes an exhibition area for the various municipal projects in the social area, in stands distributed by the Alfândega. From health to housing, including the Porto Social Observatory, it is possible to get to know the work carried out by the teams on the field.

Check herethe full program of the Forum for Social inclusion here.