Resilient cities, healthy people

25/08/2026

Active Ageing: Well-being, Social Participation and Quality of Life
On 26 June 2026, the final activity of the social initiative implemented within the European program EU4Health: Resilient Cities, Healthy People (ReCiHePe) took place at the Adult Social Hub of the Agios Dometios and Engomi Multifunctional Center.
The program’s researchers and coordinators, Mr Nicolas Antartis and Ms Margarita Vraka-Eleftheriadou, delivered a presentation entitled “Active Ageing: Well-being, Social Participation and Quality of Life in Older Age,” connecting the theoretical framework of active ageing with the activities implemented throughout the year.
Participants learned about the main pillars of active ageing and discussed practical ways to strengthen older people’s autonomy, self-determination, social participation, and quality of life.
The meeting also included a review of the activities carried out from May 2025 to June 2026, covering health education, recreation, physical activity, art, culture, and social participation. Through shared experiences and peer support, the group was empowered and equipped with useful tools to continue similar activities within the Center and across the wider community.
The meeting concluded with participants sharing words and feelings that captured their experience:
“We lived it,” “joy,” “happiness,” “friendship,” “togetherness,” “companionship,” and “peer support.”
The activity was carried out as part of the European program EU4Health: Resilient Cities, Healthy People (ReCiHePe), coordinated by the University of Nicosia and implemented at the Agios Dometios Multifunctional Center.

14/08/2026

Connecting with the Roots of Nicosia
Educational and Social Visit to the Leventis Municipal Museum
On 10 June 2026, members of the Adult Hub of the Agios Dometios and Engomi Multifunctional Center participated in an educational and social excursion to the old city of Nicosia.
The activity included a visit to the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, a pilgrimage to the Church of Archangel Michael Trypiotis, and a walk through the historic streets of the old walled city.
Through the Museum’s exhibits, participants explored important periods in Nicosia’s history, gained new knowledge, and recalled personal experiences and memories from their youth.
The activity promoted social interaction, communication, and mental well-being, while helping to reduce feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Connecting with the city’s cultural and religious heritage also strengthened the participants’ sense of belonging and their connection with their history and roots.
The activity was carried out as part of the European program EU4Health: Resilient Cities, Healthy People (ReCiHePe), coordinated by the University of Nicosia and implemented at the Agios Dometios Multifunctional Center.

05/08/2026

PRESS RELEASE: ReCiHePe Marks Two Years of Community-Led Action for Mental Health, Inclusion and Resilient Communities

In Cyprus, older adults are taking an increasingly active role in planning and delivering activities through the Agios Dometios Social Hub. The University of Nicosia is participating as a partner, implementing the social initiatives at the Agios Dometios Social Hub.

31/07/2026

What does it mean to build a peer support practice where almost no such practice exists yet?

This was one of the questions we explored during our latest peer supporters’ reflection and support meeting in Cluj, Romania.

For the peer supporters trained in Organizația Minte Forte, the conversation went beyond reflecting on their experiences so far. We looked ahead: at how we can build a foundation for Intentional Peer Support (IPS) in Romania, make it more visible within our communities, support one another, and use the final year of the project to create opportunities for the practice to continue beyond the project itself.

Our group is diverse, with different experiences, strengths and ways of contributing. Some participants imagined what peer support could become if it grew across communities. Others took a more reflective approach, exploring what it means to inhabit the role of a peer supporter and what they can genuinely offer. Others brought practical ideas: potential partners, resources and concrete actions that could help move the practice forward.

What we shared was a strong sense of commitment to building something that can last: not simply implementing peer support as a project activity, but creating the conditions for it to become a meaningful resource within communities in Romania.

The foundation is still being built. And we are discovering together what it might grow into.

22/07/2026

One of the clearest signs that a community initiative is making an impact is when people keep coming back and even start asking when the next gathering will happen.

This has been happening with Latino Movement - Connecting Cultures , one of the community initiatives developed in Romania under the guidance of our partners, Organizația Minte Forte.

Over the past months, the initiative has created regular opportunities for Latin Americans living in Cluj to meet, celebrate their cultures, and build meaningful connections. Recently, community members came together to celebrate Colombia's upcoming Independence Day, watched the FIFA Club World Cup Final together, and participated in Culturefy by Ethnicity, one of the events organized during the Days of Cluj celebrations, sharing their music, dances, traditions, and roots with the wider community.

Joyce, the initiative's leader, shared:

"The important thing is that we keep meeting. People are always asking when the next activity will be. These moments bring us together. We haven't always agreed on everything, but since we've started doing things together, we've become much more united."

For people living far from home, these gatherings are about much more than celebrating culture. They reduce isolation, strengthen relationships, and create a sense of belonging, both within the Latin American community and in the city they now call home.

We are proud to see Latino Movement continue to grow, creating spaces where people can connect, support one another, and feel that their cultures are seen, valued, and celebrated.

15/07/2026

When Organizația Minte Forte first joined Resilient cities, healthy people, we weren't only introducing a new activity in Romania. We were introducing a new way of thinking about support.

In Romania, support is usually understood in two ways: informal (family and friends) or professional (psychologists, therapists, social workers). There is no tradition of Intentional Peer Support - a relationship that is neither friendship nor therapy, but a mutual, intentional space where people use lived experience to learn from one another.

That also makes implementation challenging. Before people can experience peer support, they first need to imagine that such a relationship is possible.

Over the past months, the team at Minte Forte has been working alongside older adults, Ukrainian refugees, and members of the Latin American community to introduce this approach locally. Together, we've trained peer supporters, created opportunities to practice these skills, and supported them as they began bringing peer support into their own communities.

We still have a long way to go and many obstacles to overcome, but we are hopeful that what once felt unfamiliar will gradually become part of how people connect, listen, and support one another.

08/07/2026

Training peer supporters is only the beginning.

In Romania, Organizația Minte Forte has been following the journeys of six people who completed the Intentional Peer Support training through Resilient Cities, Healthy People. Since then, they have brought what they learned into their own communities in different ways.

An older adult now facilitates peer support groups for fellow seniors, while the other one is just getting started with individual support. Members of the Latin American community have expanded Latino Movement, creating spaces for connection and belonging. Peer supporters from the Ukrainian community continue to accompany people through conversation, group activities, and everyday support. Along the way, they also meet regularly for mentoring, co-reflection, and simply spending time together, because those who support others need spaces of support as well.

These stories remind us that peer support is not simply a method. It grows through relationships, trust, and the courage to discover that our own experiences can become meaningful resources for others.

This is how the legacy of the project continues: one conversation, one relationship, and one community at a time.

26/06/2026

🔄 Throwback to our Intentional Peer Support Training in Athens, Greece! 🇬🇷
Back in March, 20 new Peer Supporters completed their Intentional Peer Support (IPS) training and have already started offering their services in their respective Social Hubs across Europe.
Through IPS, Peer Supporters build meaningful relationships based on mutual learning, hope, and connection, guided by three core principles:
🤝 From Helping to Learning Together
💙 From Individual to Relationship
🌱 From Fear to Hope and Possibility
Their practice is supported by four key tasks:
✨ Connection
👁️ Worldview
🔄 Mutuality
🚶 Moving Towards
We are proud to see our trained Peer Supporters putting these principles into practice and strengthening their local communities every day.

12/06/2026

Yesterday, Peer Supporters from Social Hubs, Cities, and Countries gathered for a Co-Reflection meeting! It was a real joy to reconnect, exchange experiences, reflect on challenges, and explore new ideas together. Spaces like these strengthen our sense of belonging to a wider community, inspire collaboration, and boost our motivation to keep moving forward together. 💙

05/06/2026

"But he didn't hit you, did he?"
Trigger Warning: domestic abuse, coercive control
One of the conversations that comes up time and time again among the members of the Survivor Women's Social Initiative—our peer support group for women with lived experience of abuse—is just how difficult it can be to recognize, explain, and be believed when the abuse leaves no visible scars.

Coercive control, emotional abuse, intimidation, isolation, financial control, gaslighting. These experiences can profoundly shape a woman's life, yet they are often minimized or dismissed because they do not fit common assumptions about what abuse "looks like".

Many women speak about the relief of discovering that what they experienced has a name. Of hearing others describe situations that felt uncannily familiar. Of realizing they are not "too sensitive", "overreacting", or imagining things—as they may have been told for years.
This is the power of peer support. Shared experience helps transform confusion into understanding, self-doubt into validation, and isolation into connection. It reminds women that they are not alone, and that their experiences matter.
These same dynamics can also find their way into family courtrooms, where coercive control and other non-physical forms of abuse are often far more difficult to identify and evidence than visible acts of violence.
The Guardian article "But he didn't hit you, did he? Inside the coercive control courtroom" offers a powerful insight into this often-overlooked reality.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/23/but-he-didnt-hit-you-did-he-inside-the-coercive-control-courtroom?utm_source=chatgpt.com

At first, Victor love-bombed Anna. By the end, he’d rigged a doorbell camera to track her. Coercive and controlling behaviour has been a crime since 2015, but few cases get to court. What happens when they do?