The Bezirk of Lower Franconia

The Bezirk of Lower Franconia is a local authority. It has the right and the duty to regulate, within the scope of the laws, local tasks that go beyond the competences of the Landkreise and kreisfreie Städte and that are limited to the area of Lower Franconia. As the third municipal level, the Bezirk of Lower Franconia creates public facilities for the social, economic and cultural well-being of the citizens of Lower-Franconia. Duties of the Bezirk of Lower Franconia: - Social security (supra-local welfare, integration of handicapped people and of people with mental diseases etc) - Mental and neurological care (hospitals) - Preservation of culture - Patronage and funding of culture, cultural inheritance, youth, tourism - Promotion and counselling within the regional twinning of Lower Franconia and the French Departement of Calvados. The Bezirk’s administration employs more than 350 people, the whole Bezirk more than 3600 people in various institutions, such as doctors, nursing staff, teachers, administrative staff, craftsmen. It therefore is one of the largest employers in Lower Franconia. Target groups are all the people living in Lower Franconia. Duties of the twinning office of the Bezirk: - Funding, counselling and connecting more than 90 towns and villages with twins in France via regular newsletters, events, organisation of meetings for active collaborators in twinning relations, networking, creating publications such as Frankreich-Forum-Unterfranken and Bonjour Unterfranken as well as offering a platform for local municipalities and their twins. - Counselling of communities, cities, associations, schools and institutions who already have a French partner or are looking for a French partner. Initiation of citizen exchange within the scope of the regional twinning of Lower Franconia and Calvados - Organisation of conferences and seminars for people who are active within the German-French exchange - Promotion of French as a foreign language (competitions, seminars for teachers) and promotion of French and French culture in kindergartens, schools and universities - Promotion of German-French youth exchange (e.g. internship program, German-French youth mediacamp) in cooperation with the Youth Council of Lower Franconia - Contact for young people wanting to travel to France or do an internship in the Calvados - Promotion of German-French cultural exchange (exhibitions, music, competitions…) - Coordination of the French participation at the Mainfranken Messe (« exhibition of Lower Franconia ») that takes place every two years. From 2021 on, gradual opening towards offering the support mentioned in point 1 and 2 for connections between Lower-Franconian municipalities and municipalities of every member state of the European Union.