Organised by ALDA in close co-operation with CRT Foundation and the University of Turin, the conference ‘ Crisis and renaissance – Local Community Theatre Paving the Way towards European Active Citizenship’ held on 22 May in Brussels raised awareness about the social and community theatre as a powerful tool for local communities in response to ongoing economic and social crisis.
Impressive visual and narrative presentations of the artistic and theatrical experience in the settlements across Europe showed the community efforts aimed to tackle the crisis and renaissance issues.

In her introductory notes, Ms. Barbara Gessler, Head of Department of Culture in EACEA stated the high relevance of the Caravan project more as the conceptual approach to challenges at local community development level and the bottom-up approach so much needed to ensure a more effective public space for the dialogue of EU citizens with the EU institutions, while the Project Manager Carlo Lingua gave a brief overview of the activities and results achieved during the Caravan local events and the Caravan artists on the road tour connecting Turin, Seville and Holstebro that have taken place over the last twelve months.

Mr. John Macdonald, Head of the Task Force for EYC 2013 reiterated the need for strengthened institutionalised forms of consultation with citizens at the European level and the need for creating of a new narrative for the European Union in support to the future perspective of the social innovation and culture in its broadest sense, rather than only to the narrative of the internal market or economic crisis. Examples of grass-root initiatives for improved participation and consultation forms in policy / decision making promoted by the Local Democracy Agencies were presented by Ms. Imislawa Gorska, Vicepresident of ALDA. She also included the city of Bydgosc promoting a wide range of youth actions aimed to cultural and artistic regeneration of local public spaces. In his presentation, Mr. Ionut Sibian, member of EESC raised a number of concerns related with insufficient involvement of NGO-s and their networks in consultation process at EU level.

During the second thematic panel the keynote speakers were Luisa De Amicis, Executive Director of EUCLID network, Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione, Project Caravan Community Theatre Supervisor, and Alberto Pagliarino, Project Caravan Artistic Director. EUCLID network’s main priority to assist to NGO-s to establish and maintain the dialogue for creating legislative and institutional framework in support to social entrepreneurship as a tool for introducing social innovation in addressing the crisis that has major impact on the excluded or marginalised groups.
Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione and Alberto Pagliarino gave an overview of social and community theatre concept as well as the specific SCT methodology studied at the University Turin. They presented the theoretical and artistic perspective of the concept that started as an experimentation but evolved over the past years to an intrinsic community response to alienation and crisis.

Case studies of the community theatres in action and the origin of their conception were presented in the third panel by Rita Maria Fabris (University of Turin), Ms. Mase Moreno (TNT Theatre Seville) and mr. Georgie Zlatarev (Theatre Vazrajdane, Sofia).
The conference ended with a practical workshop of community theatre by Professor Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione, which allowed the participants to experience the power of this tool on themselves during several group exercises and games.

The final conference of the Civil Society in Action for Dialogue and Partnerships project, titled « Agreement as a basis of cooperation between civil society and the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina », gathered around 80 participants, NGO and LA representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, neighbouring countries and EU Member States.

The conference was an opportunity to present the implemented activities, and make recommendations and plans for further cooperation. In the opening session of the first day speeches were given by Dženana Dedic, Delegate of LDA Mostar, Ljubo Beslic, Mayor of the City of Mostar, Marco Boaria, head of Project Development, ALDA.
All the partners involved in the action officially signed the Regional Memorandum of Co-operation as the grounds for their readiness for follow-up activities to promote democratic governance at local level, principles of accountability and responsive performances of public authorities in BiH, Croatia and Serbia.

Two thematic workshops were also organised, gathering both NGOs and public authorities: Co-operation Agreement – from legal framework to effective implementation, dedicated to local implementation of BH Memorandum of Co-operation, Effective Performances and Service Provision of Local Self –governments in Co-operation with CSO’s: Comparative Analysis and Practice in the EU and Western Balkan Countries, on best practice exchange.

The programme also included the organisation of the first ever NGO Fair held in Mostar on 10 May with some 30 local NGOs with stands displaying promotional publications, documentaries and materials, providing a great networking opportunity.

Antonella Valmorbida, Director of ALDA, took part in the Board meeting of Civicus in New York. ALDA joined Civicus – the world alliance for Citizens Participation in 2011 and in 2012, it became part of the Board.

The strategic plan were adopted and it is now time to put it in place to support Civic space for civil society around the world. The Association of the Local Democracy Agencies is bringing its added value in terms of local governance and dialogue between local authorities and civil society.
The new Secretary General, Danny Sriskandarajah, confirmed the interest of Civicus to work with ALDA on this topics.
This week, the Director of Outreach of ALDA, M. Henri Valot, will be key speaker at the workshop of ALDA at the Assises of International Decentralised Cooperation in Brussels.

For Civicus : www.civicus.org
Join Civicus : http://civicus.org/get-involved-128/join-civicus/join-civicus-now

In the photo, from the left:
Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General of Civicus
Antonella Valmorbida, Director of ALDA
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda (Vice Chair) of Civicus, World YWCA, Geneva

Stemming from the kind invitation of the Euro Mediterranean Scientific and Biomedical Institute (ISBEM), Marco Boaria, ALDA Resource and Development Union Coordinator, and Aldo Xhani, ALDA Project Manager, travelled to Brindisi to meet with Prof. Alessandro Distante and Dr. Prisco Piscitelli in order to coordinate the activities of the joint project COHEIRS.

The meeting took place at ISBEM’s headquarters in Mesagne on 27-28 March 2013 and was an important occasion to discuss the methodology and the action plan of the project whose kick-off is foreseen for April, 15 as well as all relevant details for launching the first activity.

The project brings together 17 partners from 12 different countries in wider Europe and aims at supporting active participation of citizens in the EU democratic life and more specifically in the implementation of the precautionary principles, as detailed in Article 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (EU), through the establishment of citizens panels focused on health and environment. These groups of “civic observers”, duly supported and guided, will monitor the condition of the environment by paying special attention to those violations and misconducts directly or collaterally threatening the public health. At the same time, they will be progressively inscribed and involved in an international network, which will support their efforts, advocate on their behalf at the EU level and coordinate the drafting of recommendations to be addressed to the relevant local, national and European decision makers.

The meeting was also an opportunity to introduce ALDA to a broad range of local actors such as local authorities and civil society organisations committed on active citizenship and environmental issues and to showcase the Europe for Citizens programme. The presentation gave the input for exchanging with the participants on concrete ideas and tools enabling an efficient and effective implementation of the project as well as on several other environmental issues and potential future project ideas. As coordinators of the project, ALDA and ISBEM agreed on a detailed action plan to be submitted later on to the whole partnership for further feedbacks.

ALDA delegation was particularly pleased of being informed of the relevant role that ISBEM plays at the local level in endorsing the local youth and in providing them with a fecund environment for unleashing their potential. Indeed, it is within this context that local youngsters find the tools in terms of knowledge, experience, support and networks for developing a professional life and tackling phenomena of strong impact in the region such as youth unemployment and migration. The two days’ coordination meeting was further enriched by a guided visit of Mesagne’s city centre and accompanied by concrete features of the depopulation issue strongly affecting the area.

Within the framework of the project Un-conventional constitution, led by the Directorate of Youth Policy of the Municipality of Vicenza and focused on a comparative analysis of constitutional charters, a group of 36 young Italians aged 16-30 met with ALDA’s staff of the Strasbourg office on Monday, 18 March.

The meeting took place in conjunction with the plenary session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and was an occasion of visiting ALDA’s stand and being informed on the activities of the organisation.

The Un-conventional constitution project, funded by Regione Veneto (Italy), aimed at fostering the engagement, the social inclusion and active citizenship of young people. It was an opportunity for all the students of the Vicenza high schools to debate and share views on the constitutional texts of Italy, USA, China and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union by applying creative and artistic approaches. The authors of the best analysis were granted the opportunity of a 4 days’ visit to Strasbourg, capital of Europe.

Aldo Xhani, ALDA project manager, welcomed the participants at ALDA’s headquarters in the Council of Europe and provided them with a general overview of the organisation’s main traits and of its role of renowned European stakeholder in the promotion of good governance and citizen participation at the local level. Focus was put on ALDA’s distinctiveness of bringing together local authorities and CSOs and on the wide geographical area covered by its activities such as wider Europe, the Caucasus and Northern Africa.

The introduction was followed by a questions and answers session in which the participants required further information on the possibilities of a major impact as regards the development of democracy in Northern Africa as well as on concrete examples of European projects. As for the latter, the interest focused in particular on European programmes such as Youth in Action and Europe for Citizens, with special attention on the project management cycle. POPEYE, granted by the European Commission in 2012 and whose implementation phase has been launched this March, was showcased as a concrete ALDA project in the youth field, coping with a topic of strong impact such as youth employment in rural areas.

ALDA, in cooperation with European Federalist Movement – Vicenza and the local organisation InsiemEuropa, organises the event “From the Treaty of Rome to the European Citizenship”, taking place at Vicenza City Hall.
The event, organised with the patronage of the Municipality of Vicenza and Veneto Region, wants to celebrate the 56th Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, on the 25th March 1957, instituting the European Economic Community and the EURATOM, and launching the European integration’s proces

The main goal of the events is to raise awareness on the European integration process, till nowadays. In particular, great importance will be given to the theme of citizenship, through the presence during the conference of Ms Costanza Margiotta, Professor at the University of Padua.
ALDA Director, Mrs Antonella Valmorbida, will open the conference, presenting the initiative and the commitment of the Association of Local Democracy Agencies in the promotion of the European integration and in the spread of European values. Also the mayor of Vicenza, Mr Achille Variati, will be one of the speakers of the conference.
The conference foresees also a public debate, in order to exchange opinions and ideas, related to European integration.
To the conference all municipalities of the Province of Vicenza, several local authorities of Veneto Region, the new elected Parliamentarian from the province of Vicenza, representatives of the Veneto Region’s Council, the representatives of trade organisations.
The event will be organised in the framework of the initiatives promoted by the Italian Alliance of the European Year of Citizens 2013.

ALDA Director among the speakers of the Conference « From the Treaty of Rome to the European Citizenship »

The Conference “From the Treaty of Rome to the European Citizenship” was held in the “Sala Stucchi” of Vicenza City-Hall. The event, which obtained the patronage of Veneto Region and of Vicenza Municipality, was organised thanks to the collaboration between ALDA, European Federalist Movement – Vicenza, and the Association InsiemEuropa, and it was one of the initiatives, promoted in the framework of the Italian Alliance for the European Year of Citizens.

To the event, two Regional Council Members, Mr Stefano Fracasso and Mr Giuseppe Berlato Sella, the mayor of Torri di Quartesolo Mr Diego Marchioro, the mayor of Lonigo Mr Giuseppe Boschetto, some delegates of the Municipality of Vicenza, and several representatives of local CSOs participated to the initiative.

The event began with the presence of the Mayor of Vicenza, Mr Achille Variati, who affirmed that the Treaty of Rome launched the European integration, and that we have witnessed to the passage from an “Economic Europe” to a “Europe of Citizenship”, in view of the creation of the United States of Europe.

Besides he stressed that nowadays young people are European, hence the institutions have to believe in Europe. Today the problem is that governments and Member States continue to keep much power and the return to nation-state is a mistake.

Finally he affirmed that the concept of citizenship implies the dialogue, the inclusion and the future: that is why politics and political parties have to reflect and talk about that.

ALDA Director, Mrs Antonella Valmorbida, stated that it is a great error do not debate the issue of the European citizenship, a project that has not been consolidated in Europe yet: if the European integration and the creation of the European Union has been a success, the obstacle is institutional, namely there is a citizenship, but there is not a federation.

Besides, another problem affects the lack of European identity: as ALDA Director argued “When we talk about European identity, we want to base the notion on the EU, whereas the concept is more wide-spreading. How can we exclude the Balkans from Europe? Indeed, the citizenship is related to an institutional level, but the identity concerns other levels”

As the matter of fact, Mrs Valmorbida dwells that since the end of the IIWW we have created the European identity, as a common destiny, the same Weltanschaung. In particular, the European have never approached to continental diversity as a problem: Europe is the area of respect and protection of human rights. Therefore the dimensions of equity, of social-welfare, of mobility, of communication and knowledge of foreign languages is typically European.

Today, at institutional level we do not have a democratic process: indeed we urge a democratisation of the EU Institutions, in particular the role of European Parliament needs to be reinforced and the European Commission should be reformed. As everyone can notice, the EU is a laboratory, which has successfully subdued states’ competencies.

Finally, ALDA Director mentioned the Chart of European Identity: society and education systems should launch a path, in order to put into effect the “Union in the diversity”, as Mr Jacques Delors wished for.

In the last part of the conference there was a public debate, where the attendees insisted on the necessity of promoting the common European identity, creating a common path, on the example of the process of national identity building.

In the framework of the Grundtvig In Service Training Programme of the European Commission, ALDA organised the training course for participants coming from 6 different countries working on citizen participation and local democracy.

The course was aimed to provide for all candidates a deeper knowledge about the concept of active citizenship and civil dialogues in the European context and increase awareness of the role they can play in improving governance and relationships between citizens and governments at all levels.
The training last 5 days and the participants received practical information on the existing funding opportunities and mainly on the Europe for Citizens Programme. They have focused also on project cycle management and the development of joint project proposals. The training included a visit to the Conference of NGOs in the Council of Europe, the intervention of an expert on the Code of Practice and the contribution of an expert on Strasbourg policies on participatory democracy.
The training was also the opportunity to analyse the main issues of citizen participation and the importance of reducing the gap between institutions and civil society.