The Healthy Cities Summer School 2017 provided updates on grants, addressed the issue of adaptation to climate change and generated many inspirational ideas

On Wednesday 22 March 2017, the Healthy City of Moravska Trebova launched the Healthy Cities Summer School 2017 – a traditional meeting of the representatives of municipalities and regions from all over the Czech Republic. It was attended by 110 representatives of cities, towns and regions and partner organisations. The main topics covered at the introductory seminar included: financial resources, quality of local authorities, sustainable development, waste management, adaptation to climate change, cooperation of cities with student companies, promotion of entrepreneurship and the offer to create emotional maps.

The Healthy Cities Director Petr Svec presented the association's news and the wide portfolio of services offered by the association to its members. He also highlighted the quality of individual members who currently account for 94 % of advanced (A-C) users of LA21. Furthermore, he emphasized the active cooperation with, and membership in international associations such as the WHO, ICLEI, Energy Cities and Global Compact. The main areas of services provided include project and grant activities, accredited training courses, advice and methodological guidance, support for sustainable development audits, health plans and quality management, on-line tools and consultations, methodological support and facilitation of Healthy Cities Fora, sharing of good practices, info service and much more. The Healthy Cities Director also stressed the importance of the new tools developed by the association for its members such as an inventory of projects with regard to the priorities and importance of each project, management of grant schemes, and real estate passports of buildings owned by cities.

The afternoon session followed up with the challenge of adaptation to climate change. It addressed the questions of how to assess the vulnerability of one's own territory to the impacts of climate change, and what tools and actions can be used by cities and rural areas. At the session devoted to the exchange of ideas, the representatives of Healthy Cities of Prachatice and Moravska Trebova and of Municipal District of Prague 7 reported on inspirational approaches to themes such as cooperation of cities with young generation in the form of student companies. Moreover, they also presented inspirations from the area of project management, a waste management system motivating households to separate waste in the form of a reduction on the fee levied for the collection of municipal waste, and promotion of entrepreneurship. Presented by the National Institute of Public Health as a proposal for cooperation, the presentation called "Parks in movement" attracted the participants' interest. The participants had also the opportunity to engage actively in additional sessions for "beginners" or in a session devoted to emotional maps.

The following days were devoted to three parallel intensive training sessions on the following topics: media and PR, stress management, and the Healthy City Project and LA21. All training sessions involved hands-on skills training, including a set of methodological recommendations and practical examples. The final day was devoted to practical training in using the Healthy Cities information system called Dataplan, and to the use of social networks in Healthy Cities.

The presentations and photos from the event are available HERE.

Members of Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic took part in the "European Sustainable Development Week 2017"

As in previous years, the European Sustainable Development Week (ESDW) took place from 30 May to 5 June. It is a European-wide project aimed at disseminating the idea of sustainable development and encouraging initiatives in support of it. The main organizers of activities of this campaign are Healthy Cities, Towns and Regions of the Czech Republic.

All projects and activities which are thematically related to sustainable development and are not purely commercial could be part of the ESDW. The activities were divided according to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced by the UN in autumn 2015.

The idea of European-wide Sustainable Development Week was put forward by the Environment Ministers of France, Germany and Austria at the EU Environment Council on 28 October 2014. Its aim was to unify older projects of these countries and to stimulate similar initiative in other parts of Europe.

Healthy Cities held the "Days without Accidents 2017" campaign

Involving annually a number of Healthy cities, towns and regions, and held mainly in the first half of June, the campaign called “Days without Accidents” is aimed at accident prevention. The awareness activities, which are organised as part of this campaign, were focused primarily on road traffic accidents and accidents in schools and sports grounds. Since the most vulnerable group to be involved in road traffic accidents are children and the elderly, a series of lectures were held in nurseries and primary schools, and special events were also dedicated to the safety of the elderly. Furthermore, first aid training to provide assistance in case of injuries and accidents was an essential part of the campaign.

Targeted prevention can effectively reduce accidents and mitigate the consequences, which has already been demonstrated in many cities and also on the basis of measurements. To prevent road traffic accidents, cities can use proven methodologies such as the “Safe Journey to School” programme or the “Ride a Bike Only with a Helmet” campaign. Days without Accidents in Healthy Cities are also supported by the National Institute of Public Health and its locally competent offices.

Healthy Cities held the WHO “World No Tobacco Day” campaign

The World No Tobacco Day is an international campaign aimed at preventing tobacco-related diseases. Supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), the campaign was traditionally celebrated on 31 May and was joined by a number of members of Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic.

The use of tobacco products is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide and in the European Region. Smoking is a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease. However, these risks can be avoided by a change in lifestyle. The motto of this year's edition was: “Tobacco – a threat to development”.

On the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, a series of anti-smoking awareness events were held. In addition to the WHO, the campaign was also supported by the National Institute of Public Health (for more info, see www.szu.cz). Healthy Cities, Towns and Regions prepared a number of events such as the “Paths to Clean Air”, contests and theatre performances with anti-smoking themes for children, and lectures and health advice for adults.

The Meeting of Regions 2017 to discuss the Healthy Region Programme was highly inspirational

On 16 May 2017, the traditional Meeting of Healthy Regions of the Czech Republic took place. This year, it was hosted by the Vysocina Healthy Region and organised by Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic.

The topics of Strategic management in territorial public administration and the role of the Ministry for Regional Development were looked at by the representatives of the Department of Partnership Agreement, Evaluations and Strategies of the Ministry for Regional Development. In their contribution, the speakers addressed anchoring strategic management and selecting ongoing activities of the Ministry related to the strategic issue. They also mentioned strategic maps showing links between various laws and documents designed to manage various levels of public administration. They stressed the importance of the Database of Strategies (www.databaze-strategie.cz) which is administered by Healthy Cities and serves as a tool not only for evaluating and updating strategic documents, but also for monitoring the complementarity of strategic goals.

The experience with the preparation of the document Health 2020 for Vysocina Region was shared by Jana Böhmova, Healthy Vysocina Region coordinator, together with Stanislav Wasserbauer from the National Institute of Public Health. The principal aim of this document is to improve health and key indicators of the health of the population in the region, and to engage as many institutions as possible.

The following session, which looked at sharing good practices and inspirations, included the presentations of the representatives of the Moravian-Silesian Region, Liberec Region, Southern Moravia Region and Vysocina Region. Other topics discussed were the plans and projects for the nearest period, possibilities of grants, funds and calls for proposals of various regions aimed at their municipalities and non-profit organisations. They also covered the issues of cross-border cooperation, recovery of municipalities, health policy, clean mobility, social responsibility, and many other topics, including concrete actions and campaigns which directly contribute to sustainable development and to enhancing the quality of life.

The closing session was devoted to the experts from the Charles University Environment Centre, which is a long-standing partner organisation of Healthy Cities. The topics covered included Sustainable development audits in 10 thematic areas of sustainable development followed by a discussion about specificities of various regions when conducting these audits.

The presentations of the event are available HERE.