Partners
SKÖVDE MUNICIPALITY
Skövde is located in a rural area at the foot of mountain Billingen
with 24 nature reserves and Europe’s two biggest lakes only a few kilometres
away. It is quick and easy to reach Skövde from either Stockholm, the
capital of Sweden, or Gothenburg, the biggest port of Scandinavia by
high speed train. Opposite Skövde station is Sweden’s first cultural
centre containing all sorts of cultural activities and public meeting
points. Arena Skövde for sports and other big events is just around
the corner. The Cultural Night in October, the annual food festival
in August, the Thursday market and various sports events such as 2006
Women’s European Handball Championship is only a small selection of
events taking place in Skövde.
The city has been a meeting place for 600 years. First it was a pilgrimage
on the border between Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Now with more than
50 000 inhabitants and is the fifth largest municipality in the Vastra
Gotaland region. Twenty per cent of the inhabitants are students at
Skövde University, where the core of both research and education is
informatics and technology attracting students from all over the world.
One of Sweden’s strongest incubators for inventive entrepreneurs, Gothia
Science Centre, is located on the campus. The university also hosts
one Centre for Austrian Studies and another for Mexican Studies. Furthermore,
the Garrison and the Swedish Rescue School in Skövde train experts for
UN-missions. Medical specialists at the regional hospital carry out
international research. In other words, Skövde is a meeting point also
for life long learning.
The regional labour market is to a large extent concentrated to Skövde. Most people work at Volvo Trucks and Volvo Cars, where half a million motors for the global market are made every year. The importance of the service sector and the retail branch is increasing in Skövde being an old trading town. Now Skövde is a motive power for municipal and regional development.
Accordingly, high priority is given to international cooperation. International
networking for instance SERN, Safe Community and European Cities Against
Drugs, ECAD, bring added value to municipal work together with traditional
twin town contacts with Halden in Norway, Kuressaare in Estonia, Ringsted
in Denmark, South Derbyshire District in United Kingdom and Vammala
in Finland. Several schools in Skövde co-operate with schools in third
countries such as Uganda and Afghanistan. Skövde is (lead) partner in
numerous international projects co-financed by EU-programmes for instance
Interreg IIIB, Twinning, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth. (14.12.2006)
Contact Person: Inger Hannu - inger.hannu@skovde.se
/ Ewa Hjerpe - ewa.hjerpe@skovde.se
NORRKÖPING MUNICIPALITY
In Norrköping there are all the advantages of living in a metropolis:
a sound infrastructure; plenty of interesting job opportunities and
a rich music and culture scene. At the same time we avoid the big city
problems of traffic jams, air pollution and lack of housing. We work
closely together with our twin city Linköping, for example if you live
in Norrköping and work in Linköping you can choose where you want your
childcare. Together with Linköping we are one of the EU’s strongest
IT regions and a hub for aviation, communications technology, software
development and electronics. The region is also home to Sweden’s biggest
and most prominent university – LiU as well as a significant number
of multinational companies such as Alstom, E. ON, Ericsson, Motorola,
Saab, Siemens and Whirlpool.
o Size of the municipality and its surrounding area: 1 504 km2
o Inhabitants: 129 114 (oct 2009)
Contact person Monica Hjern - monica.hjern@norrkoping.se
TRAVERSETOLO MUNICIPALITY AND PEDEMONTANA SOCIALE
The social agency “Pedemontana sociale” is a public Consortium composed
of the pedemontana area municipalities of the Province of Parma. It
was established in 2008 for the management of associated services to
the person (social and health services).
It includes the municipalities of Collecchio, Felino, Montechiarugolo,
Sala Baganza and Traversetolo to manage social services, welfare and
socio-health activities, in cooperation and in coordination with local
health agencies.
The associated municipalities exercise their duties of supervision and
address through the members of the Assembly which consists of the mayors
of the five municipalities and the Pedemontana sociale is manage by
an executive director.
The Pedemontana sociale acts in various support frameworks: children,
family, disabled people, elder people, immigrants.
Concerning elderly people, it supports the elderly and their families
through various types of activities:
• Home care
• Meals at home, laundry, remote assistance
• Daily support
• Personal nursing
• Social Taxi
• Access to integrated network of services (house procedure for the
seniors, admissions of relief)
• Supporting housing requirements
• Help and support for administrative acts
• Legal protection
Contact person: Laura Avanzi laura.avanzi@sern.eu
ENZKREIS
Enzkreis is locate in Baden Wuttemberg in the area surroinding Pforzheim.
The provincial Administration, the Landratsamt, fulfils a double function:
Community administration and governmental administration.
The main duty of the community administration is supporting local district
authorities in the execution of their tasks. This means independent
management of public duties and responsibilities beyond the scope of
local district authorities, e.g. refuse disposal, vocational and special
schools, social and youth support, district roadwork, local development
and public transport.
The governmental area takes care of legislative responsibilities, e.g.
foreign worker affairs, construction planning approval, health service,
business and catering trade, judicial competence for local authorities,
traffic regulation and channelling, driving licence administration,
motor vehicle licensing, environmental and nature protection. The Landratsamt
(youth department) takes care of exchange among and training for the
pedagogical staff in the pre-schools (“Kindergartens”) in the Enzkreis.
Contact Person: Juergen Hoerstmann juergen.hoerstmann@enzkreis.de
CITY OF TOURS
city of Art and History, an ancient Gallo-Roman city, then capital
of the Kingdom of France, Tours enjoys an exceptional place at the center
of the famous Loire valley chateaux, in the heart of the garden of France.
Tours, the original home of the French language and the “art de vivre”
is a land of harmony and proportion, adorned by two major rivers.
Rich with history and a well preserved heritage, Tours is a city of
captivating charm; some of the most illustrious figures of history have
fallen under its spell!
Yet Tours has managed to guard her rich past while still keeping an
eye on the future. Today Tours is a modern, lively and dynamic center,
with a thriving university, cultivating economic development; still
young at heart with many cultural and sports activities, Tours is also
situated at the heart of a European communication network.
In 2000 the Unesco made the Loire Valley a World Heritage site by virtue
of its cultural landscapes; this honor consolidates the renown and internationally
recognized image of the Loire Valley.
The celebrated author Balzac claimed Tours to be “laughing, loving,
fresh, flowered, perfumed better than all the other cities of the world”.
We sincerely hope that you too will fall in love with this favorite
city of kings.
Contact person: Marie-Bernard Amirault-deiss - mb.amirault-deiss@ville-tours.fr
PARMA MUNICIPALITY
Contact Person Michela Tanzi m.tanzi@comune.parma.it
