Date: 24 November 2012
Country: UK, Bristol
Media Diversity Institute (MDI) has held a training called “European Twinning and Integration – Sharing Experience and Exploring Funding“.
The aim of one day technical training funded by the European Union and supported by Bristol International Twinning Association (BITA) was to promote the potential of town twinning as a means of encouraging understanding between different groups and cultures as well as to promote peace and development through European towns and cities working together and supporting each other.
At the openning of the event in Bristol, sir Graham Watson, member of European Parliament for the South West of England and Gibraltar, thanked MDI as “the people who build a sense of the community across the continent”.
MDI’s training in Bristol focused on the practices and activities organized by twinning associations and also on the practical side of preparing and managing the projects.
The participants split into 5 groups and exchanged their good practices around the activities organised by twinning associations in the past.
Naomi Love, MDI’s Development Director, talked about the importance of media and how to communicate and engage them, different ways of raising the organizations’ profile and also how to identify some other funding opportunities.
The most engaging session was the one moderated by Inna Petrenko from the Brussels office of the European Commission’s Citizenship Unit of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). She talked about the practical side of using the “Europe for Citizens” fund – who can apply for the programme, when and what documents are needed, as well as on how to write a project and manage the budget.
The MDI training in Bristol project revealed that the majority of participants are very eager to improve their communication skills.
MDI’s first twinning project funded by EU through the Europe for Citizens Programme is a collaboration of six partner organisations from different EU countries such as Italy, Estonia, Poland, France, Greece and the United Kingdom.