PEACE Education aims to create an inclusive learning environment and to reduce violence by providing the necessary skills and knowledge to teachers and other educators to integrate Peace Education into their respective teaching experiences, providing students with the appropriate vocabulary, opportunities for practice and peaceful problem solving-skills.
OBJECTIVES
Among the main objectives of the project:
Provide teachers and students with a conceptual understanding of peace education.
Acquire a holistic and critical understanding of the theory and practice of peace
education.
Search for and identify the best ways to teach peace.
Review evaluation studies on the impact and effectiveness of peace education.
Model, experience and practice peaceful classrooms and healthy group dynamics.
Become critical learners and reflective peace practitioners.
Gain an appreciation of the foundations of just and peaceful societies.
Encourage positive action and non-violent conflict resolution in society.
Enhance students’ intellectual flexibility, creativity and problem-solving capacities.
The 2019 EU parliamentary elections confirmed a further rise of support for Eurosceptic parties in Europe as well as a general loss of confidence in politics both at national and at EU level. By stimulating democratic discussions between Eurosceptic and pro-EU political forces, the project attempts to promote the idea that the political polarisation within EU societies is threatening the internal stability and should be avoided.
Therefore, in line with the Europe for Citizens’ programme, the project aims both at increasing political involvement of the European citizens and providing them with tools and knowledge to better understand the political debates around the future of Europe.
OBJECTIVES
The general objective of the project is to foster European citizenship and to improve the conditions for civic and democratic participation at Union level.
These goals will be achieved by putting forward three main activities:
Creation of a website “Observatory tool”: The website will provide users with an in-depth analysis of the state of play of the Eurosceptic political parties in Europe and their positions. The “Observatory tool” not only will make use of an intuitive graphic to allow an immediate comparison between the different Eurosceptic forces but it will also include an interactive map of Europe and a short summary of each political parties (history, main ideas of the party, etc.).
Events across Europe: Several cities across Europe have been carefully selected on the basis of specific challenges to tackle (es: a Mediterranea city and migration, Lens and deinstitutionalization, etc.) . The event will be divided in two parts:
A citizens’ workshop in which several groups will have a solution-oriented debate to provide practical recommendations that will be collected in a political manifesto;
A round-table between local practitioners, academic experts, civil society members representing different political opinions (both pro-EU and Eurosceptic).
Publications: A massive dissemination activity will be put forward by all the partners. Academic articles, papers on the most recent trends on the European political scene, the citizens’ manifesto, will be available on the project website.
On January 12 & 13, 2023, the Kick-Off Meeting of the project took place in Lousada (Portugal), where the consortium was kindly hosted by the Municipality of Lousada.
The first transnational partner meeting represented a great opportunity for the six partners to get to know each other and work on the next steps of the project.
Different challenges are faced by young people in the context of globalisation (demographic and climate changes, artificial intelligence, democratic disaffection or pandemics etc.) and very often they are left out from participatory processes at all levels.
2030 Youth Vision project, based on the wide experience of project partners on youth participation in civic and democratic life, aims to increase the active participation of young people, with a focus on those belonging to disadvantaged groups, in the co-production of local policies for the achievement of SDGs.
It is of great importance that the voice of youth is effectively considered in the process and that young people are protagonists in the achievement of these goals.
2030 Youth Vision project aims to increase the active participation of young people, with a focus on those belonging to disadvantaged groups
During this two-days meeting, the consortium discussed the organisational, management and financial aspects of the 2030 Youth Vision project, as well as the communication and dissemination strategy to be implemented.
This Kick-Off meeting has been a great opportunity to lay the foundation of the project and build a strong partnership.
Period:
01/02/2022 - 01/01/2027
Countries involved:
Austria Belgium Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Netherlands Portugal Slovenia Spain United Kingdom
SHARED GREEN DEAL brings together 22 leading organisations from across the EU that cover core elements of the European Green Deal cross cutting priorities such as civil society, democracy, gender, energy, environment, circular economy, and innovation. SHARED GREEN DEAL will span all EU Green Deal policy areas in:
Undertaking 6 streams of social experiments (each in 4 different EU or H2020-Associated countries
Conducting socio-cultural comparisons of collective practices and individual behaviours (and influences),across different European contexts
Developing an ambitious multi-stakeholder Shared Green Deal Network
Providing both reactive policy insights for the short-term and proactive policy insights for the longer-term. (e.g. findings will be used to develop a Green Deal – Policy Tracker, to monitor Member State implementation of EU Green Deal policies
OBJECTIVES
SHARED GREEN DEAL’s core goal is to stimulate shared actions on Green Deal initiatives across Europe, by providing Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) tools to support the implementation of 8 EU Green Deal policy areas, at the local and regional level.
Through the Project’s broad membership-based network partners, social experiments in 24 European locations will be aligned with current strategic priorities of on-the-ground policy, NGO, business and citizen groups.
The resulting SHARED GREEN DEAL Network will build capacity, maximise impacts, and enable longer term system change throughout the 2020s and beyond.
GREEN DEAL PRIORITIES
SHARED GREEN DEAL is structured around lessons from a set of 24 social experiments that target six specific priority Green Deal topics all of which contribute to the climate action and zero pollution ambitions of the Green Deal. They are:
The project aims to improve awareness about the importance of developing multi-disciplinary skills in the policy making field, primarily addressing students, but also decision-makers, urban planners, NGOs, CSOs, social workers and scientists.
The goal of P-CUBE is to build an educational strategy game (the Policy Game) designed to teach the theory and practice of public policy making to different groups of people, principally students. The prototype of the game will be developed during the project, and it will be presented to different audiences in various national and international settings. The game will then be modified to incorporate their comments and suggestions.
Besides the project partners, P-CUBE benefits from the support and contribution of the following associated partners:
University of Teramo (Italy)
University of Padova (Italy)
Institute for Social Research (Italy)
OBJECTIVES
The basic assumption, supported by the literature on Public Policy studies, is that the dynamics for policy making processes are similar within different policy fields, yet the set of actors varies from one policy to another. The Policy Game, therefore, has two objectives:
Show how decisions in the public sphere are taken and what kinds of decisional strategies can be employed by the promoters of policy innovation.
Help players/students/trainees become familiar with the specificities of the policy fields in which they are involved.
THE:PLACE – Türkiye Hand in hand with Europe: Programme for Local Authorities and Civil society Exchange aims to build up lasting Turkey – European Union networks of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that work on local issues, promoting an exchange aimed to increase their capacity to create meaningful impact in their respective areas of work.
OBJECTIVES
THE:PLACE programme aims to favour the empowerment of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Local Authorities (LAs) as actors of local development, through specific capacity building, peer learning and joint cooperation on co-designed common projects.
The programme seeks to create quadrilateral partnerships composed of 1 CSO based in Türkiye associated with 1 LA + 1 CSO based in the EU associated with 1 LA.
The project wants to encourage women in joining participation mechanisms while mainstreaming gender equality at the local level. The project foresees the active involvement of 14 pilot provinces or district municipalities from every regions of Türkiye, which will work to strengthen gender equality during the 12-month project period, under the guidance of the CEMR’s “European Charter of Equality in Local Life”.
OBJECTIVES
The project aims at promoting municipalities for the establishment of Local Equality Action Plans, implementing the necessary strategies for including women into urban life and local decision-making processes.
It also aims at establishing Gender Equality offices in the pilot Municipalities, transferring the Turkish law od 6284 “Protect family and prevent violence against women” and the Istanbul Convention to the citizens, implementing gender-based budgeting techniques and designing permanent monitoring and evaluation mechanisms based on these results.
The project AVATAR has been created to foster the development of digital culture and the adoption of new digital services for citizens, enterprises, CSOs and public administration. It has five areas of intervention: training, socio-medical, business, third sector and public administration. Overall there are eleven municipalities of the Alto Vicentino (Isola Vicentina, Malo, Marano Vicentino, Monte di Malo, San Vito di Leguzzano, Santorso, Thiene, Torrebelvicino, Valdagno, Villaverla and Zugliano); 4 technical partners: Pasubio Tecnologia, Wikimedia Italia, MegaHub, Alda+ and 48 supporters
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the project are to:
create in the Northern Vicenza area Open Innovation Laboratories as places of active meeting and participation (Innovation LAb).
foster a participatory approach to the creation and modernisation of digital public services, through the Digital Gyms
Disseminate the culture of open data of public bodies among citizens and enterprises
Increase the number of citizens using Internet and their awareness about the potential of digital technology.
The project promotes principles of good governance with a view to effective and responsive performance of the local government units in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project will empower the capacities of local authorities (elected leaders and civil servants) and civil society in implementing participative processes.
Together they will identify concrete problems of the community that will find their solutions thanks to the participative approach. The project will therefore build capacities and solve problems, by consolidating the approach in the years to come.
OBJECTIVES
The projects aims at
Creating stronger links to citizens by engaging in public policy process.
Reaching out to society as a whole including marginalised groups and grass root communities and encouraging civic activism and public participation in policy-making.
Supporting capable, transparent and accountable Local Authorities and effective Civil Society Organisations.
In addition, Local Authorities have enabling policies and rules for grass root organisations and civic initiatives; while CSOs created network for coalition-building for increased impact in campaigning and advocacy.
The great international adventure of CAMELOT project (Cities And Metropolis in Europe Laboring Onward Together) ended on Thursday 16 February at Palazzo Isimbardi, the institutional headquarter of the Metropolitan City of Milan.
“Today we’re concluding this project, which has been able to promote eight events and lots of local activities, despite the pandemics” – stated Mr. Purcaro, General Director and Secretary of the Metropolitan City of Milan. “CAMELOT has favoured the cooperation between active citizens and public bodies” – he continued “in the process of building a metropolitan European identity”.
“CAMELOT has favoured the cooperation between active citizens and public bodies in the process of building a metropolitan European identity” – Mr. Purcaro, General Director and Secretary of the Metropolitan City of Milan
Hence, the added value of this project lays on the networking activities implemented among partners, in terms of exchanging experiences and good practices on the management of European funds, and improving the correct use of the latter. Thus, accessing fundings at EU level is a valuable way to support local bodies (Metropolitan Cities in this case) to empower citizens and improve their living conditions also in marginalised neighbourhoods.
Specifics and details of the targeted areas are available on the project website, which collects all the results and events achieved and implemented within the 36 months-length of the project itself. In addition, in order to encourage citizens’ awareness and interest in this crucial topic, the outputs of the project are available online in different languages.
Overall, this final event contributed to achieve the aim of the project: encourage democratic and civic participation of citizens at a European level, while creating a network of Metropolitan Cities and fostering sharing of good practices and knowledge on European funds.
*** The project has been developed in the framework of, and financed by, the Europe for Citizens Programme 2014-2020. Details: 148.680 euro available, 36 months of work, 9 European partners and 500 people involved
“What protections and assistance does democracy, in its most direct form, require to survive and thrive?”
This will be the question that experts, Organisations and Associations, promoters of direct democracy worldwide, will try to answer during the “2023 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy”, which will take place in Mexico City from February 27, until March 4, 2023.
This year’s Global Forum represents a great opportunity for Mexico and Latin America, not only for the importance and weight of the topics discussed, but also because it will be the first one held in the Western Hemisphere after more than 10 years.
Organised by a consortium led by the Independent Electoral Institute, the Forum will analyse how the new and innovative constitution of the city-state will impact democracy globally. In addition, it will dig into the situation of direct democracy in Mexico and Latin America, exploring its promises and perils.
The Global Forum will also examine, through the intervention of various speakers, the infrastructure required for a strong democracy, discussing concrete opportunities for protecting and expanding democracy worldwide.
ALDA, and its member Labsus, will take part in the 2023 Global Forum contributing to the support of democracy worldwide
ALDA, being committed to the promotion of democracy and citizen participation since its establishment, will take part in the event together with its member Labsus, the Laboratory for Subsidiarity, represented by its vice-president, Daniela Ciaffi, to bring an additional value given from the expertise of the latter in the field of democratic processes.
Labsus’ aim, in a nutshell, is to educate citizens about the opportunities at their disposal to contribute in giving a solution to issues of common interest, together with public administration.
With a Panel titled “Mechanisms for citizen participation in key sectors (health, security, construction and food)” which will take place on Friday, March 3, 2023, ALDA and Labsus, together with IDDECO Internacional, will contribute to the discussion by hosting a session on the tools that citizens can use to participate in the democratic dialogue.
An active, responsible and participatory citizenship is the key for a long-lasting democratic system.
strengthening Local Democracy Agencies in Ukraine #westandwithukraine
No one should be left behind, especially under war circumstances. The role of the civil society and local authorities in building peace, reconstruction and counterbalancing the atrocities caused by the Russian invasion is fundamental. Institutions, at the same time, should also work in cooperation among each other and together with the representatives of the local communities to be resilient in this war.
ALDA is working exactly to achieve this aim: bridging institutions and CSOs together to create a network of stakeholders that will reconstruct Ukraine, day by day. Benefitting from the deep knowledge of Ukrainian society, and from the initiatives already implemented with both LDA Dnipro and LDA Mariupol, during the latest mission to Ukraine Ms. Valmorbida – ALDA Secretary General; Mr. Coica – Eastern Partnership Coordinator; and Mr. Ostrowski, in charge of the development of the LDAs in Ukraine, met different stakeholders with whom further co-create a path for reconstruction and resilience in Ukraine.
“We visited Bucha, and the city Mayor, Mr. Fedoruk, expressed the interest in becoming member of ALDA” stated Ms. Valmorbida.
“Bucha is ready to become not only a member of the Association, but also to open an office in the city” –
The bond with the city of Mariupol is profound, long, and so enriching that the Mariupol State University has also started the process to become an ALDA Member. Visited during the February Mission, the University, now located in Kyiv clearly due to war, not only is providing support to students but it is also hosting the LDA itself. The Association cannot be more enthusiastic of its cooperation with Ukrainian Local Authorities and Universities. The team also had the chance to meet again the Mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boichenko.
ALDA’s activities in Ukraine and determining priorities in providing assistance to Ukrainian local self-government;
The roadmap of cooperation in engaging local governments of EU countries to support Ukraine;
Possibilities to further openings of ALDA representative offices in Kharkiv and other regions of Ukraine.
Finally, crucial meetings took place at the Polish, Italian and French Embassies thus to echo the voices of people living in Ukraine, while, at the same time, contributing to cooperation with governmental institutions.
“We are a global alliance of local authorities and civil society to support good local governance and we stand with Ukraine” concluded ALDA Secretary General, testifying the endless commitment of the Association for Ukraine, for peace and democracy.
This week the commitment continues with the organisation of the LDA Mariupol partners meeting in Gdansk (Poland) on 24 February 2022. ALDA calls for more partners to join the initiative:
Bucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA MembersBucha and Mariupol State University are ready to become ALDA Members
The so named Gruppo Scintilla (Spark Group) is a participatory process involving inhabitants of a neighbourhood of Vicenza (IT) in the decision-making process regarding its future. The project is focused in a highly multi-ethnic neighbourhood located close to the Central Station, facing serious issues related to social integration and illegal trafficking. The start a participatory process is to co-design a shared vision of the future of the neighbourhood, involving citizens in the co-designing process, and implementing activities in the area.
OBJECTIVES
The participatory process is aimed to redevelop an underserved and vulnerable neighbourhood of Vicenza. On the one hand a set of public consultations were implemented with the aim of defining the problems, collecting proposals towards a possible solution and developing citizens’ sense of ownership and responsibility towards the problem.
On the other hand, several local initiatives were organised to improve the life of people living in the neighbourhood in the short-term and create a sense of community (events for children, inter-generational parties involving local businesses, theatre courses, participatory budgeting initiatives, etc.).
The process has brought out the difficulties of the neighbourhood (safety, traffic and urban decay) but also the great opportunities (place of life and passage, multi-ethnicity, urban context, food district and places of excellence) and proposes to guide the destiny of this neighbourhood towards the following direction: the use of a positive slogan: “The Place To Be“, to reverse the negative meaning referring to the neighbourhood in a positive perspective.
Born from the statement that it is becoming rarer and rarer for people to be in touch with their local communities and to create networks that are both local and offline in today’s world, PIECE seeks to establish and empower community spaces and activities that can help people connect and build networks within their local communities.
OBJECTIVES
PIECE aims to address the needs of communities in Europe through the training, education, and empowerment of community workers. Through this project, beneficiaries will enhance their skills and employability and in turn enhance the social inclusion, skills, and employability of the people they will train, involve in their activities, and come in contact with thus creating a virtuous circle of empowerment.
The project CAMELOT will foster the exchange of best practices and experience among European metropolitan cities regarding the creation and improvement of instruments for increase citizens’ participation in public decisions.
Nine International events will take place in 8 European Countries, targeting citizens and policy-makers, and covering topics related to the EU financial programme, the management of European funds to tackle specific metropolitan cities’ challenges (social, digital and green).
OBJECTIVES
CAMELOT will promote cohesion of metropolis and cities by sharing knowledge on specific topics throughout international events.
It will also build a thematic network of European Metropolitan Cities that will exchange experiences about the management of the European funds and the role of metropolitan cities in the future of European governance, keeping as a central focus the participation of citizens.
The SMART project stems from the need to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of local communities and offer tourists new opportunities to discover and experience the Alpine area. The project will result in the creation of an innovative museum circuit promoting small cultural excellences and new ways of experiencing the territories.
A practical guideline for tourism and cultural stakeholders and recommendations for policy makers, will be published to promote the harmonisation between regional and local policies related to accessible tourism.
National Financial Support – € 44.708,61
EU Financial Support ERDF – € 844.297,59
Total Project Budget – € 993.291,32
The project is supported by the Programme Interreg V-A Italia-Austria 2014-202O
The SMART project aims to increase the attractiveness and accessibility of small museums in 3 pilot sites in the Alpine, through innovative instruments and involving local communities.
SMART specific objectives are:
Valorisation of local identities and cultural, historical and natural heritage;
Promoting design for all through multisensory paths able to make territories discovery subjective and inclusive;
Spreading multimedia tourist itineraries using augmented reality and artificial intelligence
From the 1st to the 4th of February 2023 the 6 partners of the Grey4Green project met in Aarhus, the second biggest city of Denmark at the Fo-Aarhus premises.
The two days were fruitful and much was on the table including the training course on active ageing and nature conservation to be held in Cyprus in May 2023.
In particular, on the 2nd of February the consortium welcomed members from Ældre Sagen NGO and Bedsteforældrenes Klimaaktion National Movement for an exchange on best practices and initiatives running all over Denmark for climate change and justice.
Nature conservation and fighting climate change at the core of Grey4Green meeting Denmark
It was an excellent opportunity to get to know local Danish realities and exchange experiences on nature conservation and fighting climate change, topics dear to the Grey4Green Project.
In Aarhus the partners were also able to visit the Botanical Gardens, the Aarhus green oasis, one of the many impressive green areas in the city.
A lot of activities lie ahead and ALDA is counting on involving more and more volunteers and stakeholders to get the most out of this project to promote active aging in nature conservation.
Next steps? The Handbook for Senior Volunteers in Nature finalisation, the Training course on active ageing and nature conservation to be held in Cyprus and the third Transnational Project Meeting in Nikosia the 11 and 12 of May 2023.
After the Memorandum of Understanding was signed with our umbrella association, ALDA, Edremit Municipality is in the phase of establishing the first LDA on the territory of Turkey. Through that process, they were given the opportunity to visit one of the existing LDAs.
Representatives from Edremit (Türkiye) in Mostar to visit the LDA
The Edremit Municipality delegation included the director for human resources and education, Mr. Tamer Acar, who is also the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Edermit and head of the Office for Foreign Affairs, and the Eurodesk Info Point at the Directorate for Human Resources and Education, Mrs. Elisa Falcini. In the City Hall, the delegation was received by the chief advisor of the City of Mostar, Ms. Radmila Komadina and expert advisor for international relations, Ms. Sanela Demirović.
On this occasion, Mr. Acar emphasized that he hopes that LDA Edremit and LDA Mostar will achieve cooperation through joint projects in the future. He also mentioned the possibility of cooperation between the Municipality of Edremit and the City of Mostar in areas of mutual importance.
Director of LDA Mostar, Ms. Dzenana Dedic emphasized the readiness of LDA Mostar to provide continuous support to the newly formed member of the LDA/ALDA family with its experience and examples of practice gained within the 18 years of activity.
The delegation of Edremit Municipality rounded off their visit with a tourist tour of the city of Mostar, organized by LDA Mostar.
