The Municipality of Mirabella Imbaccari is designing the Local Action Plan and on the strategies to activate a widespread civic participation that are part of the GRAPE project, co-financed by the EU Commission.

A first step is to identify the area’s priorities, such as the promotion of local culture, the efficient and sustainable consumption of resources and the development of a healthy and ecologically sustainable agri-food system and match them with the necessary actions for the establishment of a renewable and solidarity-based energy community (CER) and the promotion of slow and sustainable forms of tourism.

With citizens and potential stakeholders

The Mirabella Municipality, together with the Me.S.S.In.A. Foundation, is developing activities to involve citizens and potential stakeholders in the development of specific actions. Various tools have been adopted: one of these consists in the organisation of events open to the entire population, during which experts introduce and explain topics related to ecological transition, which are then discussed collectively. A first public seminar, “Environmental and Social Transition in Mirabella”, was held on April the 11th. Participants included Giacomo Pinaffo, Secretary General of the Me.S.S.I.n.A Foundation, Giovanni Ferro, Mayor of Mirabella Imbaccari, and Luigi Martignetti, Secretary General of REVES (European Network of Cities and Regions for the Social Economy), together with representatives of research centres and technology companies.

Another initiative consists in the publication of a call for expressions of interest to identify subjects interested in setting up a CER. This notice was published by the Mirabella Municipality on April the 17th.

A further tool is represented by the survey questionnaires addressed to two different groups: the local entrepreneurs and the local population. The survey was diversified to take into account the needs of people who live and act in the area in different ways. The questionnaires are designed to involve the whole community, from teenagers to the elderly, with dissemination methods suitable for everyone, from paper format to google-form and QR code.

The involvement of social economy

An important aspect to draft a Local Action Plan also concerns the involvement of the social economy, promoted by the Me.S.S.In.A. Foundation, and its collaboration with the Municipality of Mirabella Imbaccari.

The collaboration between the Municipality and the Me.S.S.In.A. Foundation was formalised with the Framework Agreement “Palazzo Biscari, Bene Comune” for the valorisation of the aristocratic palace in Mirabella, property of the Foundation as a “Park of Knowledge”, in order to make it a hub for the conception, sharing and implementation of programmes for sustainable local development.

In this context, the Foundation is also activating a partnership with schools in the Calatino area that have adhered to its capacity building and territory development policy.

Further information meetings for the population are planned in the coming weeks and months. One example is the seminar that will be held by the Me.S.S.In.A Foundation during the “Sicilia Gourmet” event in Palazzo Biscari, from the 19th to the 21st of May. On this occasion, the possibilities of the circular economy will be discussed, involving local producers and external experts. Furthermore, the results of the questionnaires currently being distributed will be shared in the future, in order to discuss together with the community on a shared vision of territorial sustainability.