Awarded with the European Union’s Operating Grant of the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV), ALDA promotes the participation of citizens and local communities to the Union Values. In line with the Programme’s priorities and objectives, many of ALDA’s projects and initiatives are inspired by the CERV’s four pillars, and are implemented in cooperation with a large network of members and partners all over Europe and its Neighbourhood. More in specific, the four pillars are:
- Equality, Rights and Gender Equality
- Citizens’ engagement and participation
- Fight all types of violence
- Protect and promote Union values
More concretely, within the ‘Citizens’ engagement and participation’ pillar, ALDA joined the Award Ceremony of the “Let’s become European Citizens” by European Federalist Movement (EFM), which took place on 30th June 2022 in Verona, Italy.
The contest, promoted by the EFM, involved a number of students from the Veneto region and aimed at promoting a closer approach of young people to the European Union’s policies and issues. Through initiatives such as this one, ALDA can tackle these issues with a bottom-up approach, relying on the support of sponsors and partners sharing the same values.
Benefitting from 20 years of experience when it comes to citizen engagement and mobilisation, ALDA strongly believes in and supports the active participation of youngsters in the European processes, and thus raising awareness on the benefits of European citizenship from a younger age.
ALDA strongly believes in and supports the active participation of youngsters in the European processes
The DESIRE Project, for example, aims at stimulating youngsters’ critical thinking and raising consciousness on the EU and its core values and advantages. This is particularly compelling in an historical moment where the Union is fighting against euro-scepticism and internal divisions. Starting from the younger generations to achieve a higher objective, ALDA can stimulate growth and development of the democratic realities citizens are living in with the direct participation of civil society, in order to foster active participation in the European process.
These are just two of the many projects ALDA is involved in: the activities supported by the Operating Grant’s programme are diverse and entail various partners.
Overall, ALDA’s actions for the promotion of democracy and citizens participation in Europe are effective and contribute both in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030, and in proactively supporting the attainment of the CERV Programme’s objectives and principles.