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Our social affairs forum works to strengthen the involvement of local authorities in the development and implementation of national and EU social policies, as well as promoting the exchange of knowledge between cities on tackling poverty and exclusion

Europe's cities are engines of growth and prosperity, but they are also the places where poverty and social exclusion hit hardest. The majority of the 80 million EU citizens touched by these challenges live in urban areas.

Cities must strive to be inclusive, helping the most vulnerable groups and individuals to participate fully in society, with access to healthcare, housing, education and employment. With reduced public finances this implies finding innovative and efficient solutions that respond to the new and emerging needs of people living in cities. Our members are committed to tackling the causes of social exclusion, eradicating all forms of discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

2013 priorities: 

• social inclusion in an age of austerity

• tackling deep-seated poverty and worklessness

• inclusion and employment of young people

Social innovation cuts across the work of the social affairs forum. Through our forum, our members explore innovative policy developments using peer reviews and mutual learning. Cities that work smartly by fostering cooperation between departments and across sectors are in the best position to achieve a socially cohesive Europe. Building on the momentum at the EU level to encourage employment and create a society that is open and accessible to all people while taking into consideration the impact of demographic change is something that is vital to everyone’s quality of life and happiness.

While these issues are at the forefront of the EU agenda, agreement on the EU budget 2014-2020 is ongoing. Our social affairs forum is striving for a strong urban dimension to this.

We believe that if cities are to play a strong role in helping the EU meet the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy in fields such as employment, social inclusion, education and migrant integration, they should have a strong role in shaping and implementing the corresponding funding programmes, such as the European Social Fund.

Our social affairs work is supported by our partnership with the European Commission, funded through the DG Employment’s PROGRESS programme. This partnership aims at fostering social inclusion on the ground by strengthening the role of cities in EU policy making and developing the capacity of our network.

This partnership provides us and our members with the financial resources needed to carry out mutual learning between cities, to keep member cities up to date on EU policy developments and to bring city representatives to Brussels to engage in political debates.