A delegation of French social action technicians visited Portugal and wanted to learn about the work developed at the Observatory for the Family Friendly Municipalities (OAFR), the national partner in Portugal of the European Network of Family-Friendly Municipalities
The visit was part of a group of 12 senior technicians from the French public entity CAF, from the Calvados region (Normandy). In France, these professionals lead teams that support a population of 700,000 people, in several social areas, with the population, local authorities (municipalities, communities of municipalities) and other entities as beneficiaries.
Vitória Salvado, coordinator of the OAFR, presented the Portuguese project to the international delegation and highlighted that “the Observatory for the Family Friendly Municipalities was born from an Portuguese Large Families Association initiative, but its concerns are more comprehensive in that it intends to monitor, reward and disseminate the best practices implemented by municipalities in matters of family responsibility, also concerned with measures for all age groups, namely, for older people”.
OAFR’s mission is to promote, among the municipalities, the sharing of knowledge of the needs and problems of families, for the implementation of policies that respond to them in a comprehensive way, to promote a cohesive social fabric that guarantees the renewal of generations and the sustainability of the country.
In 2021, 84 Portuguese municipalities were awarded the green flag by the OAFR for investing in policies to support families, 3 more than in the previous year.
