IFFD joined European leaders in Belluno to present the Venice Declaration, which the city signed this year.
Belluno, Italy, 24 September 2026 — José Alejandro Vázquez, Director of International Relations of the International Federation for Family Development (IFFD), took part by live stream in the international conference “Designing Tomorrow’s Europe”, hosted by Mayor Oscar De Pellegrin. The event, organised within the ELISAN network, brought together mayors, regional ministers, EU officials and experts on social cohesion and demographic change.
Belluno joins the Venice Declaration
Belluno became a signatory of the Venice Declaration in 2026, joining at the Valencia meeting in June alongside the Comunidad de Madrid, Cervarese, Cava Costa d’Amalfi and the Unione dei Comuni Valle del Savio. Launched in 2017 by the Veneto Region and IFFD, the Declaration commits cities and regions to family-friendly policies, with annual reports that reach the United Nations.
Belluno’s House of Abilities, which supports people with disabilities and their families in a mountain area facing depopulation, was among the record 49 good practices from 6 countries presented in Valencia.
Local action, global agenda
Speaking from New York, where the UN General Assembly had just marked 40 years of the Declaration on the Right to Development, Vázquez said that call to action “is answered in our cities, our regions and our neighbourhoods.” Marking the International Year of Volunteers, he added that local implementation “very often has a human face: the face of a volunteer.”
He invited more regions and cities to sign the Venice Declaration, report on it and learn from one another. Signatories’ practices feed the Annual Monitoring Report, presented at UN Headquarters on World Cities Day, 31 October.
