The 4 associated cities of the LASERMed project participated in a visiting study in Barcelona between the 29th of November and the 1st of December. This visit was aimed to strengthen the capacities and promote the exchange of knowledge between local public administrations about local economic promotion and employment policies, with particular attention to the support of vulnerable groups and the promotion of green jobs.

In this line, the LASERMed teams of Oujda (Morocco), Sousse (Tunisia), Zgharta-Ehden (Lebanon) and As Salt (Jordan) spent 3 days in Barcelona and met with the Province of Barcelona (DIBA), El Prat del Llobregat and Mataró municipal services of economic development and labor market. 

On the first day, staff members of the departments of the labor market, economic development, employment support, and international cooperation of the Province of Barcelona received the LASERMed delegation. They presented how the Province of Barcelona works with the municipalities to support their local labor market and economic promotion services and initiatives. 

The second day of the mission brought the LASERMed participants to El Prat del Llobregat. They visited the local Economic Promotion Centre and met with the teams behind two Small Scale Entreprises (SSE) initiatives supported by the municipality. In addition, they met with people involved in SSE projects at different stages to talk about the opportunities and challenges of their work.

Finally, on the third day in Mataró, they met the Municipal Employment Service on one hand and visited the Integrated Waste Management Centre of Maresme. The LASERMed participants learned about how the waste management system of the area has reduced its CO2 impact, while they could see the recycling and valorization process of waste materials in the making.

On the last day, an evaluation session took place among the LASERMed participants, and the feedback stressed the relevance of the content. In fact, the agenda of the mission was the result of the pilot projects that each city wants to develop locally. Moreover, the selected experiences enable peer-to-peer learning about concrete field initiatives introducing the policy’s different phases, from identification and implementation to evaluation and analysis results. Besides, it was an excellent opportunity to strengthen relations between Mediterranean municipalities and local administrations and build bridges to future cooperation by identifying common interests and needs. The four local LASERMed teams are currently implementing their respective pilot projects up until the month of March 2023.