Report by Ms. Montserrat Catà Lladó, City of Granollers, Spain
On December 4th, the Catalan network organised the conference “Local Peace and Coexistence Policies” opened by the Mayor of Granollers, Alba Barnusell; the Mayor of Tordera, the Mayor of Lliçà de Vall and the president of the Fons Català de Cooperació. The first roundtable, with the UCLG general secretary, Emilia Saiz and Tica Font, president of the Centre Delàs, discussed how local peace policies can influence the global agenda. Ideas such as a world led by mayors and the role of social media were explored. The second panel focused on local peace-building experiences with municipal staff. Beth Mejan (Sant Cugat) presented the Peace Agenda initiative, Alba Sanfeliu (Manresa) shared an exhibition for young people, and Montse Bosch (Vic) discussed a youth theatre project promoting dialogue. José Álvarez (UCLG) spoke about Palmira, Colombia, the winner of the UCLG Peace Prize. The event concluded with the presentation of the Guide for Local Peace, a tool to identify the types of violence that manifest themselves in the municipalities and a tool to identify actions, policies and plans to prevent violence, as well as peace programmes.
Photo: courtesy of Catalan Chapter