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Established in 2015, the Local Democracy Agency (LDA) in the Dnipropetrovsk Region represents the very first LDA in the Country, as a platform for dialogue and regional development in terms of culture, society and economy. Yet, the current Russian invasion of Ukraine urged a further push for international cooperation in support to local actions, as also emerged in the online meeting, that took place among ALDA, the LDA Dnipro Representative and the Chairman of the Regional Council.

As stressed by Mr. Mykola Lukashuk – Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council – and considering the geographical location of the region, the latter welcomes 400,000 Internally Displaced People (IDP) without counting those unregistered so far. Besides, the region is also serving as a supply hub for those on the frontline. Therefore, coherently with the circumstance above-mentioned and aiming at providing support, Anzhelika Pylypenko, Director Local Democracy Agency of Dnipropetrovsk region, illustrated the current initiatives, such as “PHOENIX” project, which are addressing the IDP especially as far as the psychological and social rehabilitation assistance concerns, as well as support to servicemen and families.

“I am grateful to our partners for their help. It would be advisable to hold a large conference and invite both representatives of Dnipropetrovsk communities and foreign partners” – Mykola Lukashuk

Backing up to the LDA actions, Antonella Valmorbida – Secretary General of ALDA – further stressed the commitment of the Association in strengthening the existing LDAs in Ukraine (both Dnipro and Mariupol), while working for the opening on new ones in Vinnytsia, Odesa, Kharkiv, Bucha, Mykolaiv and Rivne. Furthermore, precisely, three European regions, namely Nordrhein Westfalen (Germany); Hautes de France and Normandie (France), are interested in joining a coalition to support the LDA Dnipro, since “your country is now defending the entire democratic world” – stressed Ms. Valmorbida, and “European partners are planning to help Dnipropetrovsk Region and other regions of Ukraine both now and in the post-war reconstruction”.

Overall, this latter possibility of international cooperation was welcomed by the Council, as expressed in the positive word of Mr. Mykola Lukashuk: “I am grateful to our partners for their help. This is just the beginning. To expand cooperation, it would be advisable to hold a large conference and invite both representatives of Dnipropetrovs’k communities and foreign partners”.

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The meeting took place online on 09.03.2023, with:

Mykola Lukashuk – Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council
Arina Pustova – Member of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, humanitarian aid coordinator for the DP Region
Anzhelika Pylypenko, Director Local Democracy Agency of Dnipropetrovsk region
Antonella Valmorbida – Secretary General of ALDA
Alexandru Coica – EaP and Central Asia Coordinator ALDA
Bartek Ostrowski – Consultant for LDAs development in Ukraine ALDA

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After a preliminary phase to identify the schools and the students to be involved in the Water’s Experts project, the training activities started in Italy and North Macedonia.

On 14th February 2023 the training course started in the school I.I.S.S. Lombardo-Radice in Bojano (Molise, Italy), held by the geologist Vincenzo Amato, researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise. The next day, on 15th February, it was the Medical High School “Nikola Stein”, in Tetovo (North Macedonia), to start the training, held by the biology teacher Sasho Markovikj.

The students involved in the Water’s Experts project, attending the last year of vocational schools, have the chance to enhance their scientific knowledge and acquire technical and professional skills in the field of water resources management. At the end of this 4-month training course, students will be capable of understanding the geographic and biological specificities of the watercourses and able to identify and handle the critical issues.

Enhancing students’ scientific knowledge and technical skills in the field of water resources management

Moreover, the training course aims to raise awareness about climate change adaptation and the importance of water resources. It was conceived as an interdisciplinary activity promoting professional development but also social participation among youth, enhancing cooperation and team working among students.

The training course is structured into 4 different modules covering the following topics: river geomorphology, cartography and basics of GIS tools, river ecology, alteration of river environments and hints of river rehabilitation. It includes both theoretical and practical activities, in order to let students put into practice the knowledge acquired during the theoretical part.

The training is about to start in Portugal and France also, where the project partners have been proceeding setting the preparatory activities.

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As of the 1^st of March 2023, the “Media4EU” project has officially started. The latter is meant to improve the quality of the journalism and media sectors in North Macedonia, as well as the general information environment in the country. This includes activities such as working directly with journalists in capacity building workshops, facilitating exchanges of expertise between less and more experienced journalists – be they Macedonian and EU journalists – and aiming for European media standards.

More in details, one loophole targeted by the project is the lack of youth interest in journalism, largely due to a lack of trust. Therefore, “Media4EU” seeks to provide answer to the above-mentioned issue, with activities to encourage greater participation, and education on specific skills and how to use instrumental tools in the field.

From a general perspective, North Macedonia has a good legislative backing for a productive media sphere and freedom of expression; thus the Constitution guarantees the rights of freedom of speech, thought, expression, and public access to information, as well as protection of journalists and blocking of censorship. However, there are numerous issues that hold journalism and the media back. For instance, frivolous lawsuits, such as “Strategic lawsuit against public participation” (SLAPP) suits, and pressure from publishers in the television industry are commonly used as an instrument to intimidate the media and induce self-censorship.

Media4EU contributes to a good relationship between the media and civil society

Yet, lacking journalism and media sector may bring many potential challenges – among them:

allowing anti-factual ideas to spread more easily,
weaken responsiveness to the problems of the constituency,
greater distance from Europe – considering the specificity of this project.

On the contrary, a better media sphere has a plethora of benefits including the opportunity to have a more informed decision making from the constituency, greater access to accurate information, and greater participation.

Overall, this project is another way of testifying the commitment of ALDA to build up the capacities of the local sphere in the Balkans and ALDA Skopje commitment to the process of Europeanization and EU presence in the Balkans. Unfortunately, North Macedonia’s Europeanization process is notably quite troubled, and in the areas of media and freedom of expression not many improvements have been done.

With rising Euroscepticism and the slowing of progress, it is essential for the project to contribute to an environment where North Macedonia facilitates a good relationship between the media and civil society, as well as combats disinformation and reactionary ideas. The youth are not only the future of the profession, but they are also the future of the country, and this project will help further stake their place in society and help improve the information sphere.

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The 3-year “Media4EU” project will be implemented by a consortium of partners lead by EUROTHINK – Center for European Strategies in partnership with ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy and BIRC – Balkan Institute for Regional Cooperation.

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In this publication, readers can find 27 good practices to fight unemployment through social economy; based on the experiences in Italy, Spain and Greece. Hence, the latter three countries represent the hosting places of the RECRUIT project partners; which benefitting from their expertise and the activities done within the project, have collected them in this publication.

READ THE PUBLICATION

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Within the INCLUDATE* (Educating for Inclusion) project, ALDA organised a PanEU International Conference to make partners share their activities and findings during the first year of its implementation. INCLUDATE aims to include people with a migrant background to share their experiences throughout the storytelling and to imagine together possible solutions to shared issues.

ALDA works with members and partners to develop projects supporting its mission to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda; in this specific case, the INCLUDATE project tries to fulfil SDG 4, which aims “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

During the PanEu Conference, every partner presented the result of the activities they implemented:

“Berlin-Mitte: great location but few happy places” – Polnischer Sozialrat e.V.
“I did not understand how to function in the city and what formal steps should I take after moving”: experience of migrants’ living in Gdynia – MOPS
“This is our country too”: life in Palermo through the eyes of migrants – Per Esempio Onlus
“On its best day Copenhagen is heaven, and on its worst I feel like all its doors are closing on me” A look into the lives of people of migrant backgrounds living in Copenhagen. – Crossing Borders.

The activities’ outcomes were pretty much similar, even though the partners are located in 6 different European countries.

During the second part of the meeting, the discussion focused on three different topics: Housing, Services and Education. The workshops were carried out by organisations’ representatives and participants discussed different issues and questions, sharing their experience related to Housing/Education/Services taken from their personal or professional life.

The results from the three workshops were similar and it came out that the biggest issue migrants face in their everyday life is linked to the language.

The biggest issue migrants face in their everyday life is linked to the language.

Accordingly, the language barrier shows its negative effects in every field: at school, in accessing the health system, in finding a job that they are specialised to carry out. Other problems related to the job market concern the impossibility to recognise migrants’ diplomas or specialisation certificates acquired in their home country.

Among ALDA’s values, inclusion and integration are key: with a specific Thematic Hub on Gender, Inclusion, and Human Rights the work on these topics through EU-funded projects increases everyday. Inclusion of migrants, specially marginalised ones, is at the heart of the INCLUDATE project, and this Conference represented another opportunity for ALDA to work on this topic.

ALDA looks forward to taking part in last year’s project development and training with partner organisations.

Subscribe to the project’s newsletter to keep yourself informed!

*INCLUDATE is a project developed in the framework of the Erasmus+ Programme, and its actions are planned to actively further the Erasmus Strategy for Inclusion and Diversity.

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Local Authorities in Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Malta, Hungary, Latvia or Lithuania register to the Local Academy Training aiming to boost political participation in peri-urban and rural areas

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❗ Extended deadline: 01 May 2023 ❗

Ideas for Europe: Local Academy Training in the peri-urban and rural areas

Are you a local authority (public employee, collaborator, city manager, director, local administrator, policy maker etc.)?
Are you coming from Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Malta, Hungary, Latvia or Lithuania?
Do you want to gain new skills and knowledge in order to increase citizens participation in your territory?

Then, you should participate in this call!

ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy, in the framework of the Ideas 4 Europe project, would like to invite you to participate in the Local Academy Training organised in the framework of the I4E project, co-funded by the EU funding programme CERV, aiming to boost political participation with a focus on citizen and young people living in peri-urban and rural areas.

🎯Objective of The Local Academy Training: it will aim at increasing the capacity of local practitioners, officials and managers to construct an active and fruitful dialogue with citizens and communities towards participatory process in the definition of local policies and improve citizens engagement.

📋 Programme: the training will offer an intensive and strategic learning environment through three thematic modules:

Good democratic governance with a particular focus on the 12 principles of Good democratic governance outlined by the CoE;
Participatory instruments (i.e. participative budget, committees of citizens etc.)
Local context related to specific needs identified by the participants

The training will target especially participants coming from countries with the lowest participation rate in the European elections, namely, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Malta, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, with a particular focus on peri-urban and rural areas. Nevertheless, anyone interested in the training course coming from any other EU countries is very welcome to participate!

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Useful Info:

The training will take place in Vicenza (Italy) and will last two full days, on 20 & 21 June 2023.

Accommodation and lunches will be covered by ALDA;
Board costs will be covered for a maximum of 30€ per person (evidence of expenditure will be required) by ALDA;
Travel costs will be partially covered for a maximum of 100€ per person (evidence of expenditure will be required) by ALDA.

If you are interested, please fill out the form by 01 May 2023.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Anita Lugli

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On March 1-3 2023 ALDA participated in the Civil Society Days held in Brussels, thus engaging with other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and contributing to the creation of a civic space with Europe, with a focus on the new digital era and on the 2024 European Parliament elections.

With a workshop dedicated to Youth and Digital, entitled “Digital participation and digital rights in the European public space: a focus on youth“, ALDA’s Project Manager Dafne Sgarra, coordinating and representing the Thematic Hub on Youth empowerment and education, took part in the event illustrating the added value of the Association in terms of youth empowerment and engagement, especially in the digital area.

Hence, based on these competences, the Civil Society Days marked an opportunity to present and promote the P-CUBE project, developed within our Thematic Hub on Youth empowerment and education. The project aims at helping youngsters learn how decisions are taken in the public sphere by covering the individual elements of the policy making process, placing special emphasis on four main fields: urban innovation, social inclusion, EU decision making, and science and public policy.

CivSocDays 2023: illustrating the added value of the Association in terms of youth empowerment and promotion of citizens participation

A second workshop, entitled “Debating EU outside the capitals“, co-organised with the Union of European Federalists (UEF), focused on the key role of CSOs in reaching out citizens to bring the debate on the future of Europe outside EU capitals.

This thematic appears to be extremely important nowadays, due to the growing distrust that citizens nourish towards politicians and democratic institutions, as well as the rise of nationalisms. ALDA wanted to present recommendations to engage with people in a constructive way and coordinate efforts to make the upcoming EP elections as an opportunity to strengthen civic space and stimulate the debate on EU values.

The workshop concluded by stating the key role of CSOs in being bridge builders between citizens and the European Institutions, and enhance the participation of the former at all levels.

During the Civil Society Days 2023, ALDA delegation had the pleasure to meet in person Ms. Katrina Leitane, member of the EESC Civil Society Organisations’ Group and Representative of the National Youth Council of Latvia. It was an important moment to share some knowledge and to discuss potential future collaborations!

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Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA

©EU 2023 – source: EESC

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The brand-new office in Brussels hosted the first ALDA Governing Board meeting for this 2023. In an atmosphere of renovated joy, so meet again after months, the delegates gathered on Friday 3 March 2023 to update on the recent mission to Ukraine, and the development of the LDAs in the Country.

Hence, the commitment to work in cooperation with the local realities, and to support resilient communities was testified by the appointment of Ms. Pylypenko, delegate of the LDA of the Drnipropetrovsk Region, as Statutory Member within the Governing Board, representing the whole LDAs network. Her presence will be a further stimulus both to implement the initiatives of #ALDAforUkraine, and to reinforce the bond with the Association and the Agencies.

If the LDAs are at the heart of the Association, and so are the Members. Hence, the latter are key partners in actualizing the strategies and projects. Therefore, three new members intervened in the meeting, be they the representatives of the following members’ organisations: “Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly Foundation” (Spain); “Mariupol State University” (Ukraine), and “I am Buchanets” (Ukraine).

The Governing Board reunited in the new office in Brussels, for the firs meeting of this new 2023

Besides, Ms. Besozzi, Coordinator of Civil Society Europe, also attended the Board, being a strong partner of ALDA, already engaged with the Association in several actions, among which the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Finally, the Board discussed together the upcoming General Assembly of ALDA, which will gather together the whole team, the members and partners, marking every year a milestone event in the association’s institutional calendar.

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The representatives of the LDAs, in turn, become metres of the ALDA Governing Board for a limited period, so as to ensure a varied and relevant representation.

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On 30 November 2022, the Kick-off meeting of the “H.I.L.L.- Habitat in Living Landscape” project was held in the Municipality of Monte di Malo.

The project will last three years and it aims to protect the natural territory of Monte di Malo, focusing on two sites considered Special Areas of Conservation (SACs): “Buso della Rana” and “Le Poscole”.

The event, organised by the lead partner, the Municipality of Monte di Malo, was attended by the project partners (Cooperativa Biosphaera, ALDA Italia Aps, Federazione Speleologica Veneta, Gruppo CAI di Malo, Rete Musei Alto Vicentino and the Istituto Comprensivo “G. Ciscato”) as well as numerous citizens and stakeholders. The project was made possible thanks to the funding provided by Fondazione Cariverona and the co-founding from the partners.

The evening began with greetings from the municipal administration represented by the Mayor of Monte di Malo, Mosè Squarzon, who strongly advocated for the project. It followed by a speech of Michele Ferretto, from the Biosphaera Cooperative, who illustrated to the participants the project and its objectives, which will involve three areas: natural heritage, cultural heritage and education/awareness-raising.

The project aims at protecting the natural territory of Monte di Malo, focusing on two sites considered Special Areas of Conservation (SACs)

Within the framework of the first area, scientific surveys will be carried out, the Buso della Rana SAC site will be expanded, a management plan will be drawn up and a book will be published. The second thematic area will focus on the enhancement of the Priabonian Museum with the development of rooms and exhibits, the acquisition of collections, and the expansion of the museum’s offerings. Lastly, the third area will include capacity building and awareness-raising actions for citizens, as well as environmental education and hackathons for entrepreneurship.

Roberto Battiston of the Zannato Museum took the floor, emphasising the important correlation between research on the territory and museums.

Battiston’s intervention was followed by a speech of Professor Paolo Mietto, from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Padua, who illustrated the geological time scale and the Priabonian, the last of the four stages into which the Eocene is divided.

The Priabonian is an important reference point that has been studied worldwide and is also a valuable teaching element often proposed as an example and model.

Finally, Marco Boaria, Director of ALDA Italia Aps, and its colleagues, proposed a participatory workshop to the participants. Three different discussion tables were created where attendees could freely propose ideas, expose problems and possible solutions concerning the topics of the H.I.L.L. project. The insights that emerged were subsequently exposed to the entire audience and represent the starting point for the participatory path to the population.

Kick-off meeting of the “*H.I.L.L.- Habitat in Living Landscape*“

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The former, acting as leader of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) from the EU Commission side, underlined the importance of giving voice to citizens in shaping the future of Europe, and designing the Union they are aiming to. Animated by the same spirit, while pursuing its mission, ALDA informed its partners and members on the opportunities of joining this bottom-up exercise and be protagonists for the future of the Union, while echoing their opinions and ideas at within the Civil Society Convention on the Conference on the Future of Europe, at the Closing Ceremony.

If not enough, common ground of discussion was found on the active participation to the Summit for Democracy, within which ALDA, as part of the “European Partnership of Democracy” network, is joining the Youth Cohort.

“Reinforcing democracy at the local level to build a resilient and inclusive democracy” – Vice-President and Commissioner for Democracy and Demography Ms. Dubravka Šuica

Hence, this commitment to spur democracy starting from its roots was also shared by Ms. Šuica, who, “greatly appreciate[s] the importance of reinforcing democracy at the local level to build a resilient and inclusive democracy” – as expressed in her tweet. Ms. Valmorbida, on her site, reiterated the concept behind which, mobilisation of local authorities and civil society are the key for the “New Push for Democracy”, underling the importance of starting at local level.

In addition, ALDA shared its vision, of boosting on local and citizens participation to counterbalance non-democratic movements, while increasing the civic space at European level.

Overall, this meeting was a key moment of positive exchange and fruitful knowledge sharing, contributing to the future of democracy and Europe.

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The meeting took place in Brussels, on 1 March 2023