European Neighbor's Day - Get together on May 28th
The first large scale meeting of European citizens in numbers
9 million participants from across the globe
1100 cities and host organizations
Short presentation
Ten years after its launch in Paris in 2000, the event organized by the European Federation of Local Solidarity (E.F.L.S.) has become the first citizen event in Europe: last May 9 million people in 29 countries (21 EU countries) gathered to celebrate Neighbors’ Day. More than 1 000 city councils and housing associations will mark the day as official partners.
Neighbors’ Day encoura ges people to get to know and talk to each other. It creates better conditions for living together and fosters community cohesion and solidarity. It is an opportunity for people living in the same neighborhoods to meet, build friendships and break the monotony and anonymity of city life.
The event traditionally takes place on the last Tuesday of every May (this year serves as an exception, the event being scheduled for a Friday). Although the event is supported by city councils and housing associations, the main aim is to get local residents to take on lead roles and organize a neighbors’ party themselves.
This year's Neighbors’ Day will be celebrated Friday, May 28th 2010, under the theme European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
Neighbors’ Day is more than a mass event celebrated once a year: it aims to promote a real spirit of solidarity and interaction amongst people living in the same neighborhood. This event promotes very positive values: it contributes to consolidating social peace, as well as strengthening the feeling of belonging to our shared European community.
European Neighbor’s Day in Your city
Should you find the idea interesting, You can join the movement easily. The event can be organized locally by anyone, may that be local authorities, NGOs or individuals.
To make your participation official, all you have to do is to Register. Your Registration enables you to have the use of the Neighbors’ Day brand name and related informational material.
To do so, you can contact the E.F.L.S. or contact directly your local coordinator where appropriate. (The following Romanian cities have participated in the past: Arad in 2009-2010, Constanta in 2007-2008, Timisoara in 2009). A membership fee is required to become a partner. The amount depends on the number of residents.
Reasons to join in?
You benefit from a citizen movement to get the inhabitants to support a same project.
You bring together local decision makers (politicians, inhabitants, charities, agencies, media..) around a positive project.
You take the leadership of an event which has a strong media impact and you give opportunity to people to meet up and share a good time together, beyond daily issues and difficulties.
You join in a European wide movement to share experiences of good citizen practices with other European cities (your twin cities or network of partners).
The E.L.F.S’ role is to provide you with all the logistical support of the event (communication kit, guide books, press file, video etc…) together with a permanent telephone assistance to help you organize the event step and promote the event at an international level. The partner institution’s role is to promote the project at a local, level and to raise resident’s awareness and encourage them to get involved.
You can find more information on the following websites:
http://www.european-neighbours-day.eu, www.sogorcsaba.eu or on the csaba.sogor@europarl.europa.eu e-mail address.
