The Valea Jiului Development Society Project was
announced as the winner of the sixth edition of the
Transformative Action Award at a ceremony hosted by
the European Committee of the Regions. The Romanian
civil society coalition’s transformative action
focuses on spearheading systemic change in the Jiu
Valley, a former mining region, by strengthening
local civil society, promoting sustainable
development, fostering collaboration, and
encouraging equitable investments.
The initiative was selected by the jury for its
potential to catalyse a socio-cultural, socio-economic,
and technological transformation within its community
and for its efforts to advance the local implementation
of the European Green Deal. Alongside a trophy and the
title of “Transformative Action of the Year 2022,”
Valea Jiului also receives €10,000 to help support
further actions.
On behalf of the Valea Jiului Society, President Adina Vințan expresses the
organisation’s excitement on winning the award:
“It’s just awesome that we are among the finalists
and now we are the winner! I want to congratulate
you for having this initiative because I think that
the local actors have to be supported. It’s amazing
for us. We want to continue with what we did in Jiu
Valley. We are lucky because we could find involved
people that still trust in the future of the Jiu
Valley. We want to work to have a better quality of
life and to show everybody that the Jiu Valley is
the most wonderful place on earth.”
Valea Jiului
is a civil society coalition of 21 local NGOs active in
the Jiu Valley and was launched in 2019. The ‘Engaged
Jiu Valley’ is a co-designed and co-implemented action
involving civil society and citizens in the development
of public policies and collaboration across levels.
Examples of the coalition’s work include: a signed
protocol with six mayors, the local University, private
sector stakeholders, a mining company and more
promoting the Valley as an investment destination; the
reconversion of the Petrila Coal Mine into an
administrative, economic and cultural centre, where
community events for all ages such as a showing of the
Planeta Petrila documentary and a Robotics Valley
festival take place; hand-painted murals on the
Petroșani University Campus and former Petrila &
Aninoasa Mines, and more.
Kata Tüttő,
Deputy Mayor of Budapest and Vice Chair of the
Commission for Environment, Climate change and Energy
of the Committee of the Regions and Transformative
Action Award Jury Member, emphasises the importance of
community action for a greener future:
“Solutions are urgently needed to make our
communities more sustainable and resilient. The
(Valea Jiului) project clearly shows a successful
engagement between local community actors working
in synergy to ensure a green future for the region.
We value enormously the effort that a former coal
region is making to achieve the necessary systemic
change, protecting nature through a just
transition.”
Thomas Kastrup-Larsen,
Mayor of Aalborg (Denmark) and Transformative Action
Award Jury Member, underlines the fundamental role of
local actors in furthering the European Green Deal: “
Local governments and organisations play a big role
in advancing the implementation of the European
Green Deal, as it is at a local level that the
transition will need to take place. It is also at
the local level that we are able to involve
citizens and key stakeholders, creating local green
deals, which is absolutely necessary in order to
achieve a successful implementation. Therefore, it
makes me very optimistic about the difficult road
ahead when I look at this year’s finalists and
winner. They all take a very holistic and inclusive
approach to the challenges they are faced with,
knowing that the solutions are based on a strong
sense of community. It is very inspiring, and I
cannot thank them enough for sharing it with all of
us.”
Alongside Valea Jiului, two cities were nominated for
the Award: the
city of Łódź,
Poland for its City Development Strategy, which frames
the third largest Polish city as a ‘living organism’
and aims to improve quality of life, and the
Municipality of
Caldes de Montbui,
Spain for its local energy community that prioritises
the reduction of Co2 emissions, the use of photovoltaic
energy, and the involvement of citizens in co-designing
a new model for energy efficiency and independence.
All of this year’s finalists impressed the jury with
their transformative actions and desire to build a
better Europe, however, Valea Jiului stood out for
reasons that Hakan Lucius, Head of
Corporate Responsibility, European Investment Bank, and
Transformative Action Award Jury Member, makes clear: “
Congratulations to the civil society coalition “The
Engaged Jiu Valley”. This inspiring project
reinventing the former largest coal mining area in
Romania illustrates that the collaboration of key
stakeholders can successfully shape a green,
inclusive, innovative, and sustainable future.”
Background:
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR)
supports the Transformative Action Award as part of
Green Deal Going Local,
the CoR’s flagship initiative to place cities and
regions at the heart of the Eu’s transition towards
climate-neutrality.
ICLEI Europe: ICLEI – Local Governments for
Sustainability
is a global network of more than 2,500 local and
regional governments committed to sustainable urban
development. Active in 125+ countries, we influence
sustainability policy and drive local action for low
emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient, and
circular development. Our members and team of experts
work together through peer exchange, partnerships, and
capacity building to create systemic change for urban
sustainability.
An information hub for local and regional governments, civil society organisations, and more, the European Sustainable Cities Platform focuses on collecting and sharing information, best practices, resources, and events that advance the local implementation of the European Green Deal and support sustainable urban transformations across Europe.
The platform includes the Transformative Actions Database, which presents existing transformative actions as good practice.
The European Sustainable Cities Platform was launched in 2016, following the 8th European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns in the Basque Country. The platform is supported by the City of Aalborg, Denmark and ICLEI Europe.
The photos of the Transformative Action Award ceremony can be found and downloaded in the CoR's Flickr account.
Contact:
Schuyler Cowan
Tel. +49761368920
schuyler.cowan@iclei.org
Alejandro Maya Toro
Tel. +32470353730
alejandro.mayatoro@cor.europa.eu