More than two million Portuguese families live in the 81 municipalities which received this year’s green flag for having family-friendly policies awarded by the Observatory for the Family Friendly Municipalities (OAFR), promoted by the Portuguese Large Families Association.
Six of these municipalities have received the award for the 12th time: Angra do Heroísmo, Cantanhede, Torres Novas, Torres Vedras, Vila de Rei and Vila Real.
The districts with the highest number of awards were Coimbra (11), Lisbon (10); Santarém and Aveiro (8 municipalities each) and Braga (7). It´s important to highlight the entrance of the district of Viana do Castelo, with the “Family Friendly Municipality” distinction of the Monção municipality.
The districts of Bragança, Évora and Portalegre did not have the participation of any of it´s municipalities in this edition, which data reports to the year 2019.
In the future, the OAFR’s main objective is for all Portuguese municipalities to be recognized as ‘Family Friendly Municipality’. “But for now we would like all municipalities to be aware of the importance of implementing global, integrated and cross-cutting family policies. Policies capable of valuing the family and of ensuring families the full exercise of their responsibilities and competencies in order to prevent and support situations of risk and vulnerability. The final end is to contribute for having stronger and more resilient families”, highlights Isabel Paula Santos, head of The OAFR.
Having the Millennium bcp Foundation as Main Sponsor, the OAFR it’s the only portuguese Observatory that evaluates local policies with this scope: territorial coverage and assessed areas.
