Yesterday evening Formentera’s coalition of local associations —the Consell d’Entitats, or CDE— held a constituent assembly setting in motion the 2019-2023 legislative term. Consell de Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer highlighted “the entire governing team’s intention to boost civic participation”, insisting their scope extends to include “more than just local associations, but islanders of all stripes, and particularly young people”.

President Ferrer delegated CDE chairing functions to Vanessa Parellada, who heads Formentera’s office for citizen participation. The head of the local chapter of Asociación Española contra el Cáncer, Pepita Gabaldar, was appointed the CDE’s vice chair.

Crowdsourcing proposals
Consellera Parellada gave updates on the progress of sponsored projects under the CDE’s “participatory spending” initiative launched in 2016. Looking ahead to 2020, Parellada said €325,000 had already been set aside for projects in the initiative, and from Friday 22 November through the end of January, the CDE is accepting proposals from local associations. “Submissions are reviewed and a preliminary selection of feasible projects made in February”, explained Parellada, who said the next step would involve “proposals being presented to the CDE, whose member groups will in turn decide which initiatives will get funding in 2020”.

New communication channels
Meeting attendees also heard proposals about new ways to communicate with islanders. “Emails aren’t going anywhere”, said Parellada, but to make sure information gets to the CDE’s member groups quickly, additional channels of communication, like group text messaging, will be used — a change that was agreed by the whole CDE.
 
Member groups also reviewed the proposed formation of the CDE’s “Sectoral Sections” (Seccions Sectorials) for the 2019-2023 term. The sections were appended to include two new categories which the consellera called “hugely significant on account of their transversality”: mobility and equality. Representatives of the island’s audiovisual operations entity were named at the gathering as well. The CDE is the highest level, and only, body existing to promote coordination between the different associations of Formentera.

22 November 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

At 8.00pm this evening, March 13, members of the Consell d'Entitats, the island's coalition of community leaders, congregated for a special session to discuss questions which might have emerged following the group's last gathering. When members last met on Wednesday, March 6, they saw the unveiling of the proposed plan to manage entry, circulation and parking of vehicles on the island. The initiative is an outgrowth of legislation for Formentera's environmental and financial sustainability.

Mobility councillor Rafael González gave an overview of the proposed plan and answered questions from attendees. Put to a vote afterwards, the measure won the support of the Consell d'Entitats. The proposal will be voted on when council members gather for their full March assembly. Pending approval, an educational campaign will be implemented in early April with an online portal to follow later in the month, the goal being to carry out regulation between July 1 and August 31.

Formentera Council
Àrea de Comunicació
March 13, 2019

The Consell d'Entitats, the island's league of associations, held its regular meeting yesterday evening at 8.00pm in the conference room of the CiF, next to the Centre de Dia. Among the items on the day's agenda was the third round of pressupostos participatius, or “participatory spending”, to involve islanders in decisions about which projects receive money from the administration.

Citizen participation councillor Sònia Cardona presented the results of the projects that were voted on by the 34 participating groups. The Council had set aside €325,000 to fund the five top projects and the first phase of the sixth on the list.

Projects
The following projects were selected, in this order:
1. Safety improvements at pedestrian crossings. Involves setting up sustainable lighting at crosswalks. With an estimated €40,000 price tag, this project was suggested by residents of es Caló.

2. Water fountains at local schools. Proposes putting a drinking fountain in each school so pupils can have access to water without having to use plastic bottles or drink processed refreshments. The AVIF-proposed initiative has an estimated cost of €10,000.

3. Improvements at la Savina children's park. Entails upgrading the gates around the park so toddlers at play can't get out without help from an adult. Upgrades to the rubber flooring and lighting are also planned, as well as switching out the pétanque area for a specialised area of park users' choosing. This improvements proposal was put forward by la Savina's neighbourhood association and would cost an estimated €50,000.

4. Youth leisure options
The initiative proposes specific measures, included in the island's strategic action plan for youth, to promote leisure. The APNEEF's proposal has an estimated €75,000 price tag.

5. Road closure and traffic redirecting to allow for unification of two Mestre Lluís Andreu schools
Envisions enlisting two metal gates at either end of the school to block vehicle traffic and link the two distinct areas. Mestre Lluís Andreu's parents' association came up with the proposal, which has been allocated €25,840.

6. Dustbins with separate recycling in towns
Only the first phase of this project will be programmed because its full implementation would push total spending into the red zone. This €175,000 project was proposed by es Caló's neighbourhood association and will receive any money left over after the first five are budgeted for.

Councillor Cardona drew attention to the diversity of groups behind the projects ultimately selected, pointing to “neighbourhood groups, parents' associations, groups working for social change”. She also highlighted the fact that this time around, the winning projects were those with smaller price tags. “These are initiatives that are important for a broad range of islanders”, she said, while declaring that the priorities—environment, youth, education and road safety—“are ones we can be proud of”.

Lastly, tax office councillor Bartomeu Escandell gave attendees a first-hand look at the projects on the horizon during the year ahead by unveiling the Formentera Council's 2019 budget.

The Formentera Council held a town hall-style gathering Wednesday evening for the presentation and review of participatory budgeting for 2018.

Chaired by two CiF secretaries—Sònia Cardona, of citizen participation, and Rafael González, of the infrastructure and mobility departments— the session got started with a progress report on participatory budgeting projects from last year.

Of the 2017 initiatives, the planned children's park in Sant Ferran is on track for completion in summer of next year, while plans to equip the town with a fitness circuit are facing delays due to multiple land transfers required to move forward. Work will continue on both projects, which will be rolled over into the 2019 budget.

The ensuing presentation featured a round-up of the 26 initiatives from last spring, most of which fell into the categories of sport (30%), youth and social services (30%) and environment (21%).

The various projects, brought last year by roughly a dozen local groups, included road improvements in Es Caló and on the stretch of road connecting Sant Ferran and Es Pujols; a skate park in Sant Francesc; water fountains in public schools; a climbing wall in the Marc Ferrer high school's sports structure; a children's park in La Mola; wastebins equipped for recycling; crosswalks with enhanced safety features; and a unification —by installing metal gates to block vehicle traffic—of the distinct buildings of Mestre Lluís Andreu primary school.

Projects considered viable (approximately half of all those presented) will be passed along to the Consell d'Entitats, or Council of Entities, for review and ranking. Member groups have until December 10 to vote on projects and decide which make the final cut.