Municipality of Tábua promotes equality and inclusion with one month of activities

Cinferences, awareness actions, a multicultural festival or the creation of a mural are some of the proposals of the program, today released, of the VII Table of Equality, initiative aimed at equality and inclusion, promoted by the city of Tábua.

The event promoted by that municipality in the interior of the district of Coimbra, which starts today and takes place until 25 November, International Day for the Eradication of Violence against Women, involves different publics and partnerships with various entities, and “it aims to raise awareness to the local community about the importance of promoting equality in the different spheres of society”, explained the municipality.

To the agency Lusa, António Oliveira, vice president of the Municipality of Tábua, highlighted the multiple activities that will take place over the next month – around issues such as equal opportunities, social inclusion, respect for diversity, human rights or the prevention of violence – with the aim of raising awareness to produce concrete actions.

The mayor explained that within the Local Council for Social Action (CLAS), to which he presides, “the wills of all partners and everyone compete with an event on non-discrimination and gender equality” have been aggregated in Tabua.

“ We go to schools with these teams, with awareness actions and games, we go to the IPSS [particular institutions of social solidarity], we already have a great impact on our community at this level”, said António Oliveira.

The importance of these initiatives, stressed, extends to the foreign population living in Tabua: “Although we are a municipality with only 11,500 inhabitants, of these, about 1,500 are foreigners of more than 30 nationalities,” he said.

“ We have a very large activity of this foreign community and it is important to know how to welcome them. Many are investors, already have their own business”, said the mayor, noting that the themes of gender equality and non-discrimination help Table to show up and assert itself as an inclusive council.

The 7th edition of the Equality Board – this year under the theme “From Consciousness to Action: Equality does not take place”, which is also the title of a seminar scheduled for November 12 – has one of its high moments today and Saturday, with a multicultural festival that celebrates cultural diversity through music, traditional games, crafts or gastronomy.

The festival includes the “Sabores do Mundo” initiative, in which visitors will be invited “to discover culinary traditions of Portugal, Cape Verde and Mexico”, also with vegetarian options available.

António Oliveira recalled that the municipality of Tábua was again awarded this year and for the fourth consecutive time, with the award “Live in Equality”, the biennial initiative of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (IGC), which recognizes municipalities with good practices in integrating these dimensions into their organization, operation and activities.