ALDA coordinates 15 Local Democracy Agencies (LDAs) in their activities. Indeed, the Association has been funded by the Council of Europe in the 1990s, right after the Western Balkans war, as an umbrella organisation for democratic support, engaging local governments and civil society organisations from Europe and beyond.
LDAs are locally based organisations supported financially and politically by partners and international associations, and their work is based on multilateral decentralised cooperation. Partnership-building is key for the mission of LDAs.
ALDA’s Governing Board, each year, monitors LDAs activities and labels those fulfilling ALDA’s values in terms of local governance promotion, sustainability, partnerships etc.
ALDA’s network of LDAs is concentrated in Western Balkans and South-East Europe Neighbourhood of Europe; however, with its new strategy ‘going global’, ALDA wants to widen the geographical scope to other parts of the world, bringing the same values of citizen engagement and support to decentralisation. An example is ALDA’s commitment to open new LDAs in Vinnytsia and Odessa, as to support people in Ukraine.
In particular, LDA Armenia, established in 2011, promotes the capacities of local authorities and civil society in citizens’ participation, supports the development of local and sustainable tourism, reinforces regional cooperation, and empowers youth and women in environmental and community development initiatives.
Moreover, thanks to its cooperation with different European stakeholders and associations, it promoted the implementation of many initiatives in the field of local democracy and participative decision-making.
ALDA’s values are translated into the work of LDA Armenia
During the previous months, LDA Armenia implemented different projects and initiatives. Among these, there’s the “Advocacy at the local level – Shirak” project, within the framework of “Local Democracy School”. More specifically, the LDA held meetings in the Shirak region, where administrative leaders, council members, municipalities’ staff could debate with the locals, and give the image of reality from grass root perspective and reflect the needs and problems.
LDA Armenia also conducts training, such as the ones within the “Youth Camp – Summer 2022” in cooperation with Gyumri Youth Palace, which were about nature protection, climate change and citizens’ participation, where young students were actively involved in the process. These are among the core values that ALDA advocates for in its daily work.
To have a look at the implemented activities, please check the LDA Activity Report January-June 2022.