The city of Izmir, in Türkiye, hosted the annual meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM) on 7-8 November 2022. Happening at the same time as the COP27, this year’s Plenary focused on climate action in the Mediterranean area, while emphasising the role of Local Authorities as key actors involved in the process. Hence, in order to achieve the target and meet the ambitious goal, every stakeholder needs to be taken into account.

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.

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.

From the 30th of August until the 3rd of September ALDA attended the 7th and final international event of the #EUSave project – EU Citizens’ Action for Smart Historic Villages. The host of the event was the Bulgarian partner of the #EuSAVE project, the municipality of Bolyarovo, a small town in the South of Bulgaria. Delegations from Croatia, Italy, Latvia, North Macedonia, Portugal and Spain, representing 40 small rural municipalities with less than 10.000 inhabitants, participated in the event.

This month, ALDA was invited by Istanbul Metropolis and the Istanbul Planning Agency to the Launch event of the Istanbul Vision 2050 Plan release and opening of the IPA Campus.