Two Countries; A Single People a Raia/La Raya

Knowing the meaning that people attribute to the places they inhabit is important to understand the choices and decisions that these same people make throughout a lifetime.

The concept of "place" is not neutral, referring to the relationship that is established between the person and the physical environment both the evocation of feelings of belonging and the establishment of the connection between the individual and his past, present and future (Ponzetti, 2003; Sime, 1986).

Iberian Civic Forum

A forum for dialogue and debate, a school of thought, a place of protest and a civic committee to monitor the commitments of the Summits.

Portuguese and Spanish organizations and citizens, based on an initiative of EL TRAPEZIO, have created the Iberian Civic Forum, a platform that declares their interest in strengthening relations between Spain and Portugal. In fact, the platform intends to follow up as a civic committee on the commitments of the Iberian Guard Summit that took place in this Portuguese city, and in which the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Portuguese prime minister, António Costa, will participate.

The Iberian Summit of Guarda presented a program that addressed the global projection of Iberia, its languages and its cross-border areas. In this context, the Iberian Civic Forum presents a manifesto in which it declares its support for "the Common Strategy for Cross-Border Development.

What is the role of P&DP Tours in the Raia/La Raya route

Implement the project

To receive tourists, the place necessarily needs tourist infrastructure, which enables the occurrence of tourism.

This tourism infrastructure is carried out through tourist equipment that allows the provision of services namely to travel agencies or operators, means of accommodation, local transport, gastronomic network, concert halls, stadiums. event spaces, etc.

Support equipment, medical-hospital network, car rental, souvenir trade, convenience stores, etc.

What is the role of SGM Consultores in the Raia/La Raya route

To receive tourists, the place necessarily needs tourist infrastructure, which enables the occurrence of Tur4al tourism and accessible to all

Our role is to check and certify that buildings, facilities, and services, both public and private. It consists of, for example, basic urban infrastructure, access infrastructure.

The aim is to provide background information on policies, legislation and standards

EU policies, legislation and standards to ensure accessibility

built for all citizens.

The rural elderly and the "connection to the land"

Rural populations in the border area face numerous unmet needs, such as the absence of social, health and transport services, they have obvious economic difficulties in accessing services and equipment far from their residential area, and migration from the rural world to urban areas has depopulated communities and driven away potential family caregivers. This often means that there is a double or triple burden on the condition of the elderly, that is, people live in sparsely populated areas with few resources, which are also sometimes associated with health problems, low income and loneliness. It is globally in this type of context that the elderly in the border interior of Portugal remain, sometimes left to themselves and/or to their spouses and partners of a lifetime, sometimes institutionalized. 

The figure of informal caregivers has no expression, because the generation of children is not present and the care between peers is mutual within the couple, reflecting the division of tasks practiced throughout life. The support of the neighbours is mainly instrumental and also exists following a habitual exchange that has extended over the years of coexistence and proximity. Formal care, translated by entering the Home for the Elderly, is generally only seen as a last resort, and institutionalization may not necessarily occur in the village home. In many cases, institutionalized elderly people opt for existing homes in the cities where their children live and work, ending up the home of the village by having many residents from neighboring villages, obeying a logic of filling the existing vacancies with those who "knock on the door" and not specifically with the inhabitants of the land.