In the period from 23 to 25th of February a Delegation composed by partners of LDA Zavidovici from Alba (Italy) visited Zavidovici with intention to do the evaluation of the common projects that are implemented in Zavidovici.
The main attention was on the project „A safe place for victims of domestic violence: accompaniment to autonomy and development of local resources“, financed by Municplaity of Alba and Piemonte Region.
The project aims to develop initiatives to support victims of domestic violence and against the culture that produces and legitimises violence itself, through the action of the local network active for over three and a half years and of the “Sigurno Mjesto”, a newly established association.
The main objectives are:

• Implement measures to prevent domestic violence and raise awareness about the gender relations with the young people of the territory;
• Provide services to accompany the victims of violence;
• Develop initiatives to support the economic independence of victims of violence;
• The strengthening and development of the local network against domestic violence involving inside the Association “Sigurno Mjesto” (“A safe place”, born from the projects supported by the Piemonte Region).
  Besides this there have been discussed future activities where is involved territory of Alba as: exchange between kindergartens, summer camps for children “Strani Vari”, youth exchanges and others.
  Delegation has been composed by: Nicola Conti (Consorzio Socio Assistenziale-Alba Langhe e Roero), Gianna Pasquero (Ser.T. Asl CN 2 – Alba Bra), Maria Perino (Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro” – Dipartimento di Ricerca Sociale), Cecilia Madau (Ufficio Pace Alba), Simona Sordo (LDA Zavidovici), Alice Riccardi (Associazione Strani Vari Alba), and Agostino Zanotti (president of LDA Zavidovici). Municipality of Alba is partner of LDA Zavidovici since its establishment in 1996.

BINA, the NGO Alliance for Municipality Development with which ALDA has been cooperating for the past two years, has conducted the monitoring of the correspondence of municipality institution in Azerbaijan to the requirements of the European Charter on Local Self-Governments.
As a result, BINA presented a Monitoring report entitled “Assessment of conformity of organisational and operational aspects of municipalities in Azerbaijan with principles and requirements of European Charter”.
The following step is the expected visit in Azerbaijan of the monitoring group of the European Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

It is already 12 years since the municipalities started to operate for the first time in Azerbaijan and around 30 pieces of legislation have been enacted to regulate the operations of municipalities during this period. Along with the laws and other normative acts (presidential decrees, decisions of Cabinet of Ministers, etc.), the European Charter of Local Self-Government has become an integral part of the legislation of the Azerbaijan Republic. This international document entered in force through the adoption of the law of 25th December, 2001 on the “approval of European Charter of Local Self-Government”, which entered into force from the 1st August 2002.
By joining the Charter in December 2001, Azerbaijan undertook various commitments regarding better self-governance in the country. Over the past period, a number of laws and other normative acts have been enacted establishing the legislative basis of forming and developing local self-governance in the country, three municipal elections held, as well as, some measures taken to establish and develop municipalities in practice.
This report is based on the monitoring which tried to determine the extent to which the legislative basis of local self-governance and municipalities already established in the country are in line with the principles and requirements of the Charter.
Upon developing this report, the monitoring group composed of the member organizations of the Alliance reviewed European Charter of Local Self-Government, explanatory “notes” of Council of Europe’s experts to the provisions of the Charter, relevant documents developed by various institutions of Council of Europe dealing with various aspects of local self-governance, recommendations and commentaries of European Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Minister’s Committee and other institutions aimed at resolving specific problems of local self-governance in both Azerbaijan and other countries, held the expertise of laws forming the legal-normative basis of municipalities’ operations in Azerbaijan, and studied existing various challenges associated with municipalities.
The future perspectives of local self-governance reforms depend on the initiatives and attempts of the government, municipal associations, civil society institutes and international organizations.

BINA, the NGO Alliance for Municipal Development, was established in May, 2009 by NGO operating in the field of better local self-governance in Azerbaijan. The Alliance, which is in the process of becoming member of ALDA, primarily seeks to develop and implement sound strategies on better local self-governments (municipalities) and coordinate the efforts of and collaboration between national NGOs in order to strengthen the organisational and institutional capacity of municipalities. The Alliance’s mission is to support decentralisation and democratic processes.
The activities of the Alliance include round tables on a range of local self-governance issues, journalist studies to report on municipal problems via Media broadly, reviewing present situation of local self-governance in Azerbaijan, developing policy papers on various local self-governance problems and making recommendations to the government and carrying out advocacy campaigns of suggestions made. Further information about the Alliance can be found on www.localdemocracy.az.

The Local Democracy Agency Armenia is on the move. The LDA partners have appointed David Sarkis Dolmadjian as Delegate at the end of partner meeting that took place in Brussels.
The new delegate will be in the LDA office in Gyumri next week and he will be assisted by ALDA Director, Antonella Valmorbida.
Paula Rauzan, Delegate of the LDA of Sisak, will stay in Gyumri three weeks assisting him for the launch of the local LDA.
In the pictures: the ribbon cutting at the LDA headquarters
The LDA Armenia will have all the support and assistance of ALDA network, especially from the other LDA and in particular from the other LDA in southern Caucasus, based in Kutaisi, Georgia.
“I am looking forward to new synergies, especially in the Caucasus, for the whole network” stated Mrs Antonella Valmorbida.
It is possible contact LDA Armenia to the email address: ldaarmenia@aldaintranet.org
Partners of LDA Armenia are Rhône-Alpes Region (France), Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy), International Committee For The Development of Peoples CISP (Italy), Union of Communities of Armenia, Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development (Armenia), Journalists’ Club Asparez (Armenia), the Municipalities of Gyumri, the host city, and Ijevan. The role of the international partners will be to provide core financial support, participate in activities where they have the skills and capacities, to encourage their own partners to participate in the work of the LDA and to promote the work of the LDA in their own community and encourage wider participation.
Gyumri is the second largest city in Armenia, situated in the North of the country and has been selected as host since it will provide a good basis to allow the LDA to work on a national level.
The Municipality of Gyumri provides an office and rooms for the LDA in the City Hall.
The LDA will facilitate the participation of civil society in the decision-making process at the local level, increase the interest, awareness and capacities of citizens to take part in the decision-making process at the local level and increase the awareness and skills of the local communities and local authorities to address the needs of their citizens. The LDA will support capacity building of civil society and local authorities and it will implement its activities at the local level with trainings, study visits and other participative methods.
Acting as a promoter of democracy and local self-government, the Local Democracy Agency will also promote human rights and sustainable development. The realisation of all objectives will be reached by implementing projects with local authorities and NGOs using the international partners support. The LDA will aim to serve as a bridge between Europe and Armenia and will bring Armenian practice to Europe and European experience to Armenia.
Finally the LDA will also work to ensure cross border cooperation in South Caucasus and will work to promote peace and understanding in the South Caucasus region.

ALDA is launching a new project TIC-TAC (Training, Information, Cooperation – Towards Active Citizenship) which will last until January, 17th 2013.
TIC-TAC project aims at promoting all the measures of the Europe for Citizens programme at strengthening the participation of the potential programme’s stakeholders through the creation of a platform for the establishment of long lasting partnership reaching a significant number of different stakeholders (Association of LA, CSOs, LAs, citizens).
The main activities will be an international training course in Brussels focused on all the actions of the Europe for Citizens programme, the organisation of 12 local Info Days and an international Citizenship Fair aiming at promoting exchange of good practices among partners & at creating and strengthening relations through the setting-up of a network based on a dynamic and interactive method.
The partnership is composed of 22 organisations such as Associations of LA, of LA, NGOs, other local actors, both private and public. Media will also be involved.

On 25 January 2012, the French partners in the Decentralised cooperation between Lower Normandy and North Macedonia met in Caen to discuss the progress of planned activities in year 2012. The participants discussed the standard six components of the cooperation, as well as the topics of human rights and town twinning.
The meeting of the Macedonian partners will take place on February 16 in Skopje.
According to planned activities, next spring will offer many events. Various conferences, study visits and trainings will be held, both in Lower Normandy and in North Macedonia. For more information on the planned actions in the framework of the Decentralised cooperation between the Lower Normandy Region and Republic of North Macedonia please consult the Action Plan 2011- 2012 in French and Macedonian.
For further information please consult the webpage of the Cooperation http://crbn-mk.courriers.info.

The Association of Local Democracy Agencies, with the support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, intends to enlarge its activities to promote local democracy and citizen participation at the local level in the South Caucasus by opening a Local Democracy Agency (LDA) in Azerbaijan in 2012.
In 2006 LDA Georgia opened as the first LDA in South Caucasus in Kutaisi. The LDA network in South Caucasus was enlarged when LDA Armenia opened in Gyumri in 2011. ALDA is now starting its work to complete the LDA network in South Caucasus by taking the initial steps towards opening an LDA in Azerbaijan.
Therefore ALDA is looking for European Local and Regional Authorities and NGOs which are interested in becoming partners of the LDA and support the efforts of opening the LDA in Azerbaijan.
The LDA would be a place to gather interested international partners from European NGOs, local and regional authorities and Local authorities associations to work with Azerbaijani local authorities and NGOs to increase the citizen participation and cooperation at the local level.
Currently ALDA is searching for potential partners and organisations interested in supporting the opening of an LDA in Azerbaijan and becoming partners of the LDA. An information meeting for interested potential partners is scheduled to take place on March 22 in Strasbourg in connection with the plenary session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
ALDA hopes many European Local and Regional Authorities and NGOs will be interested in participating in this meeting and support the initiative.
This document provides a more detailed description of the background and ideas for LDA Azerbaijan.

Mr. Marco Boaria, ALDA Resource and Development Unit Coordinator, is the author of a new “Practical Guide” published by SALTO EuroMed, on “Training and Networking“.
The Practical Guides are tools for youth workers, youth leaders and trainers involved in the EuroMediterranean cooperation, and aims to support the cooperation in developing projects.
In particular, this Practical Guide provides concrete information and tools about Action 3.1 “Youth in the World” of the Youth in Action Programme and its links with Euro-Med Youth Programme IV. This Guide is focused on Training and Networking Activities. Its goal is to provide tips to improve project development and to provide support mainly for first-time applicants.
It is not focused specifically on “technicalities” (that you can find in the Programme Guides), but more especially on the strategic and intercultural approach needed for successful cooperation in the Euro-Med area.
Salto EuroMed is one of the eight Resource Centres of the network SALTO-YOUTH.net, working on European priority areas within the youth field, with which ALDA is cooperating. It provides youth work and training resources and organises training and contact-making activities to support organisations and National Agencies within the frame of the European Commission’s Youth in Action programme and beyond.
This publication, published also in French and Arabic, is available also on line on the Salto EuroMed website.

The Governing Board of ALDA, which was held in Brussels on the 3rd of February, launched the programme 2012.
Despite the difficulties for local authorities and civil society (ALDA main partners), the organisation continues its positive trend in terms of activities and memberships. The priority will be the full support to local governance and cooperation between Local Authorities and Civil Society. The Local Democracy Agencies (today up to 13 offices) will be strengthened with projects and partners. A special focus will be given to the new LDAs (Armenia and future in Azerbaijan, in Southern Caucasus as well as the LDA in Kosovo).

The General Assembly that will be held in Udine (Italy) the 7th and 8th of June will also elect a new Governing Board, that will be fundamental to accompany the organisation through these delicate times, when local governance and citizens’ participation remain one of the strongest option to promote democracy and peace in Europe and it neighbouring countries. An ALDA 2020 Strategy is currently discussed among the members and closest partners of ALDA as well as a more precise three years Position Paper that will be approved in Udine, too. A revision of Statute will also be proposed in order to update this document with the present situation of the organisation.
The programme confirms also the strong partnership with the programme Europe for Citizenship of the DG Communication , from which ALDA receives an Operating Grant and also projects. ALDA is active member of the Structured Dialogue as well as part of the initial Alliance to prepare the 2013, Year of Citizens . ALDA will continue to work on twinning activities and it will support European Citizenship with its 150 members in Europe. ALDA will also strongly focus on the programmes in South Eastern Europe and all the possible support to further integration to the EU, based on local governance and support of local authorities. A new office in Skopije supports the programme on Local Governance of the programme of Decentralised Cooperation Basse Normandie/Macedonia and the decentralised Cooperation France/Balkans .
In Eastern Europe and Caucasus, ALDA is working with LDAs and thanks to programmes to support local Democracy, like in Belarus. It is strongly involved in the Civil Society Forum for Eastern Partnership as Coordinator of the Subgroup on Local Government and Public Administration reform and therefore, also closely working, with the Committee of the Regions on this.
As for the Southern dimension and the MED region, a further commitment as been made. Some projects will be launched in Tunisia and Algeria and potentially, it will be possible to use our experience in transitional countries to support local governance and citizens’ participation in this area .
With the launch of the programme WTD (Working Together for Development) (first steering committee 28th of March in Brussels), ALDA is also brining its experience in the field of development with the support of Local Authorities and civil Society.
Last but not the least, ALDA is interested to work with all the potential partners in Europe to achieve its mandate. It joined several networks on which it is planned to have an active participation, like Concord, Civicus and the European Movement.

The results of the project “Volunteering for cross border development” have been presented in Banja Luka (BiH) by the LDA, Local Democracy Agency, of Sisak (HR) and YCC, Youth Communication Centre of Banja Luka, both partners of the project which is funded by European Union.
The project aims to help in improving accessibility of community-based services in border area through establishment of five voluntary services – two in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bihać and Derventa) and three in Croatia (Sisak, Kutina and Petrinja).

It also contributes to establishment of the cross-border networking between local authorities, civil society and social partners through creation of six local volunteering policies (in all 5 above mentioned towns and in Banja Luka). These policies will define measures from which the local communities will benefit in their economic and social development.
In addition, the project will help to enhance quality of life and social cohesion in border area by creating a cross-border voluntary network with volunteers from the six towns. Two volunteering camps, one in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one in Croatia will be organised within the project. The camps gathering 60 volunteers will discuss actual social issues in bordering towns and initiate actions for change. .
The project is implemented by YCC Banja Luka and LDA Sisak alongside 4 partners – Association Women from Una Bihać, BiosPLUS Derventa, Disabled Persons Association Kutina and IKS association from Petrinja.
The Project is funded with the Instrument for the Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) – Cross Border Cooperation Programme Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and its duration will be 24 months (until February 2013).

In its first year the project was implemented with several activities, including:

• First project conference held in Banja Luka, 10 March 2011,
• Second project conference held in Sisak, 24 March 2011,
• Project public presentations in Derventa, Bihać and Sisak, 21-23 April 2011,
• Training “Volunteers’ management in local communities”, Banja Luka, 4-7 May 2011,
• Opening of Volunteers’ Center in Sisak, 9 June 2011
• Local volunteer services in Derventa, Sisak and Bihać opened – June 2011

“The European Year of Citizens, suggested by the European Commission for the 2013, today focused on rights, mostly on right to move and work in the Union, should have a wider perspective, and promote European citizenship and identity, including social and cultural aspects”. This is the main proposal of ALDA about the EYC 2013, expressed during the public hearing promoted by the European Economic and Social Committee, in Brussels.
The European Economic and Social Committee is drawing up an opinion on the proposal of the European Commission and would like to give every European citizen, NGO, enterprise, trade union etc. an opportunity to contribute to its opinion, which will be sent to the European Parliament, Commission and Council once it has been adopted. A first NGOs meeting was held in Brussels in EESC on the 27th of January and ALDA was represented by Mr. Marco Boaria.
Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Director, attended to the public hearing that was held the day before.
“We are interested in an Alliance which main aims should be promoting the participation of a wide spectrum of civil society organisations working to promote European citizenship and implement the European Year of Citizens 2013. ALDA supports the idea of organising quickly “decentralised” groups of support at the national level”, stated Mrs. Valmorbida.
ALDA think that the activities of the “year” should be done even more on new members States, future member countries (those of the Enlargement process), and the countries of the ENPI Interregional Programme, since they are the direct beneficiaries of the effects as neighbours of Europe.
ALDA proposes that the programme of the 2013 European Year of Citizens works mainly with small and local events and not only focusing on high level discussions, engaging civil society and local authorities and promoting an open debate on the future of participation mechanisms to strengthen European identity and The European Project.
ALDA proposes also to reach political objectives in terms of citizens’ participation (and mechanisms for facilitating this) with legislative initiatives, best practices at the community level, etc. with the EYAC 2013. The group, in preparing the Year, should set these high objectives, planning the Year in this direction, considering the upcoming European Parliament Elections in 2014.
For further information please visit the EESC website

Peace News”, the electronic newsletter of the Bosnian Organisation “Mreža Za Izgradnju Mira”, “Peace building network” of which LDA Mostar is member, in the issue of January 2012 published an article about the IPA Project “Civil Society in action for dialogue and partnership”.
The project is implemented by ALDA, lead partner, while the partners are the Local Democracy Agencies Mostar, Zavidovici (BiH), Osijek (HR), Subotica (SRB), as well as the Forum of Tuzla Citizens, Centre for Local Development Breza, DON Prijedor and Novenade Bihac.
The project is designed to help strengthen the democratic role of NGOs in enhancing the citizen participation in local policy/decision making through promoting co-operation agreements and NGO issue based networking measures within the two years of project implementation: to help improve organisational and management capacities of NGO-s engaged in promoting democratic governance at local level; develop local awareness raising actions promoting democratic potential of CSOs and their role in good local governance; support the networking actions of issue based NGOs at local and regional level in Bosnia and Herzegovina; improve the awareness of policy and decision makers on European standards of good local governance and citizen participation; foster issue based cooperation of CSOs and local authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina with their counterparts in other IPA countries and EU member states.

On January 27th, 1945, 67 years ago, the German concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Russian Army, giving name to the International Holocaust Memorial Day on that date every year.
A new Europe has been built on the ruins of war and hatred, with the conviction that something like the Shoah should never be allowed to happen again.

Against such a back-ground Local Democracy Agencies were established in the wake of the conflict leading to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia with the objective of helping to build a society founded on democratic principles, rule of law and respect for human and minority rights. Engaging various ethnic groups in this endeavour and at times mediating between them has reconfirmed to the Local Democracy Agencies and their umbrella organisation the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) that the past plays an important role in shaping a future based on tolerance and reconciliation.

Together with its partners, ALDA works daily for intercultural understanding and active participation of citizens in its programme on Active Remembrance. The President of ALDA, Per Vinther, stresses that ”we are constantly reminded that it is necessary to bring people to remember their past and learn from mistakes their ancestors have made! This also has a direct bearing on the appreciation of the benefits of living in a democratic society”

The Association of Local Democracy Agencies, ALDA, is heavily engaged in promoting active citizenship within the EU Programme “Europe for Citizens” and in that vein had embarked on the recently concluded PEACE project – Peaceful Education for Active Citizenship in Europe, which concluded on an engagement by the partners of the network to work jointly on the historical conscience of youth in their countries and in Europe as a prerequisite for the survival of our peaceful and democratic societies.

The France-Balkans network held its annual steering committee in Brussels, in the Committee of the Regions on 24 January 2012. The French partners had the opportunity to discuss the recent decision by the Auvergne Regional Council to transfer the leadership to the Pays Vichy Auvergne.
The multilateral decentralised cooperation France-Balkans programme aims at promoting the development of good governance at regional and local level and improving capacities of local authorities to allow them to function and to provide good services to their citizens. This project proposes to achieve this objective by creating a network of French local authorities involved in the Balkan and Balkan stakeholders in order to work on a common plan which would open the programme to other partners in Europe.
The partners reiterated the political dimension to the network aiming at strengthening and stabilising the democratic process in the Balkan region; supporting the European integration process of candidate and potential candidate countries; opening the French territories to cooperation with other local and regional authorities in Balkan countries.
At the meeting, the partners had an exchange of view with a representative of the French Embassy and two representatives of the Directorate General of Enlargement with whom they discussed about the contribution by French but also European local authorities to the EU enlargement process. In this perspective, the partners gave a new spin to the programme by enhancing the importance of territorial approach to development as a contribution to European integration of the Balkans. They also confirmed their interest to the multi-actor multi-sector approach, which aims at gathering expertise and contributions from political, social and economic stakeholders interested in investing in the Balkans and therefore opening new opportunities for cooperation and investment at European level.
They also finalised the action plan for 2012 which consists of three events in 2012 on topics such as tourism and open air activities, water management, new technologies and human rights.
Finally, the partners renewed their commitment to the networking activities and decided to open the network to more French but also other European partners such as Italy, Austria but also Turkey.
The partners renewed their commitment to the networking activities and decided to open the network to more French but also other European partners.
For more information please see the agenda and the list of participants.

LDAs Mostar and Central and Southern Serbia – Niš signed a partnership agreement with the Association of Fenomena from Kraljevo (Serbia) for the implementation of project “Promotion of the European Charter for equality between women and men at the local level”, during the first project meeting that took place on 11-12 January 2012.
The Project, funded by the European Commission under the IPA Civil Society Facility: Partnership Actions-Empowerment of Women, will be implemented during the 2012.
The Association Fenomenon, as the leading organisation in the project, will implement the activities in cooperation with other organisations: Centre for Local Democracy LDA from Nis, Serbia; ANIMA – Center for Women and Peace Education from Kotor, Montenegro, Association of Citizens for Local Democracy Agency Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.
The overall project objective is to contribute to the development of policies, measures and budgeting to improve gender equality in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The specific objective is to create conditions for development of policies, measures and budgeting to improve gender equality, development of local action plans to implement the European Charter for equality in cities and municipalities participating in the project.