The Metropolitan City of Turin realized the Project MONI_TO aims at foster civic engagement for monitoring projects financed by European Cohesion Policy
The Metropolitan City of Turin realized the Project MONI_TO, aims at foster civic engagement for monitoring projects financed by European Cohesion Policy, in order to developing civic awareness and engagement of local communities in monitoring the effectiveness of public investments.
The Project MONI_TO is aimed at university students and young people in general interested in discovering and communicating the “European presence” in the Metropolitan territory. Nonetheless, students are motivated to design, analyze, explore, discover and communicate the European policies in order to understand goals and ideas behind those.
After a deep analysis of European Cohesion Policy, students are involved in practical case histories and are asked to work on specific projects financed by European Structural Funds. Their duties are analyzing data and information, organizing communication and preparing the monitoring visit. Indeed, they are also asked to carry out on-site visits and interview key players involved in the projects’ implementation, beneficiaries or others. All these activities are aimed to settle a final event where students meet local communities and policy makers in order to discuss findings and evaluations of their investigations.
Resources needed
Human resources of the organizations involved are used in order to guide and tutor the groups of students:
- 36 h front lessons
- 10 h organization of groups
Evidence of success
Through a process of in-depth study and monitoring of a project financed by European funds on their territory, the participants measure the extent of presence and impact of the European Cohesion Policy in the Metropolitan City of Turin, and thus recognize direct benefits of belonging to the European Union.
Difficulties encountered
The Department of Politics and Society of the University of Turin expressed the willing to develop the activities of Project MONI_TO as a Workshop within the regular path of the University courses.
Potential for learning or transfer
The Project MONI_TO has the potential to be replied in other regions as good practice in order to provide information on the main objectives of the EU Cohesion Policy and on the opportunities and results of the programs and projects implemented. It is an essential issue to involve citizens in the process of developing European Policies and promoting a sense of belonging to European Union.
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