For the fifth consecutive year, the City of Montpellier, its Metropolis, its CCAS (Municipal Centre for Social Action), and the Occitanie Region are welcoming 80 children from Lviv, Odesa and Mykolaiv for a summer respite stay on the Mediterranean coast in La Grande-Motte. Among them are ten children from vulnerable groups in Mykolaiv, Montpellier’s partner city, who will spend a few weeks away from the air raid alerts and shelling that have become part of their daily lives.
This initiative is part of the growing cooperation between Montpellier and Mykolaiv, developed with the support of the MistoMatch programme. After the first solidarity actions, the two cities are now working on urban development, planning and infrastructure projects — including the planned creation of a skatepark inspired by the Montpellier model, and the organisation of an urban sports festival based on the FISE model in Mykolaiv, to boost the city’s attractiveness and promote its youth.
This respite stay demonstrates what long-term partnerships between local authorities can achieve: tangible support for residents, the exchange of expertise, and projects that help build the future.
