WLO has recently launched a news call for applications to become a World Leisure Community of Excellence. The designation World Leisure Community of Excellence is bestowed for a three-year period upon communities that have successfully used leisure in its widest forms to reinvent themselves and to improve the economic, social and cultural lives of their citizens, and that have made substantive contributions consistent with advancing the mission of WLO.
Last July, the City of Richmond (Canada) was designated as a WL Community of Excellence for the year 2017. Since that moment, Richmond has benefited from several opportunities to present itself and its successful use of leisure to improve its citizens´ quality of life. Firstly, Elizabeth Ayers, Professor Manager, Community Services, Planning & Projects at the City of Richmond, presented Richmond’s case study to an international audience in the Third World Leisure Forum “Leisure: Better Life” that happened in Hangzhou (China) the 20-21 October.
Secondly, Richmond received the visit in October of a group of graduate students from Vancouver Island University (VIU), a WL Center of Excellence. NHTV Breda University, which is also part of the network of WL Centers of Excellence, will visit Canada on a fieldtrip with students from the program International Leisure Management in November 2017. During this tour, the students will visit Richmond, to learn about this city and its operational excellence in leisure practices. NHTV Breda University students will also visit VIU, to meet their students and professors. These visits are not only one example of valuable connections between the various programs of WLO, but they also represent a major opportunity for Richmond, as a WL Community of Excellence, to present itself to future leading professionals in the field of leisure.
Jingde County in China was also designated as a WL Community of Excellence last October. We invite communities from all over the globe to join Richmond and Jingde and start benefit from the showcasing and networking opportunities offered by the WL Communities of Excellence program.
Deadline for application is the 31 January 2018, but Notices of Intent are highly encouraged before the 1 December 2017.
Read the terms of references and check other key dates here.
Photo credit: City of Richmond, 2017 WL Communtiy of Excellence.
