Who are the winners of the 1st PLATFORMAwards? Follow the ceremony live!
For the first time, towns and regions from the European Union will be rewarded for their concrete actions in development cooperation, together with their partner towns and regions. The ceremony is taking place at the European Committee of the Regions on 21 March.
The PLATFORMAwards aim to reward the best town-to-town and region-to-region development cooperation projects, promoting decentralised cooperation and collecting data and indicators from the best European practices.
For this first edition, PLATFORMA has received 25 applications, representing 42 decentralised cooperation projects from 75 local and regional governments from 30 different countries!
The five finalists will win a study trip to Brussels’ European district with their project counterpart, a one-year access to the PLATFORMA network and international visibility.
The first prize winner will be rewarded with the production of a video to promote its cooperation project (video value fixed at €10,000).
The twelve shortlisted projects are (sorted by alphabetical order):
- Barcelona Province (Spain)-Union of Municipalities of Al Sahel (Lebanon)
- Bremen (Germany)-Durban (South Africa)
- Capannori (Italy)-Tunis (Tunisia)
- Edegem (Belgium)-San Jerónimo (Peru)
- Inca (Spain)-Telpaneca (Nicaragua)
- Ixelles (Belgium)-Zababdeh (Palestine)
- Loures (Portugal)-Maio (Cape Verde)
- Nouvelle-Aquitaine (France)-Plateau Central (Burkina Faso)
- Panevezys (Lithuania)-Ialoveni (Moldova)
- Roeselare (Belgium)-Dogbo (Benin)
- Växjö (Sweden)-JB Marks (South Africa)
- Zoersel (Belgium)-Bohicon (Benin)
The independent jury of the PLATFORMAwards met on 1st February and was composed by:
- François Decoster, Vice-chair of the Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External affairs (CIVEX), European Committee of the Regions
- Gemma Aguado, Programme Analyst, UNDP ART initiative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (on behalf of Johannes Krassnitzer, Coordinator)
- Linda McAvan, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Committee on Development (DEVE)
- Marite Moras, Head of Unit, Co-operation and External Relations Department, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe (on behalf of Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General)
- Bogdan Wenta, Member of the European Parliament, Coordinator in the Committee on Development (DEVE)
- Frédéric Vallier, Secretary General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (Jury Chair)
Check on Twitter #PLATFORMAwards and follow @Platforma4Dev
Discover the pictures of the ceremony on FlickR
