Looking back to look forward
As we start off into 2025, we are doing the final wrap-up for our mid-term reflection, a process we carried out during late autumn 2024. This was an open process with all project partners, looking at our experience so far, what is working well and anything that we want to change or add to the network.
Happily, this process showed a network that is functioning very well, with positive reports from PPs about improved knowledge on the digital divide, good support from the Lead Partner and Lead Expert team, and positive views about the opportunities for this coming year. The process highlighted that that we achieved a lot already in 2024 and have laid strong foundations for some really exciting developments in the next 12 months. It sounds like empty rhetoric that any LE would say about their network – but for me, it is really notable how well this network functions as a partnership and the level of opportunities there are for local progress and network level insight into digital inclusion in cities.
Our highlights for 2024 included three in-person transnational meetings hosted by three different project partners – Torres-Vedras (PT), Jelgava Local Municipality (LV) and Iasi, (RO). These were crucial times to make best use of the opportunity of being together in one place for intensive days of work and exchange.
The positive views from partners on the effectiveness of these meetings saw us revise our plan for 2025 to include an additional transnational meeting this coming April. This will hosted by our partner Lepida, in the city of Bologna, and will focus exclusively on good practices and exchange on thematic topics, enabling a real deep dive into the latest ideas and projects at a crucial time in the project, with the distraction of budgets, frameworks and project management matters. We will also continue to use online meetings smartly, scheduling these at suitable points around our in-person meetings, to cover the things that work in online format, leaving space in our in-person agenda for the things where it really makes a difference being in-person.
