The European Week of Regions and Cities 2022 is the biggest annual event in Brussels, dedicated to cohesion policy bringing together regions and cities from all over Europe, including politicians, administrators, experts and academics.
Over the last 19 years, it has done much to promote policy learning and the exchange of good practice.
The edition of this year focused on EU response to the post Covid-19 pandemic health, social and economic challenges; not to mention territorial cohesion policy, a digital, green and sustainable transition, and youth empowerment.
The event lasted 4 days with 300 sessions, both online and offline, with more than 15 000 registered participants, and different speakers and experts.
“Youth expressed the environmental consciousness”, Ms. Valmorbida at the European Week of Regions and Cities 2022
ALDA took part in the Workshop titled “Together empowering Youth for climate action” on the 12 October 2022, with an intervention by ALDA Secretary General, Ms. Antonella Valmorbida. She gave an insight on ALDA’s history and work, and stressed the strong liaison between youth and environmental issues.
The session was held online and moderated by Davide Sabbadin, from the European Environmental Bureau, with insightful contributions from Monika Skadborg, from the European Youth Forum, Eline Van Der Ham, representing the City of Almere, and Monika Chabior, from the city of Gdansk.
EU4Accountability will support civil society organisations in 10 districts from Republic of Moldova to influence local authorities through active participation in decision-making to better meets people’s needs. 60 NGOs will learn how to get involved in local budgeting and policy-making, which will then help to better reflect the needs of local communities and increase social accountability.
Civil society organisations from Cahul, Cimislia, Comrat, Falesti, Floresti, Glodeni, Rascani, Straseni, Stefan Voda and Telenesti districts, selected through an open call for participation, will be involved in a broader capacity building programme. This will enable them to learn how to:
implement their own public policy monitoring project,
strengthen mechanisms for social accountability and promotion of best practices,
facilitate peer learning,
exchange of experience and networking among local CSOs.
“Today we launch the new EU4Accountability action in 10 districts across the Republic of Moldova. The European Union is investing 1.5 million euro to strengthen social accountability of the local and central government in Moldova through targeted support to the civil society. This project will offer grants to civil society organisations to support their participation in policy dialogue and monitor the work of public authorities. This project will facilitate the citizens’ engagement in issues that matter to them and empower them to exercise influence beyond voting in elections, which in turn strengthen the democracy in Moldova.” statedJānis Mažeiks, the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova.
“EU4Accountability will offer grants to civil society organisations to support their participation in policy dialogue and monitor the work of public authorities” Jānis Mažeiks, the Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Moldova.
EU4Accountability aims to promote the concept of social accountability among citizens, members of civil society and representatives of local public authorities by explaining the benefits of social accountability in practice. The benefits are visible once civil society better understands its role – to scrutinise draft decisions published by local authorities and come up with proposals in public debates, to demand the allocation of the local budget to the real needs of citizens, and also to observe whether public services are of good quality and ask for improvements where something is perceived wrong or unfair.
Thus, the lessons learnt from the project will contribute to a participatory analysis of policies and enable civil and state institutions to engage in a political dialogue to improve the ways in which citizens can put forward proposals to the authorities, and create conditions for citizens’ initiatives and opinions to be heard and understood. The project is based on a grassroots approach thanks to the involvement of Moldovan public associations, which will assess the needs in the districts and provide training activities for their colleagues.
In November 2022, CSOs will come together to participate in activities focusing on specific topics of interest relating to good governance. Organisations selected to be part of the project will be supported through organisational development workshops and their expertise on social accountability issues will be enhanced.
Finally, the EU4Accountability project also foresees later to offer grants to CSOs in the 10 target districts of the project to implement social accountability processes at local level. In this way, as they will be able to participate more effectively in community planning, as CSOs will be better recognised as legitimate actors to engage in local democratic governance.
*** The project is implemented by a consortium of three organisations: the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) and the Czech NGO People in Need (PIN) from 2022-2024.
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.
From 3 until 7 October, 2022, Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Secretary General, was in Tlemcen, Algeria, to deliver the third round of capacity building activities to Local Authorities on good governance and citizens engagement.
After the successful past experiences, Ms. Valmorbida returned to the country to deliver high-level trainings on participative democracy as part of the programme for supporting local participative democracy and social accountability, started back in 2017.
The programme valorises the importance of citizens’ engagement in strategic development and solution problem-oriented policies.
ALDA is back in Algeria for the third round of capacity building activities on participative democracy to Local Authorities
Selected by SOFRECO, a worldwide leading company in consultancy with a mandate from the Algerian Ministry of Interiors and the support of the European Commission, Ms. Valmorbida, along with two other experts, Mr Mohamed Sakri and Mr Moufida Ouselati, led the formation of 45 heads of Daira, territorial administrative Units known in English as ‘districts’. By the end of 2022, it is foreseen the training of a total of 270 heads of Daira.
This third round of activities strengthens the already solid cooperation between the country and the Association, testifying the role of ALDA as a reliable and specialised partner not only in Europe but also in the Mediterranean area.
We conclude this fruitful and intense week with the willingness to further nourish this partnership in the future and to continue spurring democracy at the local level and building resilient communities worldwide.
On September 19&20 2022, the partners of the P-CUBE project met in Milan (Italy) for their first face-to-face Transnational Meeting.
After more than two years of online collaboration, this in-presence event marked a milestone for the project, both for the in-depth and passionate discussions on the project itself and for the personal binding that developed among the partners.
Surrounded by the beautiful location of Politecnico di Milano and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, the meeting started with an ice-breaking game to allow the P-CUBE partners to know each other better. It was followed by a discussion on the achievements of the project and on a debate on its future directions.
After more than two years of online collaboration, this in-presence meeting marked a milestone for the P-CUBE project
During the meeting, the partners had the opportunity to play all together the P-CUBE educational digital game. This moment was characterised by an exchange of feedback and thoughts on the game and by the formulation of several suggestions on possible future improvements.
Less than one year to the official end of the P-CUBE project, the consortium concluded the Transnational Meeting by sharing ideas on how to develop the project beyond its formal deadline, with the hope that students, public officials, decision makers and more will continue playing public policy in the future.
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P-CUBE is a project financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, and it involves the development of an educational digital game aimed at teaching students, professionals and public officials the theory and practice of public policy.
Subscribe to the P-CUBE newsletter by clicking here.
Discover the P-CUBE project by following its LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
On 28 and 29 September 2022, ALDA team was part of the event on combating hate crime and hate speech at the European Parliament.
The event took place in the framework of STAND-UP project that aims at countering and standing-up against hate in the EU; its goal is to create a comprehensive counter-hate crime framework covering all components of the counter-hate process, reporting-investigating-prosecution-prevention (RIPP), embedded within a framework of victim support. The project targets France, Greece, Italy, and Spain.
The two-day event in Brussels began with the panel discussion by the experts representing multiple national and international agencies involved in the development and implementation of policy regulations on hate speech and crime – CoE, DG Justice, OSCE and others.
Giovanni Gasparini, deputy Public Prosecutor of Venice (VEJudPol), opened the session with a general overview of the STAND-UP project and its objectives. He defined the concept of ‘hate crime’ as a criminal offence committed with a bias motive as a distinctive element’, and introduced the challenges related to prosecuting it. Followed by Viktoer Kundrak, Hate Crime Officer at OSCE, summarised the OSCE way of legislating against hate crime.
Menno Ettema, Programme manager & Co-Secretary to the former Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech at the Council of Europe, spoke about the Recommendation on combating hate speech, which is the main legal and policy framework reference to prevent and combat this situation . Mr Ettema, however, stressed on the non-binding nature of the Recommendation, which results in its arbitrary application by the member states.
Opening the second panel, Viviana Gullo, Junior Project Manager at AGENFOR, presented the case of Austrian doctor Lisa-Maria Kellermeyer, a victim of hate speech and cyber bulling by the anti-vaxxers. For months, she reported attacks on social media and threatening letters from people writing they wanted to “slaughter” her and her staff, which was neither acknowledged as a crime nor properly investigated by law enforcement. The case ended with the doctor committing suicide, prompting more attention to the legal regulation of hate speech. This example served to prove how the STAND-UP blueprint would define a model to tackle hate phenomena and prevent them.
In his discourse about standing up in education, Alberto Izquierdo Montero, from UNED MADRID, talked about visualise the mechanisms of hate speech to critically read the world. He focused on the importance of education in addressing hate speech, presenting a participatory research on adolescents facing this issue, to identify scenarios, agents and coping strategies.
The last session focused on the civil society role in tackling hate crimes was opened by Professor Vasiliki Artinopoulou, European Public Law Organisation (EPLO) and Member of SPT UN. Prof. Artinopoulou highlighted the importance of coordinated responses to tackle these phenomena, in particular the added value of having a joint system between the justice system and the CSOs to share information and collaborate. “We live in an era of conflicts, austerity, recession and insecurity, and thus there are only a few non-negotiable values, such as human dignity, respect and justice, remarked the Professor.
The importance of education in addressing hate speech
During the second day, Alessandra Brigo, Project Manager and Coordinator of ALDA’s Gender, Inclusion and Human rights HUB, presented the findings of the focus groups held between May and July 2022 in Italy, Spain, and Greece. One of the most striking research results revealed the bias in law enforcement and the police departments on what concerns racism, victim blaming and others. ALDA colleague suggested that the STAND-UP project presents a unique opportunity to tackle these bias, and urged to pay particular attention to it, to make a real impact on the systems in the targeted countries.
In the discussion about the best practices to counter hate speech/crime, Giovanni Gasparini pointed out that the existing national legislation in Italy is poor, less effective and non inclusive and that the legal provisions are not in line with the cultural evolution of society.
Garyfallia Anastasopolou, Lucía García del Moral, and Sergio Bianchi, discussed in a round table on coordinated responses to tackle hate crimes and the role of Civil Society Organisations. A contribution about the technology to prevent hate speech was made by Luigi Ranzato and Nicola Cordeschi from the judicial police of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trento.
Cristina Rodríguez Reche from the universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, talked about the importance of a gender and intersectional perspective in the context of Islamophobia in Europe. Concluding the session Carmelo Ruberto, former Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rovigo, talked about the Sinti ethnic group in the hate context, presenting a real case of the murder of C.E, and ethnic Sinti, by his minor son and his moral accomplice. The case was relevant because the accomplice showed a strong racist attitude, but this aggravating circumstance was not taken into consideration.
The event was a good opportunity to discuss this phenomena, in order to see what has been done and what needs to be tackled in the next phase of the project.
Implementing Good Governance (through ELoGE programme) does not happen overnight. Hence, ALDA has been constantly working to make a step forward everyday.
The Association, and especially colleagues from the Skopje office, are currently collecting and analysing all the documentation required in terms of the self-assessment practices. After that, the evaluation procedure will be carried out. More in details, concerning North Macedonia and Kosovo* between 7 or 8 municipalities per country will be awarded, as positively meeting the 12 principles of Good Governance.
North Macedonia and Kosovo* between 7 or 8 municipalities per country will be awarded
Similarly, for Croatia, 4 municipalities have sent the supporting papers and documentation, Nonetheless, ALDA is supporting other 2 more realities in order to locally foster the promotion of Good Governance.
Finally, the Skopje office is working to merge three final events in one event in the capital of North Macedonia, to further provide moments of sharing and networking to develop Good Governance. More detailed pieces of information will be delivered.
Tbilisi hosted, on 29 September 2022, the IDEA International meeting focusing on the upcoming Swedish Presidency of the European Council and the related democratic agenda.
This occasion was the perfect opportunity to discuss with high level representatives, among them H.E. Petr Mikyska, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Czech Republic to Georgia; and H.E. Ulrik Tideström, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sweden to Georgia, several challenges now urging the Union as well as its neighbouring countries.
“How can democracy be fostered in the Eastern European countries”, and “to what extent can Europe support this process” were among the questions posed, symbolising the bulk of the entire event. Hence, the latter was exactly meant to scrutinise and discuss with experts and professionals the current situation of the entire EaP region, from security and defence, to enlargement.
IDEA International: to discuss the scenario in the EaP region and the future of democracy
It comes without saying that, considering the ongoing war in Ukraine, great attention has been given to the possible scenarios that may occur, both in terms of the EU’s external democracy policy, and as a game changer for the entire region.
As stressed by ALDA colleague and EaP, Russia & Central Asia Coordinator, Alexandru Coica, who joined the IDEA Meeting at the afternoon panel: “this invasion generated a shift from slow political integration and democratisation, to a new political mindset of taking fast radical political decisions”.
Hence, in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, different European actors and institutions had to reconsider and re-adjust their measures not only towards the Country, but also towards the related area. ALDA, for example, has been stressing its presence in Ukraine, by becoming an ever more strategic partner, thus designing specific projects and initiatives to support people and civilians.
ALDA will always support positive and meaningful debates, at all institutional levels, especially when it comes to increasing democratic reality and citizens’ participation.
Are you a Belgian or a French youth association who is sensitive to raising awareness on the effects of climate change and understanding the links with migration? We are looking for you! Lead the change and participate in our calls for proposals (one for Belgium and one for France) with your project idea!
What is the main objective of the call of proposal?
The project will support actions developed by youth organisations in Belgium or in France committed in the field of environmental awareness raising, especially climate change induced migration, and targeting young people (16-35 years old).
What is the main objective of each call of proposal?
Any submitted proposal must be of max 5.000 EUR. Each applicant will benefit from a financing of 70% of the total of the action up to a maximum of 3.500 Eur. The remaining 30% of the action (a minimum of 1.500 Eur) will be provided by each applicant as co-funding. The financing and co-financing % always remain the same even if the overall cost of the proposed action is lower than 5.000 EUR. The general action carried out by the Applicant can be higher than 5.000 EUR, but in this case the remaining budget of the overall costs of the proposal will be covered with the Applicant’s own financial resources.
Climate of Change: sub-granting calls (one for Belgium and one for France) will be open until 31 December 2022
Which is the thematic focus?
Each proposed action needs to address the nexus between climate change and induced migration! Different types of activities can be eligible for the sub grant: communication activities, promotion and dissemination activities, awareness raising activities, training and learning-by-doing activities, art projects and initiatives, etc.
Where can the project be implemented?
Activities must take place in Belgium/France
How to apply?
Read the full call for proposals to have more information about the call and how to apply! The call will be open until 31 December 2022.
With the idea of facilitating the representation of the regions in global forums, while working to create a network among them, Oru Fogar is committed to empower regions and enable them to become an active part in the decision making process on education, education, health and the construction of social infrastructures.
The centrality of regions is also crucial for this IV World Summit. Yet, before going into depth let’s take a step back to the previous editions. 2010 marked the beginning: Dakar (Senegal) hosted the Summit, during which an action programme for food and nutrition was launched. The Region of Lower Normandy was elected chair, while the Centre Region of Burkina Faso got the role of vice presidency.
Furthermore, more than 1400 participants, representing nearly 30 countries, gathered in Colombia, in 2012 for the II Summit; while Ecuador hosted the III one in 2018, thus stressing the great interest around the topic of food safety practices.
Specifically, the Côre Group of Food Sovereignty, born from an agreement between Oru Fogar and FAO back in 2008, is directed to promote regions’ capacity in terms of food security policy in its own territory; while increasing cooperation among regions.
In light of this, the IV Summit has to be understood as a further occasion to underline the necessity to concretely implement the SDG number two, and to work together to fight hunger.
Ideas, next steps, and the upcoming duties at the core of the EPIC project steering committee in Amadora (Portugal).
On Tuesday 27 September 2022, the Portuguese Municipality warmly welcomed the EPIC project partners, not only for the above-mentioned meeting, but also for field visits. The latter took place during the afternoon, and were targeted to illustrate two specific initiatives. Starting from “Project 12-15” which is addressing early school leaving. Specifically, this initiative is willing to decrease absenteeism among students aged between 11 and 16, thus fighting school dropout.
Similarly, partners had the opportunity to visit Pedro Arrupe Centre, directed by the Jesuits Refugee Service in Portugal, and aimed at easing migrants and homeless’ entrance into professional life. Partners were lucky enough to be able to dialogue and exchange impressions and ideas with those involved at the centre.
On the next day, Wednesday 28 September, the meeting evolved into the open event aimed at scrutinising how to develop a structural approach of reception and integration. Convicted as an international networking path (INP), it marked the occasion for partners and external stakeholders to discuss policy harmonisation, project integration and local-to-local cooperation.
Amadora hosted the international networking path to investigate how to develop a structural approach of reception and integration
Hence, the idea behind this INP was to contribute to provide a fruitful environment, allowing different stakeholders to reflect on European migrant issues and challenges with the possibility to take common positions and political statements addressed to the European Institutions.
Ms. Carla Tavares, Mayor of Amadora gave her opening speech, welcoming both guests and speakers while emphasising the municipality’s efforts and adopting mechanisms in terms of migrants’ structured integration.
Similarly, Ms. Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Secretary General, provided an overview of the commitment of the Association within the field, after having summarised the initiatives undertaken within the project.
The meeting saw also the presence of Ms. Birgit Luus, Policy Officer DG HOME, European Commission and Ms. Jasmijn Slootjes, Migration Policy Institute Europe, who provided an overview on the legal aspects and the increasing role and recognition of cities as essential in creating resilient and ‘emergency-proof’ migrant integration systems; respectively.
As also expressed by many participants, listening to the testimonies of three people from Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan symbolised one of the most intense moments of the international meeting.
In the afternoon, a roundtable discussion with several stakeholders took place. The aim was to exchange on how to improve the reception system and how to strengthen the social cohesion of the migrant’s community through action both at national and local levels.
Overall, the international networking path in Amadora was an opportunity to also further discuss and analyse the objective of the meeting, starting by the different experiences participants had on inclusion/integration policies and practices; or by discussing the different faces of a multicultural society.
Signing ceremony of the Magna Charta for an International League of Democracy Cities
On September the 24th 2022, ALDA Secretary General, Antonella Valmorbida, took part in the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, in the city of Lucerne, Switzerland. Being the largest gathering devoted to direct democracy worldwide, the forum welcomed participants from academic, political and civil society perspectives.
From a general standpoint, the goal of the initiative is to bring together people with different experiences and backgrounds, so as to give activists and organisations the opportunity to share their insights and connect with others working on the same issues. Thus, this forum stems from the fact that democracy is challenged on all political levels today, in the world as much as in the host country of this year’s Global Forum, Switzerland.
The Forum was coordinated by an international consortium under the leadership of the Swiss Democracy Foundation, chaired by Adrian Schmid, and Democracy International, where Global Manager for PR & Community Building Caroline Vernaillen brings together the threads from all over the world.
Within this context, ALDA Secretary General took the floor during the Concluding Plenary Panel on how to save Democracy, presented by SwissInfo Channel. The focus of this panel was on the big challenges and crises that democracy is facing in this era, such as authoritarianism, fake news, pandemics and war; particular relevance has been put on the need for deep inclusion, resilience and a just democracy.
As each year’s forum, also the GFMDD 22 ended with a final declaration drawn up and adopted by the participants, summarising the content of the conference and defining proposals for further cooperation.
Ms. Valmorbida signed the Magna Charta of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy on behalf of ALDA, with the mandate from the Governing Board
The first draft of the document was developed and agreed upon at the 2018 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy in Rome, with the strong support of that city’s parliament and of representatives of cities across the globe. Since then, it has been the subject of extensive global discussion. In its current version, the Magna Charta identifies 20 different democracy dimensions at the local level — so that citizens and urban institutions can formulate an idea of where their own cities rank in terms of democracy development.
During the last day of the Forum, the signing ceremony of the Magna Charta for an International League of Democracy Cities took place. The Charter commits the signatories to implement policies on citizens engagement at the local level.
*** Apart from ALDA signing the Magna Charta, also representatives from 6 cities joined, namely Valongo (PT), Nancy (F), Lausanne (CH), León (ES), Amsterdam (NL), Bucharest (RO) and as well as from network organisations and projects like the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), and the European Capital of Democracy (ECoD), where Ms. Valmorbida is Chairwoman of the Experts’ Jury.
The Czech Presidency, as previously done by the other Countries, has set its guiding lights to be carried out during its mandate, for the second semester of 2022.
Following the “three R” of its motto: “Europe as a Task: Rethink, Rebuild, Repower”, priorities can be unfolded as follow:
Managing the refugee crisis and Ukraine’s post-war recovery
Energy security
Strengthening Europe’s defense capabilities and cyber-space security
Strategic resilience of the European economy
Resilience of democratic institutions
These five pillars are also met and pursued by ALDA in its commitment to empower European citizens, and fostering the role of Europe as regional and international strategic actor.
ALDA’s strategies meet the Czech Republic Presidency priorities
Starting from the first priority, on Ukraine’s post war recovery, since the very beginning, back in February 2022, ALDA has launched not only a series of initiatives; but it has also concretely contributed to provide tangible support to the local communities. The “Call to open new LDAs” is among the latest.
At the same time, the Association is in line with Czech Presidency’s priority in terms of energy security. Thus, benefitting from the development and implementation of several projects, ALDA has been able to foster energy security by engaging with people. More specifically, by supporting local actions activities to fight climate change, while focusing on clean and renewable energy; great commitment has been devoted to sensitize citizens on this matter.
Ukraine has been experiencing an unjust and inhuman invasion from Russian troops since February 2022. Yet, the resistance and resilience of Ukrainian people is heroic and without precedent. It is for those people that are now living under the war, that the Association has strongly worked, as also demonstrated with the campaign #ALDAforUkraine.
Since the very beginning, ALDA has been active in Ukraine, with members and partners developing a series of initiatives aimed to improve people’s lives. Thus, thanks to the Local Democracy Agency Dnipro, established in 2014 with the support of Lower Silesia – Poland; andDemocracy Agency Mariupol (funded in 2017 with the support of Gdansk – Poland), the Association is a strategic player in the Country. Specifically, the two above-mentioned LDAs, based on the decentalised cooperation mechanism, work together with civil society to support peace, and community development.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, ALDA consolidated its efforts on international advocacy, support to LDAs in Ukraine, and fundraising for humanitarian projects.
As stated in our Flagship Initiative in Ukraine, ALDA has the goal and is opening more LDAs in Ukraine as instruments to promote peace and cohesion, helping to foster understanding, cooperation and ultimately a brighter future for all those affected by the ongoing crisis.
Indeed, on 17 November 2023, ALDA proudly declared the official opening of Local Democracy Agency Odesa in Ukraine, marking not only a historic milestone for Odesa but also coinciding with the celebration of 30 years of Local Democracy Agencies in the Balkans. This landmark event symbolises a significant stride in advancing ALDA’s vision of resilient, inclusive, and sustainable communities.
LDAs have been implementing several projects since the start of the full-scale invasion to support local communities and the IDPs.
For almost 10 years, ALDA has thus worked and built strong relations with local actors, and communities. After the General Assembly in 2022, ALDA’s commitment has turned into concrete actions. The “Donors Conference” held in July 2022 in Brussels showcased the needs of communities of four cities where ALDA is most active: Dnipro, Odesa, Vinnytsia, and Mariupol. The conference of Wroclaw in November 2022 identified 10 recommendations for local self-governments that would pave the way for more targeted support. The Secretary-General and some members of ALDA’s Governing Board visited Ukraine in May 2023, which was followed by the big “All-partners meeting of Ukraine LDAs” during the General Assembly in June 2023. In July 2023 the Ukraine Flagship Initiative was presented to the delegation of Verkhovna Rada Committee on Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning in Brussels. On 23-24 November 2023 ALDA organised the “International Conference on Decentralised Support for Ukrainian Communities” in Vicenza in cooperation with the Municipality of Vicenza and with the support of U-LEAD with Europe and the Central European Initiative. Italian, European and Ukrainian local authorities took part to discuss the role of medium-sized municipalities and the territorial approach.
ALDA actions in Ukraine are implemented by the Ukraine Task Force comprising teams based in Kyiv, Brussels, Wroclaw, Chisinau, and Vicenza.
In light of this, the Association is now willing to further encourage its network, partners and friends to also take part in this commitment to support people in Ukraine. How?
By asking for more information on the overall work of ALDA and the LDAs in Ukraine
By joining and becoming a partner of the LDAs, which soon are going to be open
September brings great news and opens up to new paths, not only at ALDA’s but internationally! With great enthusiasm, colleagues from Strasbourg, Vicenza, Skopje, Moldova and Tunis offices are happy to support the candidacy of Antonella Valmorbida for the position of Secretary General of the Congress.
Based on her previous experience not only as Secretary General of ALDA and President of EPD – European Partnership for Democracy; but also as Steering Committee member of the Civil society Convention for the Conference on the Future of Europe, and more recently as Chair of the Jury of the European Capital of Democracy, Ms. Valmorbida puts the value of democracy as guiding light in her daily work and commitment.
Antonella Valmorbida’s candidature: “for a stronger, more relevant and strategic” Congress
As further stressed in her manifesto “it will be necessary to identify and valorise the strong added value as a unique local democracy assembly, representing a large Europe”. Hence, the current ALDA SG has, since the very beginning, worked with local communities, starting from people’s needs and fighting for their rights.
The latter are also at the core of many trainings delivered by Ms.Valmorbida in different areas, from North Africa to Western Balkans and Caucasus, together with professionals and stakeholders such as UN Habitat and UNDP. Furthermore, with experts from the United Nations, Ms. Valmorbida has been fully involved in “participatory democracy” courses in Ukraine, thus having a deep and profound understanding of the local context.
Now, at ALDA’s everyone is thrilled for this new adventure that our Secretary General is undertaking. Each of us is supporting her, sure that her passion and expertise will be essential for the next year and the future of the Congress of the Council of Europe.
Members are a vital part of the Association. That is why ALDA is now presenting a five-day event specifically dedicated to its network!
From a general perspective, through this tailor-made meeting, ALDA is willing to provide participants with the latest news and updates not only on the activities of ALDA, but also to further illustrate the possibilities and benefits of joining the network. Furthermore, the event will be the perfect occasion to gain necessary knowledge and learn new tools necessary when operating within the field of citizens’ participation and EU Project Development.
Membership Days: to further engage the network, and to build stronger relations
Therefore, the agenda has been structured as follows:
4th October: Working Groups meeting – plan and debate about the topics and proposals that the WGs could work on
5th October: From European to local level – Training on local events and citizens’ engagement, with European Programme Manager of “Democracy International” Daniela Vancic
6th October: Training on EU funding and Project Cycle Management
Those attending will receive a certificate awarded by ALDA, strategic partner of the European Commission and of the Council of Europe!
Overall, since its first day, ALDA is stimulating and fostering exchange with its network, willing to promote and improve the exchange of best practices in the field of local governance and citizens’ active participation. Thanks to the variety of origins and the different field of actions of each member, the network is a multicultural professional group that enriches not only the Association, but the participants themselves.
*** For further information please email the Membership Officer through this link
ALDA took part in the International Democracy Day on the 15th September 2022, hosted by the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
The day was split between different sessions with a wide range of high-level speakers, international democracy advocates and activists from both sides of the Atlantic and the Global South, that addressed the challenges of the new world order for democracy. The focus was the mechanisms to protect and support democracy around the world.
The morning session tackled democracy in the era of geopolitics, and was hosted by International IDEA. It opened with the key speech by Rana Ayyub, an Indian journalist working for the Washington Post, who pointed out the situation in India, with particular reference to human rights violations in the largest democracy in the world.
The discussion then continued with exchanges with Jerzy Pomianowski, Executive Director of European Endowment for Democracy, and Christina Kokkinakis, Deputy Managing Director Global and Director for Values and Multilateral relations at the European External Action Service (EEAS).
The second panel focused on EU Presidencies and the EU External Democracy Agenda, with uninteresting input by Cecilia Ruthström-Ruin, Sweden’s ambassador for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law on how democracies do not wage war against each other, and Sweden’s commitment in the defense of democracy.
International Democracy Day 2022: ALDA present at the Committee of the Regions to share with other CSOs and Institutions
The day ended with a panel by the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD), network within which ALDA is an active member, on the political participation of young people, with interventions of different speakers, among whom Chiara Adamo, Acting Director for Human Development, Migration, Governance and Peace at the European Commission.
Thus, the democratic dimension is at the core of Association’s work and events such as the one held in Brussels are a good example of how to engage with others and exchange ideas on the status of democracy around the world, since 2021 was a year of further democratic backsliding in many countries worldwide. Hence, ALDA’s principles rely on the belief that a global democratic world can lay only on democratic local communities as also testified by the events and initiatives organised; among them the General Assembly 2022.
Finally, the ALDA team participated actively and had the chance to exchange views on the theme of democracy, its challenges and how to engage people in the political processes.
From 5 to 11 September 2022, ALDA Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida together with ALDA Trainer Anna Ditta delivered a course on “Promoting democracy through local authorities” with special focus on Libyan realities.
Taking place in the framework of the REBUILD project, funded by the European Commission and led by the Autonomous Province of Trento, this course, specifically called “training of trainers” (ToT), was addressed to 20 professors of 10 Universities dislocated in 10 different Libyan municipalities.
More in details, ToT tackled 3 different modules:
Transparency, accountability, ethics and good governance;
Crisis management;
Strategies and tools for inclusive civil participation in decision-making process.
Hence, participants have been guided in learning and debating about the features and principles of good local governance, according to the “European Charter for Local Self-government”; while working on crisis management and assessment of the risks.
“Training of trainers” was addressed to 20 professors of 10 Universities dislocated in 10 different Libyan municipalities
Moreover, the training marked the occasion also to go through the different steps of civil participation and learnt about the principles and tools useful to make it effective.
Overall, theory was combined with individual and working groups, role plays, presentation of both case-studies and field-visits. The 20 professors joining the ToT are now expected to deliver the training to their municipalities.
*** The training was delivered by ALDA, in cooperation with the International Cooperation Centre (Trento – Italy), and it took place in Kairouan (Tunisia)
