AIMF Standing Committee: towards a common definition of Living Together

The annual meeting of the AIMF's Standing Committee on Living Together allowed to pursue the efforts towards a common definition of Living Together.

The Standing Committee on Living Together had its annual meeting in the margins of the 2018 Convention of Francophone mayors (in french), which was held on 5 November 2018 in Lille, on the topic of "Sport and its values in the city". 

Commission AIMF

Mayors and political representatives from a dozen cities of the Francophonie participated in this meeting, which aimed to pursue the efforts to define a common vision of Living Together, based on the cities' experience.

The session was chaired by Mr. Pierre Lessard-Blais, representative of the Mayor of Montréal, Valérie Plante. This meeting provided an opportunity to present the results of a the study « Politiques et programmes sur le Vivre ensemble au sein des villes de la Francophonie : État des lieux » (in french), prepared by the Intercultural Relations Research Laboratory (LABRRI) of the Université de Montréal, in collaboration with several cities of the Committee.

This meeting allowed to hold a political discussion in order to develop a common understanding of the concept and practice of Living Together, based on the experiences of cities from all regions of the Francophonie. At the end of the session, the Committee adopted a common definition of Living Together for internal reference (see DEFINITION in French).

This process is another contribution to a series of urban diplomacy initiatives on the topic of Living Together. Following the last Sommet de la Francophonie, where States commited themselves to promote further this theme (see Appel francophone d’Erevan pour le Vivre ensemble- in french), this process reminds the contribution of cities to Living Together, both at the local and international level.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to present the activities of the Technical Group which was recently created in order to support the work of the Committee. By the way, as part of the Technical Group activities, in the margins of the Committee meeting, the City of Namur held a workshop about a local initiative.

In a more general way, the topic of Sport and Living together - and sport as a way to promote social cohesion and inclusion - was at the core of the discussions during the workshops and throughout the whole program of the Convention.

Commission AIMF

Commission AIMF

Ateliers du Bien Vivre Ensemble

Commission AIMF

About the AIMF's Standing Committee on Living Together

Created by the initiative of Montréal in 2016, this Committee is a space for thought and action, within the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF). It gathers around twenty cities, including: Abidjan, Bamako, Beirut, Brussels, Dakar, Douala, Drummondville, Geneva, Lausanne, Libreville, Liège (observer), Montréal (Chair), Namur, Ouagadougou (observer), Paris, Port-au-Prince, Porto-Novo, Québec (associate), Rabat, Strasburg, Thiès, Tunis. Within the Standing Committee, a "Technical Group" participates to the develpoment of collaboration activities. All these cities are members of the International Observatory of Mayors on Living Together.