City Exchange Programmecon't......
Main Goal
To help local communities involved in the City Exchange Programme, to improve their response to issues threatening the safety and quality of life of their citizens.
Specific Objectives
- Facilitate dialogue, stimulate the exchange of expertise and foster the sharing of know-how between participating cities;
- Encourage the sharing of ideas on diagnostic practices;
- Deepen participants’ understanding of the issues at stake;
- Improve assessment and intervention tools;
- Examine assessment practices;
- Identify stakeholders best positioned to participate in an integrated approach;
- Foster solidarity between participating cities.
Process
Each city sends a delegation to the other two cities to study four broad issues over the course of three years:
Year 1- Understanding of problems and their impact.
Year 2- Action undertaken to respond to these problems.
Year 3- Evaluation of actions undertaken and lessons learned from actions undertaken and from the exchange experience.
As mentioned above, the first working meeting between the three cities (Liège, Bordeaux and Montreal) took place on March 24-26, 2004 in Liège. Two pivotal speeches delivered at this meeting are included in this issue (see below). The first is the opening speech of Mr. Willy Demeyer, Burgmeister of the City of Liège, and the second is a speech given by Ms. Sophie Neuforge, Project Director, Drug Addiction Response Coordination Group, entitled “Implementation and Coordination of an Integrated Local Policy to Fight Drug-Related Nuisances and Insecurity – The Belgian Experience with the City of Liège”. Opening speech of Burgmeister Willy Demeyer (pdf)Intervention of Sophie Neuforge: The Belgian Experience with the City of Liège (pdf ) Information about the City of Liège (pdf only in French) | 
