What connects a former high official of the Polish embassy in Belgium, a cleaning lady, a Belgian
journalist / blogger and a NGO activist? They are all strongly engaged members
of the Polish community in Belgium and they all participated at the Local Citizens Meeting in Brussels
Their debate
about the most relevant and burning issues that need improvement ended with the general concern for empowerment of the Polish community in Belgium, support
for the newcomers and people in need. They identified more themes, e.g. combating stereotypes against Poles in Brussels, supporting specific
activities for their community, networking within the community, making a better use
of the already existing resources, a better integration in the Belgian community and
improvement of the educational standards. Those topics will be further
discussed during next local meetings. These citizens of the Polish
community in Brussels participate at the I AM EUROPE project to test if and how it can be possible to make changes and transpose their local
issues and concerns to the European level.
However,
the meeting was not just about identifying problems but also about the first
reflections on what Europe has to do with their local perspectives? How can Europe support the
local participation? And can their participation be linked to the policy-making
at the European level?
Last but
not least they prepared an exciting story to tell you all – the story is full of
good practices and methodologies related to participation at the local level.
We hope that the chosen representatives – Maciek, Gracjana and Magda will prove to be great
storytellers at the Joint Sessions and that you all will enjoy it!
Big thanks
to all immensely inspiring citizens and see you soon!
Marta Gawinek - Dagargulia
Project facilitator
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