The Municipal Council of Volunteers (MCV) is a stable participatory governance structure that helps coordinate the activities of volunteers, creating synergies among them and enhancing the capacities to reach out groups of the population which need additional support beyond the existing public welfare and social system. The MCV is intergenerational, it is open to everyone in the city and it is a powerful approach to maximise social support especially in small and medium size cities.

Since 1974, with the Turkish occupation of the northern part of Cyprus, Athienou has a special status with its urban area being within the buffer zone ( 80% of its rural area occupied by the Turkish army,) and thus being isolated from other urban center in the Cyprus Island. At that time, many people were in need to restart their lives after the occupation and volunteerism was one of the main tools to rebuild social ties. Athienou today still suffers from isolation and constantly see a resource in the volunteering collaboration between its citizens. Today, voluntarism is well rooted in the social life of the city, institutionalised in 2012 with the creation of a Municipal Council of Volunteers (MCV). Chaired by the Mayor, the MCV counts 48 members elected by the community (local organizations, political parties, parents associations, church and sponsors) . The duty of the MCV is to understand, and offer support, to social problems affecting the inhabitants of the Athienou, especially those most vulnerable. Its work covers different thematic areas such as elderly support, care, life long learning, nursery, energy efficiency, climate change et al. The MCV is currently organised around 4 main projects: 1 the Kleanthios Elderly Home, 2. The Konstanileneion Center for Adults with initiatives related with occupational activities for isolated people and day care activities. In close collaboration with the welfare committee, services are offered with little or no cost to individuals in need, such as food preparing, home-care, and healthcare.3. the Municipal Nursery Center which has a capacity to offer high quality nursery services to 100 babies and infants. Approximately 20 percent of the families that benefit from these services are monitored and receive help by the Municipal Welfare Committee and 4, the Social Welfare Committee. This latter, chaired by the Mayor and with a close collaboration with the Social Welfare Office and the Ministry of Education. Funding comes from individuals, private companies, organised groups and local and/or national authorities.

A key sustainability factor of the MCV initiatives is the intergenerational approach. Children participate in volunteering activities, and this investment at a early age makes them familiarise with a culture of volunteering which will be carried out from generation to generation. For instance, Children in Athnienou pay regular visits to the elderly home in order to attend joint entertainment activities. At the same time, volunteers visit regularly schools engaging kids in storytelling initiatives while encouraging the volunteering engagement.

Vertical integration begins with the volunteers working for MCV, in close collaboration with the municipal authorities. The MCV is under the District Coordinating Council of Volunteerism, which is under the National Coordinating Council of Volunteerism, the National Welfare Office and the Ministry of Labour. With regards to territorial integration, the MCV of Athienou covers the Athienou Municipality and is part of a national network of Volunteering Councils. These efforts also include activities towards environmental sustainability. The MCV members are highly aware of environmental issues and have set a strategy that includes renewable energy sources.

The MCV architecture is based on the active participation of organised groups within the community. Any citizen can be a member and/or volunteer and the MCV offers a frame for people to assume an active role in support of others depending on the volunteer attitude, skills, professional expertise and time availability. Although, volunteers take the decisions, the committee operates under strict standards, it reports for its actions and it is audited by the legal authorities. The MCV also employs certified staff, dedicated to providing professional support and training of the volunteers. The total number of volunteers exceeds 200 at any given time. The Municipal Council of Volunteerism is composed of 48 members from local organisations and approved by the volunteers. There is a close collaboration with the Welfare Office of the Ministry of Labour, where a budget and sustainability report is submitted annually for additional governmental funding. The president of the Council is the mayor of Athienou. Every programme has an 11-member Coordinating Committee. The president of the Committee is also a member of the Council. Many of the volunteers provide their expertise for the programmes.

Despite its long standing tradition of volunteerism in the city, the main barrier today is the low engagement of volunteers in the age group between 25 - 45 years old, and to further address the challenge to reach out the whole population especially people most in needs. The main concern of the improvement plan of the city of Atheniou was therefore to update the work of the MCV with actions involving the youths and specific target groups such as people with disabilities, youth and young professional, and parents of toddlers and school age children. As result from the improvement plan adopted in the Volunteering cities network, the municipality adopted the MunicipalYouth Board, which promotes the ownership of actions by the younger population. Social media have been an important tool for improving this action, as much as the collaboration with school teachers, family of students providing manuals and resources on how to engage in volunteering activities. Another important step was to create stronger linkages with the private sector trough social corporate responsibility achieved by branding the good practice of volunteering.

Athienou has greatly invested in transferring its methodology of organising volunteering activities at municipal level. The transferability study highlighted 5 elements of transfer in the governance model,intergenerationality, involvement of young volunteers and corporate citizenship. The overall strategy of the transfer plan is to enhance the volunteerism sustainability cycle as described in the Transfer Network proposal and the Transferability Study:

1. Volunteerism greatly contributes to the increase of the quality of life and the progress of the community.
2. The intergenerational interaction within the volunteering activities guarantees the sustainability of this volunteerism tradition in the communities
3. Bigger engagement and participation of stakeholders increases the effectiveness of the actions and programs that sustain the quality of life and the social evolution.

The methodology has been shared through a guide for transfer resulting from the networks partner cities activities. All cities in the network adopted the Athnieou approach and have been able to launch small scale practices in the lifetime of the network.

The problems of ageing, young people moving away and urban poverty are huge challenges in Kazincbarcika, one of Hungary's most underdeveloped regions. As a solution, a club of elderly people volunteered to help the young. The pensioners set up a series of workshops for kids from disadvantaged groups in a segregated district of the town. Based on their success, the events were extended to the whole town, coordinated by the family assistance service. Today, two to four people provide regular afterschool education one to three times a week for children aged 7 to 16. As a result, pupils are seeing improvements in their school performance and personal development. 15-25-year-olds can now also take part in “value transfer events”. What started as a small initiative has now led to cooperation between generations and local communities, which are included in the five basic principles of the town’s creative urban action plan “Kolorcity”.

In 2011, a new community house was realised under the integrated social, environmental rehabilitation programme in Herbolya, a segregated district of Kazincbarcika. The programmes and services had to be created, and people living there and NGOs of the town were involved in this work by the family assistance service of the municipality. Consequently, members of “Idővár” Pensioner Culture Club voluntarily started holding creative workshops connected to major celebrations and school holidays for disadvantaged children living in the district. Due to the success of the programme, the events have become regular since 2013 and spread to the whole town. The members of the club, mostly ex-teachers (coordinated by family assistance service workers), voluntarily dealt with 7- to 15-year-old disadvantaged children, mostly Roma, who had learning difficulties and were at risk of dropping out of school. Since then, the popularity of the events has been growing, and they are not limited to doing homework or rectifying insufficient knowledge, but they also provide mutual, confidential discussions and games. In this way, these events not only help the school career of children with learning deficiencies but also contribute to the well-being essential for their further studies and employment. It occurs in such a way that the retired generation voluntarily utilise their practical experience, knowledge through keeping children occupied, while spending their lives actively.

The cooperation of the older and younger generations, which developed from the revitalisation plan of the socially and environmentally deteriorated town district, was included in the integrated town development strategy. The programme, realised in 2011-12, included revitalising the town environment and public utilities, creating indoor and outdoor community spaces and providing educational, social and employment programmes. The initial, occasional programmes started by pensioners in the segregated districts became permanent and were extended to all residents of the town, especially disadvantaged children. In the programme, the local family assistance service coordinated between civilians, who give helping hands, and the involved target groups, namely disadvantaged families and children. Due to its success, the “Idővár” Pensioner Culture Club has extended its activities: it organises casual events for disabled people; a multiple-round settlement knowledge and historical competition was organised for primary and secondary schoolchildren. In 2014, a so-called value-transfer programme was launched on topics that youngsters are interested in (e.g. partner selection, celebrations, volunteering) together with La Cosa Nostra Ensemble, a youth organisation for the 15- to 25-year-old residents of the town. It is important to note that the pensioner club is not a legally registered organisation, and its members work on a totally voluntary basis.

In the beginning, the family assistance service of the municipality worked with local NGOs while the community program in Herbolya district was being planned. They jointly shaped the services and programs of the community house. Later, the family assistance service and “Idővár” Club planned the daily, afterschool educational events together. The family assistance service recruits children with special needs to the events via its connections to families living in difficult conditions. Kids like attending the event, where in response to their needs, confidence-building discussions take place, games are played, and, later, children are helped to rectify their learning defects. The cooperation with youngsters, schools and local youth organisations is independent of the municipal organisation.

After the initial uncertainties, the events held in Herbolya district were visited by more and more residents (80 to 150 people per event). After completing the pilot project, four to five events were organised a year. The events did not need to be promoted as children became familiar with the programme. The regular afternoon events organised in the city centre were launched in 2013. In the beginning, there were only a few attendees, but the occasions became more and more popular: in 2016, 600 afterschool events were held, and about 25 children attended regularly. As a result of the events, the youngster’s personalities have developed, their self-confidence has improved, their mental problems have been dealt with, and their school performance has improved substantially. (The number of class repetition cases has decreased.) Many of the youths see the educators as their substitute grannies, who, by being role models and by being together have a substantial impact. Two to four teachers lead the afternoon programmes one to three days a week. The success of the program has inspired pensioners to cooperate with other youth organisations, such as La Cosa Nostra Youth Organisation, and to organise further value-sharing events.

This initiative addresses a real social problem and provides solutions for the elderly to spend their time actively and usefully while supporting disadvantaged youngsters and families. It all started with the coordination of the municipality, later followed by programmes jointly organised with other youth organisations through a self-organising process. The good practice gives an example for the municipality’s coordinating/intermediary role, for the ways how the older generations and youngsters can cooperate (playhouses, supplementary learning, value-transferring programmes for the young), and turning the positive process started in the civil society into a system. Beyond organising cooperation between generations, they also provide profitable information about how youngsters from the disadvantaged groups should be dealt with individually.

The city of Heraklion (EL) has developed a strategic plan that includes three pillars: Smart City, Resilient City and Cultural-Touristic City. The first, “Heraklion: Smart City”, encompasses a good practice developed by the Municipality of Heraklion in cooperation with the city's major stakeholders. Its purpose is to apply internationally recognised smart city practices to fully realise the potential of the city's assets while strengthening areas in which the city has traditionally been lacking. The exceptional element is that these smart city practices are being implemented on an interdisciplinary level. Major stakeholders are working together like never before to realise these goals, spanning interdepartmental gaps between institutions and services. Through this collaboration, effective and sustainable smart city initiatives have taken root bringing positive results and new opportunities - from extensive broadband networks to e-government services and support for volunteers and entrepreneurs.

Any changes within a city affect the individuals, organisations, communities and businesses that make up that city. It only makes sense, then, that all of these stakeholders be involved in the governance of the city. The solution that this smart city strategy has provided for Heraklion is a Smart City Committee formed in 2011, a first for Greece, which is chaired by the Municipality of Heraklion and has representation from many of the city’s major stakeholders. This committee has provided a framework within which stakeholders of all types (businesses, transportation organisations, citizen groups, public services and individual citizens) can formulate a common vision for the city and can also be involved in the decision-making processes. Projects of each individual stakeholder can then be aligned with this common vision, and can even overlap and be compatible with those of other stakeholders, increasing their value. Joint ventures between stakeholders will allow for larger and more ambitious endeavours that can benefit the city further. In a period of economic turmoil and financial austerity, such a strategy has proven to be all the more needed and its benefits are even more profoundly felt. Specific solutions that have resulted include information and communications technology infrastructure to promote citizen connectivity, volunteer and social inclusion initiatives, public forums that promote entrepreneurship and ambitious interdisciplinary and inter-stakeholder projects that promise to vastly improve the city.

Heraklion’s Smart City Strategy has built on the sustainable and integrated approach by providing the tools and the context for the integration that is necessary to sustainably deal with urban challenges. As a result of its strategy, according to a study by the European Parliament’s Directorate General for Internal Policies, “Mapping Smart Cities in the EU,” Heraklion has been deemed strong in the following three smart city axes: governance, economy and citizen participation. Within these three axes the integrated and sustainable approach that Heraklion has adopted allows it to flourish in this way. Practical examples include Heraklion’s participation in the Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the city’s Sustainable Urban Development Plan. The latter has been approved by the city council and has been ratified by the Regional Government of Crete as well. This is a project that has been granted over 14 million euros of European funding to provide for long-term sustainable urban design and development. Additionally, the enabling of participatory government has allowed challenges to be solved in an integrated fashion. Solutions have not been tailored only to the needs of a specific group of people, or only to maximise economic benefits or only to provide for a single social need. This holistic approach has allowed for solutions to positively affect all parties involved, from individual citizens, to businesses, to communities and to the city as a whole.

The adoption of a smart city strategy and a common vision required the participation of all related stakeholders. This first materialised in 2009 with the leadership role of Heraklion in the Icarus Network, a network of cooperation between municipalities of Crete and of the islands of the Aegean which developed the “Charter of Obligations of Municipal Authorities to Citizens in the Knowledge Society”. In 2011, the first Heraklion: Smart City Committee was formed and chaired by the Municipality of Heraklion with the representation of stakeholders including higher education and research institutes, transportation and business sector organisations. In 2015, the second Heraklion: Smart City Committee was convened with the backing of the City Council. This long-term committee has representation from the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH), the University of Crete, the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Crete, the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce, the Heraklion Urban Buses (KTEL) organisation, individual experts and delegates from all political groups represented in the City Council. The purpose of the committee is to facilitate the collective management of the city's strategic objectives as opposed to allowing the independent development and management of individual objectives of each institution. In this way, the committee is able to aid in capitalising on the benefits of a participatory approach to the development of smart city projects and initiatives.

The smart city strategy has made a noticeable difference. Some examples are: 1) Broadband infrastructure has reached 100% coverage. Private telcos have been given right-of-way to create their own fibre optic networks. The Municipal fibre optic network connects over 60 schools and many public services serving over 18,000 students and 5,500 public servants. Heraklion also boasts the nation’s largest municipal Wi-Fi network, which has been in continuous operation since 2008, 2) e-Government – Heraklion provides citizens with over 160 e-services via the municipality’s portal. It is ranked third among municipal portals in Greece according to alexa.com and second during the summer tourist season. There is a plethora of additional sites with which visitors can interact with the city including ruralheraklion.gr, heraklionculturalcity.gr and heraklionsculptures.gr, as well as a Heraklion City App, 3) The support of multiple volunteer groups has also been a result of the smart city initiative. The City Council has set up specific committees to support the participation of volunteers. These volunteer groups organise community outreach events that help the city especially in this time of financial austerity, 4) The Dimoskopio is a multidisciplinary organisation whose vision is to promote and support entrepreneurship and innovation to improve the economic climate of the city.

Heraklion is a medium-sized municipal area with an urban population of around 150,000 and a rural population of around 25,000 located geographically at the edge of the European Union. As a city, it is a vibrant tourist destination and boasts over 4,000 years of history and culture. It also has a strong specialised economy with its unique agricultural products. There are many cities in Europe that share a similar profile with that of Heraklion. This is why we believe that the Heraklion: Smart City Initiative would be very interesting for other European cities. Heraklion’s successes in this endeavour, especially in the strong points mentioned above, can become an example and a point of reference for similar cities. The experience that Heraklion has obtained through this endeavour has created a set of case studies and good practices that can be used by other cities to create or supplement their own Smart City Strategy. The appeal of participating in URBACT comes from the exchange of information and best practices that will mutually benefit all parties involved. Heraklion has weak points that require attention and a lot of work, and participation in URBACT will also give Heraklion the opportunity to benefit from the best practices of other cities. It is this very exchange of experiences between cities that make the presentation of these best practices interesting for all parties involved.