Strengthening citizens’ and local authorities’ role in the good local governance of all the European and neighbouring countries and facilitate cooperation between local authorities and civil society.
These main objectives of ALDA’s activity will be continued next June, on the occasion of the General Assembly 2012 of the Association, with two international Conferences and the discussion on ALDA strategy 2020. The event will take place in Udine, Italy, on the 7th and 8th of June.
ALDA General Assembly will start in the morning (8.45-13.00) of 7th and continue in the morning (9.00-13.00) of 8th. ALDA members will elect the new Governing Board that will lead the Association for the next four years, and will debate, also with partners, and approve the ALDA 2020 and multiannual programme.
In the afternoon of the first day (7th June) will be held the first International Conference on the issue “Strengthening the role of citizens and local governance in the neighbouring Countries: lessons learned and opportunities from East to South”.
During the conference, promoted by ALDA and the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, starting from a position paper by ALDA, the discussion will focus on the role of European Authorities and NGOs on promoting the participation of Civil Society on local governance.
For many years, European institutions, local authorities and civil society have been active to support democracy and good governance in Eastern Europe and in Western Balkans. The European Union decided a further enlargement towards South Eastern Europe and developed new forms of cooperation with Eastern partners. How this experience could be of benefit of southern countries, which are living a new and difficult spring? How to do it and bring an added value? Is it appropriate to do it? Which methodology to adopt in this case?
In the afternoon of the second day (8th June), will take place the second International Conference on the issue “Active Ageing and local governance: the elderly people as actors of active citizenship at the local level”, with the support of the EC Programme Europe for Citizens.
During the conference best practices by ALDA’s partners on the field of active ageing and the role of senior in twinning will be shared. As good practices from the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, the case of Trieste will be presented.
To develop new educational tools and training activities to support young people’s personal and professional development needs in order to access the labour market and their develop entrepreneurship competences. This was the main objective of an international seminar on Non Formal Education For Youth Employability which took place in Varese (2 – 5 May 2012).
The seminar was organised by Kaleidoscopio-Project Factory(Italy) and Inter-Accion(Spain). The event brought together 18 participants, most of them came from the non-governmental youth sector, but there were also government representatives and researchers in the youth field attending the seminar.
ALDA as an active partner in the coalition participated in the event with two representatives. Tommaso Dalla Vecchia and Seblewerk Dereje Edetie were actively involved in all the activities. They presented a workshop on the CITIZENS PANEL, which is one of the main ALDA’s innovative methodology to enhance citizens active participation and to promote the dialogue between the ordinary citizens and the institutions of the EU. Furthermore Marco Boaria, Resource and development unit coordinator of ALDA, presented to all participants the commission programme “EUROPE FOR CITIZENS” and encouraged the attending organisations to apply for this unique funding opportunity.
The project was successfully implemented. In the first day, participants took part in training course where they knew the project and specially the Youth in Action Programme. In the second day different workshops was organised by representatives of different organisations and local authorities active in youth employability projects. It was one of the best examples to learn how to search for partners and to use different tools to establish networks with other organisations and local authorities. In addition, participants shared good practices and used their knowledge to start initiatives that will lead to future projects. In the same day all participants had a great opportunity to be involved in a cultural evening organised by the hosting country. In the last day, the final evaluation meeting was held to discuss the final contents. The strong points recognised by most of the participants were better knowledge about the Europe for citizens programme, improved dialogue between different stakeholders and great opportunities to make positive change in the different countries.
As next concrete steps of the project, the international seminar “Itinere” will take place from 12th-15th of June in Cartagena (Region of Munica-Spain). This seminar will have the same focus on the topic in order to reinforce the developed strategy and strengthen the cooperation.
For more information please visit this website http://www.target2012.eu
Within the ALDA Prince project “Civil Trust Building – Find Your Way through the Enlargement Labyrinth”, has been launched an internship programme in the EU. For a 2-week period (11-25 June 2012) seven interns from the Western Balkans region will be placed for a two-week internship with six civil society organisations in EU member states. Interested potential candidates, young educated people who are motivated to learn and contribute to EU integration of their countries are invited to submit their applications by 18 May 2012.
This is one of the most important elements of the Project, and a unique opportunity for CSO representatives from the Western Balkans countries.
The six project partners in 6 EU member-states (Austria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) will receive 7 interns (2 for Hungary).
The selected internees will contribute to the national consultation meetings on EU enlargement and will be invited to share their experience and knowledge gained at the evaluation meeting in Vienna scheduled for the end of June. All relevant costs are covered.
This internship will include meetings, distribution of the Enlargement questionnaire, preparation of the National Citizens’ Consultations, and participation at the Vienna evaluation meeting.
Internship is open only to citizens of the 7 Western Balkans countries, interested in and knowledge of EU policies, particularly enlargement, with good organisational and communication skills, readiness to work in a team, a CSO background, 18-35 years old and good knowledge of English.
Interns will spend two weeks in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia or Slovenia from 11-25 June 2012. The last commitment will be the participation at the evaluation meeting in Vienna on 25 June 2012.
Interns will be places in one of these organisations: Austria: The World of NGOs, Hungary: European House, Italy: ARCI, Romania: Pro Democracy Association, Slovakia: Slovak Foreign Policy Association and Slovenia: Centre for Information Service, Co-operation and Development of NGOs (CNVOS).
Internship covers: accommodation, meals, local travel, insurance and other incidental costs during the internship and the evaluating meeting in Vienna; lost-cost trip to the host country; trip to Vienna for the evaluation meeting and return home.
You can apply by sending your Europass format CV and written contribution (up to 500 words) on your motivation. Send your application to info@civiltrustbuilding.eu with the subject line “Civil Trust Building – 2012 Internship”. Only applications received by 18 May 2012 will be accepted. Selected interns will be informed by 23 May 2012. For more information on the project please visit www.civiltrustbuilding.eu
The Albanian Association of Municipalities will organise a two-days international conference entitled “The Role of the Local Government Authorities Units in Offering Social Services – Ageing” in Tirana on 9th and 10th May 2012.
The conference is part of the project VIT- Very important twinning, Volunteering in town.
Vit project aims at creating a platform involving different types of stakeholders for debate, action and reflection on how citizens may enhance governance in Europe. At the same time, the project aims at revitalising existing town-twinning relations of the partner towns and initiate new twinning.
The first day will focus on presentation by representatives of national and local government on strategies developed at their level to provide to elderly good social services and to give them opportunities to stay active in the society. During the second day, speakers will share best practices on Active Ageing and will discuss on the role of Civil Society regarding elderly.
The ALDA project TIC-TAC (Training, Information, Cooperation – Towards Active Citizenship) is deeply entering in its second step with the organisation by partners of numerous local Info-days during the following month.
These local Info-days aim at fostering active citizenship at local level and at increasing the visibility of the Europe for Citizens Programme and disseminating its measures, benefits and working perspectives among local stakeholders. The organizators, which are all TIC-TAC partners, will share what they learned in Brussels during the training session in March with participants of the Info-day and encourage them to use the Europe for Citizens project as a tool for their future activities.
After the event organised in Bratsislava by the Union of Towns and Cities in Slovakia, in co-operation with ALDA and City Bratislava, on 21st April 2012, and the event promoted on 5th May in Osijek, Croatia, where the Local Democracy Agency Osijek organised different activities as questionnaire for citizens, communication with citizens, dissemination of material, processing of feedback from citizens, fiveadditonal Info-days are planned:
- on 11th May in Ireland. Theevent will be organised by Leafair Community Association.
- on 17th May inRubick, Albania: The Association of Albanian Municipalities (AAM) will organise in cooperation with the City of Rubick a one day event in Rubick during the Saint “Buemi” Day. The Info-day will be dedicated to the presentation of the project TIC-TAC and different activities (workshop, study visits, cultural animation) regarding the cultural traditions of the region and the European cultural heritage.
- 22th May in Denmark(almost confirmed). The event will be organised by the Municipality of Vejle.
- 1st June in Sofia, Bulgaria (almost confirmed). The event will be organised by the Association of European Partnership in cooperation with the Municiaplity of Sofia.
- Mid of June (exact dates to be confirmed) in Skopje and in Valandovo, Macedonia. Two events will be organised by the Center for Institutional Development (CIRa).
On the 9th of May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. Today the 9th of May, the “Europe Day”, has become a European symbol and the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and European peoples closer to one another.
The Local Democracy Agencies marked 9th of May by organising different public events in their local communities to help increase the level of information on different aspects of EU integration.
This year particular focus was on youth and EU active citizenship, while also during the week a wide range of cultural programmes promoting the co-operation links with EU counterparts was organised in the cities all across the Western Balkans. In Croatia – LDA Verteneglio, Sisak and Osijek organised cultural events gathering young people and volunteers, quiz for the secondary school students, public debates gathering citizens from all sections of local community.
Marking the Day of Europe has become a part of regular annual activities of the LDA-s in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia, taking place in Zavidovici, Mostar, Prijedor, Subotica and Nis.
During the week LDA Mostar organised a series of local events gathering citizens of diverse ethnic background to promote good local neighbors’ days, in Subotica a public round table on interculturalism and good governance took place and the public NGO fair organised with the support of EU Delegation in Serbia took place in the main city square.
A public debate on “Common heritage and Policy”, organised by the Veneto regional branch of the European Federalist Movement, in collaboration with ALDA, will take place Sunday, May 6 in Vicenza.
Water, air, energy, environment, landscape, health, education, must be considered “commons heritage”, not available for use of a part.
The management of this “common heritage” should be “personal and common,” alternative to private and public (individual Country or local authority) management.
After the introduction of Lucio Perosin, coordinator of the event, will intervene Giorgio Rivolta, professor of philosophy, Paolo Cacciari, journalist and political activist, and Matteo Roncarà, Secretary MFE Veneto.
The debate will take place at Pensionato Studenti – Residenza Universitaria “Madonna di Monte Berico”
Contrà San Marco 3 Vicenza.
Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Director and Coordinator of the Sub Group on Local Government and Public Administration Reform of the Civil Society Forum for Eastern Partnership, was one of the speakers at the meeting on “Public Administration reform in Eastern Partnership countries: how far, how deep?”.
The event has been organised by the EPC, European Policy Center, in Brussels (3rd of May 2012).
After the welcome speeches by Mr Eberhard Rhein, Senior Adviser, EPC, and Mr. Matti Maasikas, Permanent Representative of Estonia to the EU, other speakers were Mr. Alexei Sekarev, Project Manager, Estonian Centre of Eastern Partnership, Mr. Richard Tibbels, Head of Division for the Eastern Partnership, Regional Cooperation and OSCE, EEAS, and Mr. Keit Kasemets, Strategy Director, Government Office of Estonia.
The event was held under the auspices of the EPC’s Europe in the World programme, and has been organised in cooperation with the Permanent Representation of Estonia to the EU and the Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership.
More than 30 young people coming from 4 different European countries celebrated the “Earth Day” in Peja/Pec (Kosovo) with interactive actions in the main square of the City. Participants prepared leaflets with slogans concerning environment protection, alternative waste bins made from recycled materials and put in place a public flashmob.
All participants worn green t-shirts and distributed the leaflets with environmental protection slogans to local citizens.
ALDA, in cooperation with Tavolo Trentino con il Kossovo and LDA Kosovo, implemented the youth exchange “Earth Day” from 16 April till 22 April in Peja/Pec (Kosovo) in the framework of the European programme Youth in Action. The purpose was to make youngsters aware of the environmental issues in Kosovo and in their local communities and to define common strategies of action. The participants came to Kosovo to take part in this exchange from many countries in Europe: Italy, France, Serbia and Kosovo. The project finished on 22nd April with a public event celebrating the ”Earth Day” in the main square of Peja/Pec.
In the period of 25 and 26 April 2012, in Caen, the capital of the French Region Lower Normandy, the Coalition of youth organisations – SEGA and the House of Europe in Caen, will organise Study visit on the topic “Volunteerism as a factor for social cohesion”. The Macedonian delegation will be represented by one representative of youth organisation working with volunteers and one representative of Macedonian municipality.
During the visit, the Macedonian delegation will have an opportunity to meet with representatives from Lower Normandy organisations working with volunteers. Macedonian representatives will also visit governmental institutions and CSOs responsible for implementation of the programme Service Civique (Citizen Service).
This activity is part of the component: Youth, Local and European Citizenship within the Project for decentralised cooperation between Republic of Macedonia and the region of Lower Normandy – France, managed by ALDA, implemented by the Coalition of youth organisations SEGA – Macedonia and the European House of Caen – France.
A meeting of municipalities and communities from the Region of Lower Normandy who cooperate with the Macedonian municipalities will take place on April 25 in Caen. The meeting will gather the officials and representatives from the Lower Normandy communities, but also representatives of the Regional Council of Lower Normandy, as well as representatives of the organisation Horizons Solidaires and the representatives from ALDA Skopje office that are in charge of technical support for the cooperation of cities.
Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the progress of each municipality in the cooperation and will give an update on administrative and financial matters. They will also discuss the opportunities in establishing new links and introducing other municipalities in the cooperation. One part of the meeting will focus on the tourism component, as a part of the Decentralised cooperation between the Region Lower Normandy and Republic of Macedonia, and on the role of the municipalities from both regions in tourism development.
In the framework of the Decentralised cooperation between Lower Normandy and Macedonia, there are currently seven active town twining’s, and more pairings are planned in the future. The town twinning segment builds up contacts and friendship with communities from the two territories and promotes better understanding. The Programme for Decentralised cooperation is coordinated by ALDA.
The Union of Towns and Cities of Slovakia, in co-operation with ALDA and City Bratislava, organises InfoDay Europe for Citizens that take place in Bratislava, on the 21th of April, 2012, within the ALDA Project TIC-TAC – Training, Information, Cooperation – Towards Active Citizenship.
The event will be held in Primatial Palace, Primacialne nam. 1, from 8:00 to 18:00.
This InfoDay is the first local event organised within the project TIC-TAC and will be followed by eleven other similar initiatives taken by the other partners of this project.
The InfoDay will focus on the promotion of Europe for Citizens Program, history and the concept of Europe wide town-twinning initiatives; deepen knowledge about the concept of active citizenship and citizen’s participation in the European context.
The InfoDay create the platform for the meeting of local authorities and citizens that are interested in the field of active citizenship and in improving governance and relationships between citizens and municipal governments at all levels
ALDA is now implementing in the city of Peja/Pec the project Youth wears Green, in the framework of the Youth in Action Programme and in collaboration with TcK “Tavolo Trentino con il Kosovo”. The topic of the exchange is the environmental protection.
The project, whose first day activity started on 16 April 2012, has been seeing the participation of youngsters aged 18-25 from Italy, France, Serbia and Kosovo. The participants are being involved in debating on environmental issues and in promoting green measures that could be applied locally.
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the living and working together, the organising team had to register the strong disappointment of all those involved of not having the opportunity to meet with the Georgian participants. Kosovo authorities denied the access of the Georgian participants at the airport border and qualified them as suspicious people despite the possession of the legal documents required and sent back to them as unwelcomed people.
Despite the inconvenience had with the participants from Georgia the youth exchange has been implementing with a great success allowing participants to reflect and discuss on sustainable development, protection of nature, global worming and the most vivid topic on environmental protection. Different tools and methodologies has been applied during the exchange, all within the framework of non-formal education and highlighting the creativity of the participants.
On Saturday 14th April 2012 the first training session for young volunteers who want to become EU promoters in their community took place in the premises of the Local Democracy Agency in Osijek. The session is a part of the project which is financially supported by the City of Osijek and which aims at capacity building of young people who would like to volunteer in civil and public sector on the implementation of activities related to EU topics.
The introductory lecture entitled “EU basics” was held by Mr. Domagoj Hajdukovic, Member of the Croatian Parliament and a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Family, Youth and Sports. The lecture included a chronological history and development of the European Union, its enlargement process as well as its institutions and bodies.
In direct contact with the Croatian MP the young people had an opportunity to hear more about the political parties in the EU, about its common market, the EU integration programs and about challenges the EU is facing today.
In the informal discussion that followed the lecture the young participants were interested to find out more about “eurocrats”, Switzerland and Norway, which are not formal EU members as well as about the prospects of employment in the EU after the Croatian accession to full EU membership.
The partner meeting of LDA Georgia will take place in Strasbourg on 19th of April 2012. The meeting will be held by the Municipality of Strasbourg, lead partner of the LDA.
Its main objectives will be the updating of LDA Georgia’s statute, the analysis of the situation regarding LDA partner’s network and the Action plan for 2012 – 2013.
The meeting will be opened by the welcome speech of Mrs. Nawel Rafik-Elmrini, Vice Mayor of Strasbourg, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Director and Mr. Ioseb Khakhaleishvili, Executive Director of LDA Georgia.
A group of five young people from Georgia, was not allowed to enter Kosovo for a Youth Exchange promoted by ALDA and Tavolo Trentino per il Kosovo, for unjustified reasons.
Alda is concerned for such an act which is affecting the sense of integration and friendship the Association is trying to disseminate among young people in South Eastern Europe and Neighbouring Countries. A letter of complaint from ALDA President, Mr. Per Vinther, and a local partner of our Youth in Action Initiative in Kosovo, was addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Mr. Enver Hoxhaj, to the European Commissioner Fuele, to the Agency for Youth in Action and to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
The elections for the new Governing Board of ALDA will take place on 7th of June during the morning session of the ALDA General Assembly in Udine (I).
ALDA invites its members to consider their possible candidature on the new Board.
Deadline to submit candidatures is scheduled for the 11th of May 2012, following the indications included in the official invitation.
In the period between the deadline and the General Assembly all the candidates profile will be published on ALDA website.
On April 2, 2012 in the municipality of Veles (MK) the Macedonian partners of the Decentralised cooperation between Lower Normandy and Macedonia, met during Intermediate Steering Committee. This encounter followed the Steering Committee for French partners, held in Caen on the March 20, 2012.
Mrs. Nadège Lécluse, Head of international cooperation and mobility division of the Regional Council of Lower Normandy, together with Mr. Gallet, Attaché for cooperation at the Embassy of France in Macedonia, and Mr. Zafirovski, Councillor in the Ministry of Local Self-Government of Macedonia, co-chaired the meeting.
The partners were able to expand their general knowledge on the current political situation in France, as well as in the Region of Lower Normandy, which is very different from the political structure in Macedonia. They also had the opportunity to discuss about the important issues regarding the program of the Decentralised cooperation, the cooperation between municipalities and the previewed activities for the end of this year.
In the domain of communication, they were able to exchange on the logo and the new website of the cooperation.
This Steering Committee reaffirmed the engagement of the institutional partner, the Ministry of Local Self-Government of Macedonia, in particular in renewing the agreements of cooperation between the Region of Lower Normandy and Republic of Macedonia, previewed for next July. At this occasion Mr. Laurent Beauvais, the President of the Region of Lower Normandy will visit Macedonia and attend the Final Steering Committee, which will have more political than technical dimension.
The Programme for decentralised cooperation between the Region Lower Normandy and Republic of Macedonia is coordinated by ALDA.