Iceland Healthy Cities in the Czech Republic / May 2024
Healthy Cities work (not only!) all over Europe. This year, the Czech Healthy Cities network is cooperating more intensively, for example, with the Icelandic network and the city of Reykjavik. Targeted excursions to Czechia and to Iceland take place, we share what is currently happening in both countries in the topics of health promotion, participation or well-being, what role Healthy Cities play or can play, how cooperation with cities is set up, what challenges we have and what plans we have for the future.
Right now in May, the coordinator of the Healthy City Reykjavík (Harpa Þorsteinsdóttir) and the national coordinator of the Icelandic Healthy Cities Network (Gígja Gunnarsdóttir-Landl) are in Prague for a three-day visit. The programme is packed - a welcome and first sharing of experiences, a meeting with WHO representative in Prague Zsofia Pusztai and a joint discussion on the role of Healthy Cities in health promotion and local community development. Discussions at PRAGUE 10 on public participation, on participatory budgets in schools, but also on family policy or work with the elderly. Field visit - examples of what has worked, but also where things could be better next time.
There was also a webinar recording in the studio - you can find the recording HERE 🎬
And what will you learn there? That there are many things in common, but also differences and especially mutual inspirations...
✍ Participation is very active in both countries, similar methods, great emphasis on working with young people
✍ Reykjavík has been building on data for a long time - it has both quantitative and qualitative data and, most importantly, it works with it - for example, in health profiles and follow-up health plans. It can thus react in a targeted way to identified gaps and monitor whether or not the implemented activities lead to change in the long term.
✍ the topic of health promotion is much more embedded at city level in Iceland, cities have data on the health status of the population in their area, health promotion is not primarily about health standards or inspections, but about prevention, education and health literacy
✍ in Czech Healthy Cities, it is possible to take inspiration from the continuous and active mutual cooperation, regular education and meetings or tools that Healthy Cities have at their disposal for their strategic work
✍ working with young people, physical activity, mental health, climate adaptation and mitigation, but also growing social inequalities or working with target groups hard to engage resonate in both countries.
But the cooperation does not end with this visit. In June, a delegation of 5 representatives of cities from the Czech Republic is going to Reykjavik, among others to the Welbeing Economy Forum and in September we will meet again in Brno. We will have a number of examples of practice from both countries.
The activities are supported by the EEA Funds 2014-2021, the Governance Programme, the Fund for Bilateral Cooperation at programme level.
