The Meliana City Council has solidified its commitment to European participation through a municipal strategy for internationalization. This participatory process reinforces the council's dedication to an open, transparent, and collaborative administration model, placing residents at the heart of public decisions.
The project, developed with support from the Provincial Council of Valencia and the Regional Ministry of Justice, Transparency, and Participation, and with technical assistance from Sequoia Pro, materializes into the Erasmus+ Accreditation Plan. This tool will enable the municipality to establish a permanent structure for transnational mobility and social inclusion, moving beyond one-off European interventions.
Through this accreditation, Meliana's citizens will gain access to European funding for training stays, cultural exchanges, volunteering, and the enhancement of digital and language skills. The plan, aligned with the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, incorporates initiatives for youth, non-formal education, and lifelong learning.
To diagnose local needs and integrate resident proposals, three participatory workshops were held during September. The first, aimed at young people and associative structures like the Youth Correspondents Network, highlighted the opportunities Europe can offer. The second workshop, focused on adult citizens and local associative fabric, addressed challenges related to participation, digital literacy, inclusion of the elderly, active aging, sustainability, and coexistence.
A third workshop brought together technical staff and political leaders from the City Council in areas such as Youth, Citizen Participation, and European Projects. This session allowed for an evaluation of the council's institutional and operational capacity to ensure the plan's viability.
The sessions recorded a high level of satisfaction. Young people showed motivation to propose projects and requested greater support for social and cultural volunteering, international exchanges, and information channels within schools. Adult residents emphasized the need for practical digital literacy courses to bridge the bureaucratic gap, as well as language training opportunities and intergenerational activities.
Furthermore, the importance of promoting Meliana's heritage, such as its market gardens or the Nolla mosaic, through European projects was underscored. Currently, the municipality is involved in Horta-EU, with Sequoia Pro and the Italian entity Consorzio Itaca, for the defense of market gardens and the valorization of local produce. It also participates in CraftEU, which aims to create a network of twinned cities based on their ceramic heritage.
The information gathered from workshops and questionnaires will be used to draft the plan. Following a public presentation process and formal approval by municipal governing bodies, the document will be submitted to the competent national agency to secure stable European mobility funding in the coming years.
