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How to turn the relationship among European societies and migrants more inclusive? In order to answer this question, we would like to share with you reliable documents which have been published within MIICT project. Thus, the latter already presented recommendations to various stakeholders – be they decision makers, lobbying groups and other interest groups. Released in March 2020, the first policy brief highlighted nine key policy areas to be addressed in the context of integration of migrants in Europe: starting from employment, social inclusion and anti-racism, to housing, health, education, human trafficking, legal issues as well as information and communication technology. In addition, besides expressing several suggestions regarding these areas, it also underlines country-specific recommendations for Spain, Italy and Cyprus.

Nine key policy areas to be addressed in the context of integration of migrants in Europe

More recently, in March 2021, the MIICT project issued a second policy brief  to present further recommendations on existing policies around migration issues. It is by capitalising on the findings from its first policy brief as well as on those of the Joint Migration Policy Roundtable that the latter has been organised by MIICT in cooperation with H2020-“sister”-projects (REBUILD, NADINE, MICADO, EASYRIGHTS and WELCOME). The roundtable discussions occurred between the 14th and the 16th of October 2020 and led to the publication of a Joint Migration Policy Whitepaper.

The MIICT second policy brief builds on the Whitepaper and expresses further MIICT-related recommendations. It emphasises:

  • the relevance of the cooperation and coordination among stakeholders and organisations rather than individuals;
  • the momentum of digitalisation of public services related to COVID-19 pandemic.

It focuses on how digital transformation and existing technological solutions (e.g. translation services) could result in multi-faceted ICT solutions that respect cultural diversity among final users. In this context, it also addresses the issue of funding and other options for the sustainability of solutions. The document concludes that the European Commission needs to play a pivotal role for supporting the sustainability and roll-out. Finally, the second policy brief mapped out possible obstacles and challenges that have to be taken into consideration for further policy development.

The next step will focus on the distribution and dissemination of the policy recommendations. Future local and European Policy Roundtables will be implemented during 2021 for revising and extending the recommendations against the background of the extended ICT-solution piloting.

To know more on the Policy Paper, read our previous news

Find out more: https://www.miict.eu

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Our members, partners and followers know very well how “active involvement of citizens” in the development and maintenance of democracy is a crucial aspect in ALDA mission. Nonetheless, ALDA is very conscious of the challenges that every citizen, every local community has to face. That is why, when developing its projects, it has a clear vision on which objectives have to be achieved in order to sow seeds of change. 

In light of this, the growing presence of technology has an undeniable impact in our lives and affects the way of living of each of us, citizens of the so-called digital era.

Therefore, on March 18th, our Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida actively joined the online event promoted by the Metropolitan City of Milan: Milano Digital Week, so that to share ALDA experience and vision in this realm. 

It comes by itself, that when discussing technology and digital tools one cannot forget to mention the APProach project. Lead by ALDA and in partnership with the city of Milan, APProach is a pilot project targeting European mobile citizens, i.e. EU citizens resident in another EU country, to help them have better communication with their welcoming city. Among the main project’s achievements, we have to mention the development of a digital ecosystem aimed to assist and support EU mobile citizens in getting acquainted with their new city and have access to fundamental services. Such a platform has been developed following a participative approach, thanks to the active participation of EU mobile citizens and our partner cities, namely Etterbeek (Belgium), Milan (Italy), Nea Smyrni (Greece), Paris (France), Vejle (Denmark), Lisbon (Portugal), Amsterdam (Netherlands) & Warsaw (Poland). (more in the project here).

“The development of democracy is the development of the city itself”

Entitled “APProach: European Citizens, digital and participation”, the Milano Digital Week panel took place virtually last Thursday. At the very beginning, Mr. Lipparini, Councillor for Participation, Active Citizenship, Open Data; together with Mr. Maurizio Molinari, Head of the European Parliament Office in Milan and Mrs. Roberta Cocco, Councillor for Digital Transformation and Civic Services gave their opening remarks, while highlighting the great example of the APProach project when discussing digitalisation on a broad scale.

Furthermore, Mrs. Emanuala Vita from the City of Milan also recalled the importance of dialogue among the six cities involved in the project,as well as citizens’ participation for the success of APProach. Similarly, Mr. Paolo Sabatini mentioned how the European motto “united in diversity” is an inspiring guide in making the lives of the many internationals in Milan more accessible: the city is boosting the digitalisation of services so that to be closer to its citizens.

Finally, this event served as a great platform for sharing ideas, perceptions and experiences on the relationship among city, citizens and local realities. As mentioned by ALDA Secretary General, is it important to underline that “the development of democracy is the development of the city itself and as well as its participation”. These three aspects are interrelated and as shown by the APProach project, being part of the city may be facilitated by the digital tools. This is why such projects are today essential for the development of an active and participatory society.

Precious food for thought was also given by:

  • Anna Lisa Boni (Segretaria generale di EUROCITIES)
  • Leda Guidi (Fondazione Innovazione Urbana Bologna)
  • Edoardo Montenegro (Creative Business Cup)
  • Jacopo Rangone (PC4U)

To watch the online event click here (italian only)

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On the 5th, 11th and 25th of March 2021, the European project APProach has hosted 3 webinars and invited great speakers and experts to have interesting and enriching debates on citizenship, the impact of COVID19 on digital tools, new forms of civic participation as e-voting and the place of civic participation in this digital era.

Thank you to all the participants and the panelists: Simon Delakorda, Director – Institute for Electronic Participation; Edoardo Guglielmetti, Adviser urban development – Brussels Commissioner for Europe and International Organizations; Jean-François Maljean, Chef de Projet – Contrat de Quartier Durable – Municipality of Etterbeek (Administration communale Etterbeek); Dr. W. Lewis Johnson, Chairman of the Board, CEO and Co-Founder – Alelo;  Vincent Morel, DSIN /STIN – Municipality of Paris (Ville de Paris); Francesco Pala, Head of the Secretary General Department – European Association for Local Democracy; Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General – European Association for Local Democracy; Daniela Vancic, European Programme Manager – Democracy International; Emanuela Vita, Project coordinator – Municipality of Milan (Comune di Milano)

A 3-day event of great debates and discussions for the final conference of the APProach project

Were you not able to participate in the webinars? Do you want to re-watch the webinars? The webinars will be available online on the  Facebook page of the APProach project and on the Facebook and Youtube account of ALDA.

***

Starting in April 2018, the APProach project is co-funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) programme, aiming to facilitate the circulation of information towards EU mobile citizens for them to effectively exercise their rights in their welcoming city. The APProach project is working to fill an existing gap that limits the exercises of citizens’ civic rights by co-creating an online platform, the APProach platform. This digital ecosystem was designed with the active participation of EU mobile citizens and our partner cities: Etterbeek (Belgium), Milan (Italy), Nea Smyrni (Greece), Paris (France), Vejle (Denmark), Lisbon (Portugal), Amsterdam (Netherlands) & Warsaw (Poland).

For more information about the APProach project

Contact email: approachproject@aldaintranet.org 

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In a period of great challenges and new global orders, some of the oldest questions for humanity come back to our mind: “where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?”

Especially the last inquiry is a fundamental one: What is our future going to be? And more specifically, concerning the European Union: how the future of Europe will be, and how to shape it?  

The Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) has a specific and strategic function in answering those questions and in building up our further steps. 

As also recalled in the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, in light of the impressive number of citizens voting in the 2019 European election (more than 200 million), the message is pretty clear: Europeans are asking for greater participation and want a more active role in shaping the European Union’s future. Thus, the CoFoE has to be the perfect occasion to allow citizens to be part of it, to be – in other words – actively involved. 

So far, the agenda of the Conference is everything but empty, hence is already full of crucial issues such as: fight against climate change, an economy that works for people, promotion of EU values, social fairness, equality and inclusiveness, as well as institutional matters related to the democratic process and the establishment of transnational lists for elections.

In order to reach sustainable, effective and long-lasting  goals, having citizens involved is extremely important

It comes every time clearer that, in order to reach sustainable, effective and long-lasting  goals, having citizens involved is extremely important, and in this sense the Civil Society Convention on the Future of Europe plays a fundamental role. As already mentioned in our previous news (here), ALDA has been not only actively involved since the very beginning, but it has also been an unresting promoter and key actor in joining the Civil Society Convention. Hence, Civil Society Europe, in cooperation with pan-Europeans organisations and associations and ALDA among those, is “working towards regenerating the European project around the shared values of Equality, Solidarity, Inclusiveness and Democracy”,  aiming at making the above-mentioned Convention into “the civil society interlocutor for the EU institutions”. Clearly, this happens at the right moment and it is perfectly responding to the overall intentions of the Commission to encourage a stronger partnership between European policy-makers and European civil society. 

Once again, ALDA is very honoured to be part of this great moment of change, taking actions for the best of Europe’s future, by making its long-lasting expertise at disposal, while being inspired by the European Commission contribution.

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This February – from 22nd to 26th – ALDA joined the “The Nature of Cities” – a virtual festival to engage stakeholders from the whole globe into  discussions on the future of our cities, as more sustainable, fair and just places to live.

During the myriad of workshops and roundtable sessions, participants had the chance to listen to great speakers tackling different topics: from ecosystem to urban nature and economic growth; and from strategies to raise awareness and help city governments, to the impact of Natural based solution on health.

“There is a need to build up awareness among our communities as far as this topic concerns”

Within the framework of our project METRO ADAPT (Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Measures in the Metropolitan City of Milan) , ALDA played an active role in the festival. More precisely, our Secretary General – Antonella Valmorbida – together with Mary Rowe – President of the Canadian Urban Institute, got virtually together in the session “Participation, Local Democracy and Sustainable Cities” to talk about the role of local communities as key actors for cities and urban areas’ sustainability. This webinar not only was a fruitful occasion of sharing; but it also served as good food for thoughts. Hence, as suggested by our Secretary General, “there is a need to build up awareness among our communities as far as this topic concerns”. Furthermore, our project manager Marta Arosio actively contributed, giving sharp hints during her “micro-talks” on “enhancing climate change adaptation strategies and measures” referring especially to the Metropolitan City of Milan.

The TNOC Festival was organised all around the globe, in different languages so that to allow participants to fully embrace this experience. Art workshops, virtual field tours have been specifically designed for this occasion, also encouraging the use of imagination to shape the cities of the future. A virtual “city of future” has been created, so that people could meet online with the event organisers; talk to each other, while walking around the imaginary city.

Read more about the Metro Adapt within the Festival

To walk around the city, please visit: Topia

To know more about the Festival, visit: The Nature of Cities Festival website

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The just-ended year marked the 30th anniversary of the EU cooperation programme “Interreg”, after five programming periods, hundreds of projects implemented and changes in the life of over 170 million European Citizens. But what does it stand for? Well, the whole name would be “European Territorial Co-operation” but among Europeans, everyone calls it “Interreg” and is one of the fundamental instruments that the Union has in order to support cross-border cooperation for tackling common challenges, while working together to find common solutions.

Projects developed within “Interreg” are targeted to promote cooperation in different fields: from sustainable energy and environment to research, health and sport. Going a little bit further in details, “Interreg” has three main types of projects: cross border, transnational and interregional. It also represented one of the two goals of the EU Cohesion Policy for the programming period 2014-2020, and it aims to tackle three main goals for EU research and innovation policy, summarised as Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World in the next programming period.

Projects developed within “Interreg” are targeted to promote cooperation in different fields: from sustainable energy and environment to research, health and sport

To celebrate this important anniversary, “Interreg” has focused on three main topics neighbours, green and youth. Especially latter’s ideas have been collected in the Manifesto for Young People by Young People to Shape the European Cooperation Policy. This work illustrates perceptions as well as expectations that young people have when talking about European Territorial Cooperation.  

From a general perspective, young people express five main concerns and will:

  1. Equal opportunities to learn;
  2. fair access to decent employment opportunities;
  3. more digitally attractive access to information;
  4. serious actions on climate change implemented by Local Authorities 
  5. involvement in the decision making processes

Building up on these five key messages, Interreg strategies can be adapted, for example:

  1. Offering intercultural learning opportunities;
  2. Helping in spreading job opportunities across borders;
  3. Using more youth-oriented calls
  4. Prioritizing online meeting to physical ones so that to reduce CO2 emissions 
  5. Financing “people-to-people” projects

If you want to know more about it, check this news weekly! We are going to find out more about them step by step.

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Great news from Kutaisi “the city of roses”

We are delighted to hear that Mr. Ioseb Khakhaleishvili, who has been our delegate from LDA Georgia, has been elected as major of Kutaisi.

Last week ALDA, together with Governing Board Member Ms. Shorena Khukhua, met Mr. Khakhaleishvili to congratulate him on this great new position.

Sharing stories of success and reciprocity

ALDA has always had a great and long-lasting cooperation with the city of Kutaisi, and we are more than motivated and glad to keep on working together, while sharing stories of success and reciprocity.

We wish him best of luck and we are looking forward for future projects together.

If you are willing to know more about the promotion of local democracy in Georgia, please visit  LDA Georgia

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From the 22nd to the 26th of February 2021, Metro Adapt joined The Nature of Cities Festival, a virtual festival that engaged 2300 people from 72 countries. 18 plenaries, 180 seed sessions and field trips engaged stakeholders from the whole globe into discussions on the future of our cities.

The Metro Adapt project joined the international event as one of the main co-organizers, proposing a wide variety of activities and sessions, disseminating the project results and generated knowledge and establishing linkages and synergies with stakeholders from all over the world. Participants were able to visit Metro Adapt exhibitor booth, where it was possible to consult the project outputs and information, interacting and learning with the project partners.

This has been our line-up within the Festival:

  • February 23rd at 10.15 CET Metro Adapt organized the first workshop
  • February 24th at 10.15 CET Metro Adapt organized a second session “Nature Based Solutions in urban areas: a virtual field trip in the Milan Metropolitan Area”.
  • February 24th at 15.20 CET, the conversation, during a Plenary session, “Participation, Local Democracy, and Sustainable Cities” between Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA’s Secretary General, and Mary Rowe, President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute.
  • February 25th at 15.30 CET Metro Adapt organized a third session “Covenant of Mayors: The Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan in Metropolitan Areas”. Workshop released in Italian.
  • February 25th at 18.00 CET, the last Metro Adapt session “Science Communication through theatre and the arts: The example of Pale Blue Dot” a talk with Andrea Brunello, actor and Director.

All sessions have been very participative and with full engagement

All sessions have been very participative and with full engagement. The first workshop, “Nature Based Solutions as a mean to boost urban climate change adaptation” created a space of dialogue among the key stakeholders which could be potentially involved in the implementation of sustainable strategies to limit the impact of climate change. The workshop counted on the participation of Goncalo Canto Moniz, project coordinator of the Horizon 2020 URBINAT Project, who shared the project generated knowledge about nature-based solutions benefits and social, economic and environmental challenges.

On the following day, participants had the chance to travel 360° inside the Metro Adapt project using a google earth map, with a focus on the pilot interventions implemented in Masate and Solaro municipalities. On February 24th at 15.20 CET, ALDA’s Secretary General – Antonella Valmorbida – together with Mary Rowe – President of the Canadian Urban Institute, got virtually together in the session “Participation, Local Democracy and Sustainable Cities” during a Festival’s Plenary session to talk about the role of local communities as key actors for cities and urban areas’ sustainability. The following day, Metro Adapt organized a third session “Covenant of Mayors: The Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan in Metropolitan Areas”. The workshop was released in Italian and it was the occasion for a positive exchange of ideas and reflections between representatives of different metropolitan areas about the implementation of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP).

The last Metro Adapt session “Science Communication through theatre and the arts: The example of Pale Blue Dot” took place on February 25th. The workshop was joined by Andrea Brunello actor and director from Arditodesio Theatre Company who talked about the Pale Blue Dot show, a production by the Jet Propulsion Theatre that aims at spreading the message about climate change through theatre and art. During the session, participants had the chance to interact with the director, asking questions about the show, reactions from the public and further projects of the company related to the connection of scientific data and theatre.

Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Read more on Participation, Local Democracy and Sustainable Cities event

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ALDA interviewed the Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

ALDA interviewed Mr. Andreas Kiefer – Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe – earlier this week. It goes without saying that this online exchange was of great interest, and inspired us to pursue our mission and daily commitment in supporting citizens’ participation and local democracies.

Those more familiar with our world will notice, by reading this interview, how many common key aspects and guidelines there are between the work of the Congress and the one of ALDA. Not surprisingly, given that ALDA is an emanation of the Council of Europe (CoE) itself, and its mission in supporting citizens’ initiatives and local authorities can be anything but far from CoE’s activities and consequentially also from Congress’ commitments.

At the outset of the conversation, Mr. Kiefer gave us a general overview on the role of the Congress. The latter is based on five main pillars: from being a forum of exchange and discussion among members; to having a consultative and advisory role for the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Furthermore, the  Congress has  a monitoring function for the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in the 47 member states, including citizens’ participation and  observation of local and regional elections. On a more practical side, the Congress acts as an operational secretariat on the ground, implementing concrete projects: a shared aspect with ALDA’s work. Finally, the Congress contributes to the distribution of Council of Europe policies and campaigns, like on gender equality, preventing corruption, and promoting ethical behaviours, among others.

Going deeper into the Congress’ strategic plan for 2021, Mr. Kiefer explained five further areas to be discussed later this year. All of them have a key word in common: society. In fact, the latter has been tackled from different angles so that to respond to its complexity and multiple dimensions. Beginning with resilient societies, the will is to define concrete and effective responses to the current crisis, while also drawing lessons for the future. In addition, the present situation has – to some extent – made inequalities come to the surface, highlighting how essential is the need of creating more cohesive societies. Moreover, the Congress has noticed how, in order to have a higher impact in facing inequality, local authorises have to be included into the policy-making process: from analysis, to drafting and implantation.

The Congress is working in order to safeguard the “quality of representative democracy and citizens participation”, spurring also for a further development of an education to democratic citizenship

Moving towards another facet of society; during the last couple of years especially, underlined Mr Kiefer, we have been experiencing an increased awareness of environmental issues. In this way the Congress – within a multilateral approach of CoE – is also working towards the constitution of sustainable societies, encouraging people to take responsibilities, while working together to make an impact in this realm. In addition, considering the era of technology in which we are, the Congress is addressing its commitment to digital societies, proposing itself as a platform of exchange and support of local authorities within this sector, without forgetting to focus on the meaning that digitalisation has for the citizens as well. Mentioning citizens leads us to the fifth aspect: democratic societies. On that feature, the Congress is working in order to safeguard the “quality of representative democracy and citizens participation”, spurring also for a further development of an education to democratic citizenship.

Listening to Mr. Kiefer’s words one will easily notice how many common and recurring words there are also within the work of ALDA – be they democracy, resilience or citizens’ participation – guiding us daily, and linking us to the European level perspective.

Discussions about Europe go hand in hand with the ones concerning the European Neighbourhood. Thus, in the wake of the recent opening of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Ukraine, a country where we both are very active, Mr Kiefer cherished ALDA’s active role on the field and the Local Democracy Agencies’ grassroot actions in supporting local authorities and organisations in the decentralisation process.

Talking about the LDAs, and in line with ALDA’s plan to develop the network, we highly appreciated Mr Kiefer’s words saying that he, and the Congress “hope there will be future ones, [wishing] to extend our existing cooperation in the framework of what the Congress does, trying to get young people on board, trying to get women on board, trying to further involve the population”.

Finally, in the light of the new ALDA strategic views – which focus on achieving a full empowerment of local resilient communities in a long-lasting sustainable and inclusive way in the whole Europe and beyond, by strengthening the capacity of local authorities and the level of citizens participation – we asked the Secretary General about the Congress’ expectations and main plans for the involvement of the civil society in a sustainable development of communities.

First of all, Mr. Kiefer recalled the importance of the European Local Democracy Week as a forum of participatory democracy, while suggesting how “including citizens in taking responsibilities for their own activities but also to demand to put democratic pressure on those who have the responsibilities to decide” is fundamental. Then he illustrated the Congress’ plan to increase a proactive role of young generations in their initiatives, for example through the establishment of “Youth Delegates”, who participate in all  47 national delegations. In addition, special attention is given to children. The Congress is thus preparing a “handbook for children on how they can take their future into their hands and contribute to the discussion on sustainable development”. Last but not least, together with other actors within the Council of Europe, the Congress is working on a digital platform on which NGOs, regions and cities interested in participatory process can find useful information and inspiring good practices. As mentioned by Mr. Kiefer: “we think no theoretical concept can be as convincing as a good project that has been implemented with all the good and bad experiences made. […] This inclusive and concrete hands-on approach”, he further explained, “complements our political work”.

Thankful to Mr Kiefer and the whole Congress’ availability, ALDA is more motivated than ever to take up the challenges and proposals to increase our cooperation in Europe and its neighbourhood, strong of our shared values and also motivated by Mr. Kiefer’s final remarks: “the message was clear: yes, we are complementary; yes, we can work together. […] We are looking forward to continuing a very good cooperation”.

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Urban walking tour focusing on eco-museum/community museums

The House of Ivo Andric, the only Nobel Prize winner for Literature from Yugoslavia, is now available for visitors through a guided tour. As partner in charge for promotional activities, Local Democracy Agency Montenegro established partnership with one of the most prominent touristic agencies in Herceg Novi – Trend Travel, specialised in organising thematic tours in Herceg Novi and surroundings.

Tours start from Andric’s house: there, visitor can appreciate the permanent exhibition about his life, while getting more information on the house itself thanks to the electronic totem. Besides, they can also find out other Points of Interest within the eco-museum/community museums. The latter represent the cultural/historical, natural and immaterial heritage.

The “magic atmosphere” of Herceg Novi still inspire its citizens

The “magic atmosphere” of Herceg Novi that attracted the famous writer and his wife, as well as artists and creative people such as: Zuko Dzumhur; Branko Copic; Mihailo Lalic; Petar Lubarda and Vojo Stanic, still inspires the citizens of Herceg Novi to create beautiful things for the community and for the visitors. Being surrounded by culture, architecture, colourful nature, sea and mountains spurs people in crafting artistic products, paintings and handcrafts while producing great pieces of literature; without forgetting the culinary and sporting side.

This package is available as a two-hours guided walking tour, and will be promoted via social networks and, considering the COVID-19 situation, one can find on-line tourist fairs. In the upcoming future, the service will be offered via touristic sub-agents’ network and online.

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Intercultural dialogue is a powerful tool and it can be perceived as an instrument of prevention and conflict resolution. Besides, one may consider it as a process, through which communities, using history, the past and cultural heritage as key points, become able to get closer to each other.

Having that in mind, we have created this video to outline the importance of intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding for the development of the region.

It can be perceived as an instrument of prevention and conflict resolution

The video is intended to send a message as far as living together peacefully and constructively concerns without forgetting the multicultural world in which we are in. Finally it is also meant to develop a sense of community and belonging.

Watch the Video here

The video is financially supported by the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the Program Normandy for Peace of the Region Normandy.

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Within the framework of the Project “Youth Empowerment for Local Democracy in Tunisia” (Autonomisation de la jeunesse pour construire une Démocratie locale en Tunisie) a set of three trainings have been organised in different cities of Tunisia.

The first one took place from 8th to 12th of February in Tabarka, in the governorate of Jendouba, while the second from 15th to 19th in Hammamet. In both cases two groups of 20 people got together to join the activities, and specifically for the one in Hammamet, participants came from the cities of Ezzahra and Bardo. The idea was to support them in becoming familiar with different tools such as design-thinking, project development, citizen mobilisation, and advocacy techniques. Finally, the third was organised in Mehdia, from February to 22th to 26th.

There are many issues at stake in the participation of young citizens at the local level

ALDA had a supporting role in delivering these trainings and while sharing its technical knowledge and expertise, also in light of the United Nations SDG number 11 on “Sustainable cities and communities”.  Finally, trainings have been organised together with the project leader “Tamkeen For Development”, an association which is working for the establishment of a civil society where young people and women will be able to free themselves financially and participate actively in the economic cycle.

From a general perspective, the overall aim of the project is to stimulate youth capacity-building so that young generations will be able to take part in the decision-making processes at local level. In fact, there are many issues at stake in the participation of young citizens at the local level. These include the involvement of young citizens in the development of their living environment and in the sustainable management of local communities.

Thus, three main results are expected  from this project. Starting from the identification of the needs of communities to the analysis of the participatory budgets of municipalities in the form of a social audit. Finally, participants will be able to be more responsive to the needs of the communities through the social innovation unit created in each municipality and to disseminate the principles of transparency, responsibility and accountability.

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The Balkan Network for Local Democracy – BNLD is launching its new project entitled “CSOs networking for better local democracy in the Balkans”. The 10 months project is designed to address the current status and development perspectives of local democracy in the Western Balkans countries. How to reach this am? By exchanging experience on evidence-based advocacy and monitoring EU integration and reform agenda involving 5 countries from North Macedonia, to Bosnia and Herzegovina; from Serbia to Albania, and from Kosovo* to Montenegro.

The idea is to set local and regional capacity building, awareness raising and networking actions

The project action aims to create regional cooperation among CSOs and to acquire knowledge for advancing active citizenship at a local level. Moreover, the idea is both to set local and regional capacity building, and to raise awareness, while spurring networking actions aiming to address the main challenges of the civil society in our region. The activities will include research and comparative analysis of present state legal framework, as far as citizens’ participation in policy and decision making at local level concerns. Furthermore, there will be also Regional Best Practice Fair as well as social media campaign and e- newsletter.

The main target groups of the project are BNLD members and its network partners in all Western Balkan countries, other regional CSO networks and CSOs promoting democratic governance and inclusive participation at local level.

This project “CSOs networking for better local democracy in the Balkans” is implemented within the Project “Protecting Civic Space – Regional Civil Society Development Hub” financed by SIDA and implemented by BCSDN.

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On the 2nd of March 2021, the kick off meeting of the Project PART-Y: Participation and Youth: Lab for Equal Cities took place online, followed by the first project activity on March 3rd!

The project, which is funded by the ERASMUS + Programme of the European Commission, is led by the Italian association Kallipolis, and it sees the participation of 7 project partners from France, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland and Sweden.

The project aims to trigger the participation in civic life of young people (13-20 years) by fostering their inclusion in the policy decision-making process and promoting the concept of “generation equality” introduced by the United Nations agency UN Women for equal opportunities among the youngest. The project intends to focus the attention of girls, boys and educators on the common spaces of the city as fundamental places of gathering and democracy, essential elements in their growth process.

The project intends to focus the attention of girls, boys and educators on the common spaces of the city as fundamental places of gathering and democracy, essential elements in their growth process

After the presentation of the project’s goals and activities and outputs, the participants to the event were able to take part in a virtual tour of two youth centres of Trieste and Koper, which will be at the core of the project’s activities.

Moreover, the 3rd of March the first project activity took place: the first Short Joint Staff Training! The participants had the opportunity to learn more about innovative communication with the expert Federica Manaigo. Last but not least, the partners shared their experiences and reflected on the concept of “placemaking” with the support of the international expert Cynthia Nikitin, directly connected from New York City.

The PART-Y Project is then off to a great start! Keep following it to know more about the next steps and activities!

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ALDA is one of partners of the MIICT project – ICT Enabled Services for Migration, which has recently released the Joint Migration Policy Whitepaper “Towards ICT-Enabled Integration of Migrants”. The paper, recently published, has been written by six EU-funded projects MIICT, REBUILD, NADINE, MICADO, EASYRIGHTS and WELCOME which aim to better integrate migrants and refugees in European societies by developing ICT-enabled solutions and toolkits for the implementation of inclusion policies by public administrations and the civil society.

The Paper is the result of the Joint Migration Policy Roundtables, organised among the six projects, which took place from the 14th to the 16th October 2021. The idea of the Roundtable was to reflect and respond on how to better integrate migrants in European societies using ICT solutions.

ICT tools and digitalisation of public services related to the migration sector could ease migrants’ integration into their host societies

Therefore, this paper identifies several priorities and defines specific recommendations regarding co-creation and participatory design, multi-stakeholders collaboration and ICT tools and digital services for supporting integration.

The European Commission considers the Joint Migration Policy Whitepaper as an important strategic input to improve migrants and refugees’ integration. Indeed, ICT tools and digitalisation of public services related to the migration sector could ease migrants’ integration into their host societies.

What are the next steps? The European Commission will take the recommendations of the Joint Migration Policy Paper into consideration in the policy-making process of the EU digital government policy in the area of migration. Indeed, in the Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027, the European Commission announced it will work on an inclusive EU e-government action plan, promoting human-centric digital public services for citizens, including migrants.

Being involved within MIICT project underlines the commitment that ALDA has in promoting social inclusion while working for  the decrease of discrimination.

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During the previous weeks, our colleague Eva met Gregorio Arena, Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Trento from 1985 to 2015, and President of Labsus – Laboratorio per la Sussidiarietà. Guided by his words we will get to know more about this initiative, and we will understand together how our realities are complementary in their activities. But let’s start from the birth of Labsus itself.

Labsus’ activity officially started in December 2005, but it really began on 11 May 2006 with the presentation of the website www.labsus.it, an online magazine promoted by the Laboratory for Subsidiarity, ‘a cultural association founded on the idea that the principle of subsidiarity could radically change the relationship between citizens and institutions‘, as the Professor began. It seems a long time ago, but as we will see, the association’s activities and commitment have been growing ever since, and have now reached a number of different Italian realities. The launch of the website is a key point in this story and in the history of Labsus itself, since it contains, in a specific section, ‘all the experiences of active citizenship that [we] knew about. The turning point,” continues the Professor, “was eight years later, in 2014, with the presentation of the first Regulation for the Shared Administration of Common Goods“, an important milestone for the association that has made the motto ‘Act locally, think globally’ one of its principles.

“Imagining that in Europe one day there will be hundreds of thousands of citizens taking care of their villages and neighbourhoods is certainly a very ambitious project, but surely a beautiful project!”

How can this be put into practice? How can we approach local authorities and citizens in order to involve them, allowing them to become active participants in promoting change? The key to this is subsidiarity and what comes with it. Since 2001, the principle of subsidiarity has been included in the Constitution and despite some periods of difficulty in applying it – especially from a regulatory point of view -, in 2014 came to the aid “this tool called the Regulation for the shared administration of common goods. Adopted by 235 Italian municipalities, it has produced thousands of collaboration pacts”. The later, together with regulations are the tools used by Labsus to promote active citizenship, and – as Arena pointed out – ‘they are factors of social and administrative innovation’, which, however, sometimes clash with an administrative culture that is still tied to the mechanisms of the past: ‘an administrative culture that lacks accountability‘.

Despite this, Labsus’ initiatives have not stopped.I In fact, ‘there are about 800,000 active citizens in Italy today and each of these people is usually a leader in his or her community. It is a person who talks to at least 10 other people“. The bonds created, the “social cohesion and sense of belonging” are essential for people to take care of the common good. Examples of this are some of the projects carried out by Labsus, such as: Luoghicomuni in Milan and the Schools of Citizenship in Rome.

Those who know ALDA, and who have been following us, by reading these words of Professor Arena cannot but find common points with our work. “The word participation” – answers Labsus President to the question posed by Eva on what convinced them to join our network – “can be declined in many different ways, and I think there is an absolute complementarity between the concept you promote (participation in decision-making processes) and the one we promote, i.e. participation in problem solving”. As the professor noted, the work of our two organisations is complementary and, with contagious energy, he concluded saying that ‘the hope is to reach countries together that we would never reach alone. Imagining that in Europe one day there will be hundreds of thousands of citizens taking care of their villages and neighbourhoods, strengthening the ties that hold their communities together while they do so, is certainly a very ambitious project, but surely a beautiful project!”.

To read the full interview (Italian only) click here

Follow the developments of the collaboration between ALDA and Labsus! There will be some surprises!

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While the Conference on the Future of Europe is approaching, on March 4th took place the first meeting on the Civil Society Convention on the Future of Europe. Among the outcomes, we are proud to underline that the Convention has elected – together with other six representatives – our Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida as a member of the Steering Committee, which will be in charge of leading the thematic groups. The latter will focus on environmental issues, as well as social equality and the political areas identified in the Joint Declaration – just to mentioned a few.

The aim of the said meeting was to define both an agenda and a working programme while discussing on the Governance of the Convention. Overall, the Civil Society Convention on the Future of Europe is intended to function as a link between the CSOs and the Institutions, so that to make sure that citizens’ proposals and concerns will be heard, while looking for effective solutions to overcome challenges of today and tomorrow.

“Only civil society organisations can make EU institutions and national governments accountable for a truly participative and democratic conference”

Furthermore, the Convention, also through the Joint Declaration, which has been endorsed by 72 organisations involved at pan-European level, will participate with two representatives to the Interinstitutional Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Thus, as Jean Marc Roirant, President of Civil Society Europe, said in an article published on Civil Society Europe website: “only civil society organisations can make EU institutions and national governments accountable for a truly participative and democratic conference, but also for its follow up through policy, legislative and if needed Treaty change” 

Finally, during the March 4th event, two co-chairs have been elected as well: Alexandrina Najmowicz, Secretary General of the European Civic Forum and Milosh Ristovski, Secretary General of JEF Europe, the Young European Federalists. Their role will be that of representing the Convention towards the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, while supervising the overall agenda.

Being actively involved in such a fruitful and dynamic pan-European reality can only be a great occasion for ALDA to increase and strength its network, while reaffirm its position as a strategic partner when it comes to democracy and citizens’ participation.

Useful links:

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For several years now, ALDA has been one of the beneficiaries of the operating grant of the “Europe for Citizens” programme of the EACEA – Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Union. Thus, we are thrilled to announce that, again this year, ALDA has been confirmed beneficiary of such an important funding, proving the effectiveness of ALDA’s actions for the promotion of democracy and citizens participation in Europe.

Attention towards those organisations which are working on citizens’ participation in the democratic life of the EU

Indeed, the Europe for Citizens Programme is targeted to contribute to citizens’ understanding of the EU, as well as its history and diversity and to encourage the democratic participation of citizens at EU level. Specifically, ALDA mission is perfectly in line with the second strand of this programme, which is: Democratic engagement and civic participation.

More in depth, this second element of the programme drives the attention towards those organisations which are working on citizens’ participation in the democratic life of the EU, both from local democracy and to a more European level. It comes with itself that ALDA’s mission and daily commitment are exactly to support local citizens, CSOs and more broadly international stakeholder in succeeding their goals as far – for example – European integration, decentralisation, social inclusion, sustainable development, civic initiatives concern.

Being awarded with this grant is a great success, giving ALDA positive energy to continue in its work. In addition, it testifies once again the strategic role of ALDA within the European framework as a change promoter actor.