The mayor Paulo Fernandes emphasized the municipality’s multifaceted learning program, for all age groups and centered on the preservation of ancestral practices, but combining them with technology and digital technology.
Fundão has formalized its application to join the UNESCO Learning Cities Network 2023, informed the mayor, Paulo Fernandes, who assured that the municipality is “strongly positioned” in this area.
The application was submitted at the end of May and the results are expected by the end of June.
“We are very optimistic. I think we have an excellent candidacy, very grounded in the causes and values of UNESCO itself,” emphasized Paulo Fernandes.
The mayor of this municipality in the Castelo Branco district alluded to the 9th National Meeting of Associations and Clubs of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which took place two weeks ago in Fundão and mentioned the positive feedback received.
“Everyone, in general, referred to how differentiating our learning program is, especially between the traditional and the more contemporary aspects,” said the mayor of Fundão.
The mayor stressed the municipality’s multifaceted learning program, for all age groups and centered on the preservation of ancestral practices, but combining them with technology and digital technology.
Besides the municipality’s Casas e Lugares do Sentir (Houses and Places of Sense), “community museums, where Fundão is particularly strong,” Fernandes mentioned the sociocultural programs for lifelong learning and the focus on the “intercultural dimension,” to welcome the many people “of working age” from other countries who are coming to the municipality.
The possibility of being awarded the distinction is considered an asset by Paulo Fernandes: “It’s a seal of enormous quality, a certification of good practices, a high standard, which helps us create and improve our local networks, but also to improve and enter national and international networks.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the mayor stressed that there is a “project that comes from the bottom up and that has such a strong territorial and community approach.
Paulo Fernandes considered that the municipality has a learning program “very out of the box in many aspects” and predicts that joining a network of UNESCO-recognized best practices in learning can help attract more people to the municipality.
“It will make more people want to come and visit us, more families want to understand what our welcoming model is and how we do it throughout life, and probably also our inclusion, diversity, aging, and also our formal and informal education programs will be greatly improved,” added the mayor.
The UNESCO Learning Cities Network in Portugal currently includes Câmara de Lobos, Mação, Cascais, Anadia, Lagoa (Azores), Praia da Vitória, Gondomar, Pampilhosa da Serra, Alcobaça, Setúbal, Cantanhede, Batalha, Loures, Ourém, and Braga.
