Paris Joins COE Project to Fight Poverty

Ile de France joins as a pilot region to the Council of Europe project to combat poverty, social and ethnic exclusion. The project brings a new approach: now instead of assistance different institutions work together with locals to reach specified goals.

Strasbourg

The Council of Europe presents a new regional social inclusion project in Paris, in connection with the European dialogue platform on ethical and solidarity-based initiatives for combating poverty and social exclusion.

At a meeting on the subject, the surrounding region of France's capital city -known as Ile de France - will adopt the task of being a "territory responsible for social inclusion". This will commit it to the project to combat poverty and social exclusion, alongside the Province of Trento in Italy, the city of Mulhouse in France and another local or regional authority in Romania.

What makes this project original is that it approaches the problem of social exclusion from the angle of partnership and not the traditional one of assistance, attempting to promote a regional policy of joint responsibility between the authorities, NGOs and the public, and people and families suffering from exclusion.

During the first year, the aim will be to raise public awareness about measures to combat poverty and social exclusion on the basis of past experience.

Regional debates and think-tanks are also planned in order to pinpoint potential areas in which different approaches may interact and complement one another.

The result of this will be witnessed in 2008, when these ideas will be tested through pilot projects, which may ultimately be incorporated into local and regional government policies.(EÜ)