Eurocities includes a project by Rubí in its report on fighting child poverty
The initiative to provide support to vulnerable families, developed by the City Council’s Social Services, has been recognised as a good practice by the Eurocities network
The network of European cities, Eurocities, included a project by the Rubí City Council in the report Fighting child poverty in European cities. The initiative to support and accompany parents in vulnerable families, Educate, Grow, Share, implemented by municipal Social Services, was selected as a good practice, along with 34 other actions by many different European cities.
The main objective of the project implemented in Rubí is to provide fathers, mothers and other possible caretakers of children aged 0 to 6 a welcoming space in which to share experiences with other families and professionals. During six sessions, led by two social educators from the Social Services’ Child Service, the group explores concerns and questions on parenthood, working together to find solutions. The topics covered in this workshop include different child raising styles, bringing children up without violence, child participation, emotional bonds, childhood development, interpersonal communication and conflict resolution.
The project was started up in 2019 with the participation of a dozen adults being assisted by Social Services. In this short term, the experience helped strengthen participants’ self-confidence and security as competent caregivers of their children, as well as letting the City Council detect which topics are of greatest interest to the parents with regard to raising and educating their children. The project also contributed indirectly to changing the perception that some citizens have of social services.
The report Fighting child poverty in European cities recognises the good results of this initiative and highlights Rubí’s strategy to fight childhood poverty, based on these objectives: to promote an environment that can meet children’s basic needs in the social, educational and family spheres; to create support structures for families to ensure the welfare of children and teens; to foster a networking model based on cooperation in designing public policies for children; to promote the status and rights of children and teens among citizens; and to guarantee their access to cultural and knowledge resources.
Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez evaluates Rubí’s presence in this European report as extremely positive: ‘It is a great recognition that Eurocities noticed our project and the city’s strategy against child poverty and that it appears alongside experiences from Europe’s most important cities. This proves that, acting locally, we can and must contribute expertise on a topic that is very important to use: providing services for people, especially children’.
Rubí, Barcelona and Madrid are the only cities in Spain that have been included in the Eurocities report.
Eurocities network
Rubí recently submitted its candidature to become part of Eurocities, the network of Europe’s major cities. The association was founded in 1986 by the mayors of six large cities: Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lyon, Milan and Rotterdam. Today it unites the local governments of 140 of Europe’s largest cities, as well as another 45 member cities. Through six subject-based forums, a wide range of working groups, projects, activities and events, the network offers partner municipalities a platform on which to share knowledge and exchange ideas.
The purpose of Eurocites is to strengthen the role of local governments in the European arena, thus working with European Union institutions, publicising the common issues that affect the daily lives of European citizens. The network also acts as a lobby to work, for example, to achieve changes in the focus of legislation.
With a population of some 80,000 inhabitants, Rubí aspires to become a member city of Eurocities. If the candidature prepared by the City Council’s City Promotion Service is approved, the municipality can join the Social Affairs Forum. It consists of eight working groups that meet two or three times a year, which also collaborate via an online platform to debate urban challenges, exchange good practices, develop political statements and participate in European Union projects. Although the Rubí City Council is awaiting acceptance in this network, it already collaborates with Eurocities on childhood related issues.