This year, the 11th edition of the municipalities survey promoted by the Observatory for the Family Friendly Municipalities, an initiative of the Portuguese Large Families Association (APFN), distinguished 77 municipalities as being “family-friendly”.
Across the country, Portuguese municipalities were distinguished for their good practices regarding family policies.
The district of Coimbra was awarded 12 green flags for family policies in its municipalities, while Lisbon and Santarém were second with 8 distinctions, each. Aveiro and Braga attained 7 flags, each.
The evaluated policies included, on one hand, those directed to county residents, in several areas such as parenthood, families with special needs, education and professional qualification, housing and urbanism, amongst others. On the other hand, policies targeting the city council workers, namely those contributing to a healthy balance between family and professional life.
APFN is happy that the number of awards increased from 70 to 77 (around 25% of all Portuguese municipalities) in the last year, reflecting an increased awareness of local politicians to these matters, and hopes that these good practices will soon spread throughout the country.
Having the Millennium BCP Foundation as the major patron, the Observatory for the Family Friendly Municipalities, is one of the few Portuguese entities that analyses local policies with this extent in terms of territorial coverage and policies scope.
