How can international cooperation and mutual understanding be fostered in challenging political and diplomatic times? How can people from different countries be connected in order to build a basis for strong and durable international relations?

With increasing urbanization, cities and urban spaces are assuming greater importance in this context: they must find local and sustainable solutions to the global challenges of the 21st century and actively involve their citizens.

The town twinning partnerships are a motor in shaping an international cultural and educational dialogue. Adult education institutions are key actors in engaging citizens and civil society. As independent intercultural places of learning and encounter, they contribute to a lived social exchange and to a so-called “Foreign Policy of Societies” – a foreign policy that does not exclusively take place at the highest levels of government, but a policy that involves broad sections of the population in its activities, citizen diplomacy.