Providing trainings in Human rights education and how to fight online and offline hate speech for youth workers and young people living in the Grand Est Region.
Empower youth workers to implement educational activities on HR and how to fight hate speech. Share and disseminate tools, methodologies and resources of the Council of Europe on HR Education to youth workers. Raise awareness among young people from Grand Est region about HR, intolerance and hate speech.
The project “Youth for Europe” consists of hosting 2 EVS volunteers for a period of 12 months in ALDA-Skopje.
ALDA-Skopje welcomes the volunteers for an immersion in the European experience by discovering the Balkan Region and experimenting life in North Macedonia. Reciprocally, volunteers will bring their testimonies about what are France and European Union for them. More specifically, this project aims to create a dialogue between French and Macedonian young people about European citizenship and about their engagement in their local community and in international community.
The two volunteers will work with Macedonian youngsters and other partners on these topics. This project objective is also to contribute for the professional and personal development of these volunteers: integration in international team, development of professional skills, improvement of language competences etc. This will not only contribute to their possibility for employment but also will contribute to the creation of responsible and engaged young European citizens.
Also, this project will result with different tools for dissemination and promotion: videos, photos, articles and interviews on the topic of remembrance and EU citizenship as well as promotional materials used for Erasmus plus programme.
Rates of early leaving from education and training are falling since 2002 in the European Union. Despite this positive trend, early leaving remains a serious issue in many Member States as the number of young people leaving school before completing upper secondary level is still high. School Talent Bank promotes entrepreneurial education in secondary schools among teachers in order to prevent early school leaving, facilitate the transition from school to work and increase students’ engagement. The specific target are those schools which register a high percentage of ethnic minority and foreign-born students.
In order to do so, School Talent Bank enriches school teachers with entrepreneurial competences, as well as creating an online platform, “The School Talent Time Bank”. The web will work as a motivation and take action tool designed to support teachers to manage school drop-outs.
On November 24, 2022, the PACIFY-D project partners gathered together in Athens (Greece) for the second face-to-face Transnational Meeting.
The PACIFY-D project, working towards providing innovative training opportunities to young people and establishing Country Info Points as local learning centres for youth education, to strengthen democratic attitudes through civic engagement and civic participation, was officially launched during the Kick-Off Meeting on June 20&21, 2022, which took place in Pecs (Hungary).
During this second Transnational Meeting, the partners, warmly hosted by KMOP in its headquarter, had the possibility to discuss the project progress. In particular, attendees presented their workplan and shared their views on the preparation of the first project result, namely the “Training materials for Young Local Ambassadors”. Notably, these materials will serve as guiding tools for youth workers to involve and train young people on diplomacy and local democracy, with the aim of fostering young people’s participation in their society. Partners commonly agreed on the next steps concerning the finalisation of this outcome. Thanks to the coordination of KMOP and the co-leading role of Interarts, all project partners will work together to create interactive, interesting, and digitalised training materials. Relevant updates will be available in the next few months.
The training materials developed during this first phase of the project will be the basis for the creation, piloting, and testing of Country Info Points (CIPs), expected in the second phase of the action implementation.
Subsequently, the project coordinator provided all partners with relevant inputs on project management and quality assurance in Athens, in order to ensure a smooth and proper implementation of the action. Finally, coordinated by ALDA, all partners discussed the communication and dissemination of the project, exchanging views on its objectives and results.
The meeting represented a great opportunity to monitor the project progress, to define the next steps and to share points of view on the project topics, which are crucial for every partner organisation. It was also a valuable experience for the whole consortium to share their ideas and enjoy the charming city of Athens.
What incentives will there be for openness and unity in the future, if an entire generation is left out? The INCOME project, acting at the intersection of culture and economy through the co-working space format, was designed to answer these questions and to find new opportunities within the concept co-working spaces.
The project targeted people who coordinate the co-working spaces, to improve their practices, skills, and capacities concerning the good management of co-working spaces. These people acted as multipliers, sharing the lessons learned with their peers and colleagues. With an eclectic mix of members from around Europe, this project was conceived as an opportunity to explore new ways of how to achieve greater job sustainability and opportunities across traditional formats, borders, and methods.
INCOME aimed at raising awareness on methods for supporting youth entrepreneurship and employability among a wider audience, addressing namely youth associations, business organszations, cultural organisations, and public authorities. Putting together different co-working spaces from all over Europe while also discussing and investigating the concept of co-working in itself. The project wanted to raise a discussion on the alternative ways of promoting youth employment and empowerment.
KALEIDOSCOPE is a project that involves students and teachers on the importance of multiperspectivity in learning history and indicates the knowledge of Yugoslav Wars as fundamental tool to understand the present. 13 partners, from 8 different countries of Europe and Balkans areas, lead the project.
The main objectives of this project are:
In recent years, while lots of people have found themselves surrounded by unfavourable economic and social situations, Euroscepticism has been raising all over Europe – United Kingdom leaving from Europe Union has confirmed it. Consequently, WISE project primarily focuses on promoting democratic engagement and active citizenship in local and union policy-making, in order to make citizens the importance of belonging to the EU. There seems to be no better occasion to start than the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 2017, to reflect on and learn from the past of European Union. Current challenges and the possible EU future scenario will be approached by the project. Citizens will have a possibility to see how they can drive Europe towards a positive change.
The main objectives to be achieved by this project are the followings:
Online steering committee meetings – The representatives from each partner who are part of the Steering Committee will meet in online session, in order to introduce each other, plan the activities, monitoring the project progress and evaluate its performance, fit issues and adjust the action towards objectives. These meetings will be regular and will take place at least before international events and at the end of each local phase. Further meeting will be held according to the needs of the consortium.
First international event – The project partners will gather in the city of Rome (Italy) as the first international event of WISE project. The commemoration of the 61st anniversary of the Treaty of Rome will be a relevant topic of this meeting. Key moments of the EU birth will be remembered, also EU current challenges and hot topics will be presented by experts during this two-day event.
Local activities (phase 1): EU learn – This first local activity will be aimed to engage citizens and increase their knowledge about the history of the EU. Local communities will be able to learn more by means of documentaries, developing games, storytelling from the elderly, etc.
Local activities (phase 2): EU reflect – Citizens will be able to participate in public debates and exchange opinions on current challenges faced by European societies and global challenges such as migration, crisis of the globalization model, etc. Special attention will be given to the role of civil society in promoting the EU values and the means to do it.
Local activities (phase 3): EU act – European awareness workshops will be held for local communities. They will be able to discuss this time about the future of EU, about challenges and opportunities. How citizens can drive towards a positive change will also be one of the main topics. The purpose will be to conclude with recommendation for local actions, national and at European level from different perspectives.
Final international event – This event will bring together representatives from all the project partners.
Local recommendations produced at the previous local event will be presented in this event under the shape of videos, slogans or manifestos. There will be a discussion with regards to the whole projects itself, the outcomes, overall impressions, strength, weaknesses, possible cooperation and activities for the future will be discussed.
On the 24th and 25th of November, ALDA was both part of the 2nd Transnational Partner Meeting (TPM), and of the online Conversation of Change (CoC) training at Union in Copenhagen. Held by Crossing Borders, the event took place in the framework of the Includate project. The latter aims at the inclusion of people with fewer opportunities, specifically migrants, which are prone to intersectional marginalisation through a combination of ethnic discrimination and social-economic deprivation.
Beginning on 24 November, the first part was dedicated to the results and reports on the local events, providing valuable insights as the before-mentioend events were held in different countries with diverse backgrounds. Therefore, the TPM marked not only an opportunity to share problems and solutions; but also it allowed the creation of a fruitful space of discussion.
Specifically, partners reflected and exchanged on several methods, such as combining mapping and reporting and about the involvement of the participants.
Lately in the afternoon, all partners had the chance to participate in an online Conversation of Change training, which focused on facilitating dialogue through different methodologies, such as the SECURE dialogue, The Boston Matrix, group discussions and Methods for Opening the Space.
Finally, on the following day, partners gathered to discuss the next steps and action plans, while also reporting on the dissemination activities. Besides, after lunch, Crossing Borders hosted the Migrant City tour, giving participants the chance to discover Nørrebro neighborhood in Copenhagen, which is home to a vibrant multicultural community. The guide explained the history of the districts, putting a focus on the migration flows, the riots, and the industrialization period which all converged to the creation of such a culturally diverse neighborhood.
Overall, the meeting was an opportunity to share and learn from each other, and all the partners were enthusiastic about the outcome. ALDA looks forward to meeting again in Palermo next year!
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Useful info:
The partner countries within Includate are: Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and Denmark.
The meeting in Copenhagen was the third event of the project, following a Kick- off Meeting and a Transnational Learning Teaching Training Activity in Berlin.
It seems so far in the past, yet so close: 18 years have gone so quickly, but the commitment of the Local Democracy Agency (LDA) in Mostar has never failed. Established back in November 2004, the LDA Mostar is animated by the will to foster active citizenry on the one hand, and to spur transparent and accountable local authorities on the other.
What does it mean in practice? By both developing and implementing national and international projects and initiatives, the Agency has been able to put its mission into action. Organised in seven different clusters – be they “democracy”, “EU integration” and “intercultural dialogue” – LDA successfully tackles and responds to the needs of local communities, its people and citizens.
‘’Those who want to live in a truly democratic society have a long and demanding road ahead of them. This requires everyone’s participation and a sincere drive for a prosperous society. The essence of LDA Mostar’s work lies precisely in overcoming obstacles and activating all the stakeholders of society along the way, because only through joint involvement and action does society become truly democratic” – said Dženana Dedić, LDA Mostar director.
“We will continue our mission” – continued Ms. Dedić “with equal persistence and passion for the benefit of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a special focus on the City of Mostar.’’
Hence, thank to its wide experience the LDA has been among the main actors recently involved in the “Strengthening local participation and cooperation through partnership of Public Authorities and CSOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina – LINK 4 Cooperation” project. The latter is one of the latest positive examples of actions undertaken by the Agency; yet they are numerous.
ALDA colleagues wish to the LDA Mostar all the best wishes and look forward to further collaborate and exchange, for the best of people and democracy… Happy 18th Anniversary!
[Images from LDA Mostar FB account]
In march 2023 the project Climate of Change is going to deliver to the European Commission a petition that asks for immediate political actions for Climate Justice. The claims were not only shared at COP27 in Egypt this year; but received the support of more than 100 ‘000 young people around all Europe. This is a clear sign that a growing community of young people shares rising concern about climate change’s effects on world societies.
This great achievement was only possible thanks to a wide network of collaborations and partners but yet another important piece of the puzzle has been constituted by the project subgrantee’s activities.
To those who might not know, the actions of Climate of Change project (financed by the DEAR programme) foresee a funding package dedicated to young associations working on a local base on themes related to Climate Change and migration. As one of the partners, ALDA itself is now looking forward to collaborating with youth associations both in France and in Belgium. Precisely, at the moment the Association is looking forward to hirings a good number of new partners to finance and work with for furthering local action for climate justice.
So far ALDA has developed partnerships with 3 fantastic youth associations that work on environmental issues and migration: 1) Youth ID, 2) Wakamoun and 3) StandUp4Europe. Together with these 3 young realities ALDA has been working together on knowledge dissemination actions and by promoting the petition, let’s have a look together at some of the activities carried out in collaboration!
Thursday 28th October our CoC ALDA’s team joined Youth ID on occasion of the Erasmus week in Paris. It was a great opportunity to meet more than 40 young engaged people from 10 different countries. There was the chance to fruitfully talk and discuss the theme of climate justice. In particular, by disseminating knowledge about the negative relation between climate change and gender inequality growth. Claims were supported in light of the results of the research produced by the University of Bologna on Global South countries as a part of the broader CoC project. We highlighted data that show how the loss produced by natural disasters directly affects the more vulnerable populations, elderly, women – especially indigenous women – children and particularly those who live in poor rural areas and that six out of ten migrating women are raped during their journey, and girls traveling alone and LGBTQI+ are at highrisk of trafficking in persons (Hernández Bonilla and Morales Orellana 2020).
The discussion was carried out lively and there was a great response from the public, with YouthID After hearing about our project and its evidences a very lively dis
The solidarity association Wakamoun helped us collect signatures for our petition by involving young people that are engaged in defending the environment. The association also furthered their commitment to make as many people as possible sign the petition, by launching small challenges on climate themes with the app MaPetitePlanète. Eventually, the association went to Madagascar to report the impacts of climate there and how it has worsened the living conditions in the country. Following their trip they are promoting their work in different ways in the french city of Mulhouse, by proposing different events and exhibitions on Climate Of Change issues there.
Finally in Brussels, the association Stand Up For Europe organized an event the 26th of October 2022 to discuss #ClimateOfChange action. This was a fruitful occasion to further civic engagement to fight for Climate Justice, and it was possible to meet and hear the voice of many different experts invited by the association. Vivian Dorizas, Project Manager at Buildings Performance Institute Europe, was one of the main speakers at the event and discussed the importance of advanced technologies to tackle climate change in the construction sector. More precisely, her presentation “Toward Decarbonization of the EU Building Stock” focused on several concepts : community, artificial intelligence, digital technologies and circular economy.
These and many others are the possible activities that can be carried to disseminate Climate of Change issues as one of our subgrantee. If you are a youth association working on Climate and Migration issues in Belgium and France don’t hesitate to apply as soon as possible to our new call!
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Actions can be financed for 70% of the total budget
Deadline: 8 december 2022
Click here for more information
The participants of this project are medium sized towns with a high rate of migrant population who tend to form separate socio-demographic groups, not enough involved in local life, sometimes at the expense of social cohesion and integration. That’ why this project is aimed to foster the involvement of all citizens in local life to improve social cohesion and mutual understanding among the population of these cosmopolitan cities.
Reasons behind this weak integration are diverse and we have identified 4 of them on which the project will focus:
With a view to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, our target public is not a specific category of population (“community-based approach”) but the local population as a whole in a town (district or suburb) with a diversified demographic profile, including the natives, expats, newly arrived migrants, precarious and vulnerable categories (“land-based approach”).
The CRISCO partners are all facing their specific social inclusion challenges, and are developing different local initiatives aiming at a better integration of their population. During the project, they will each:
This aim will be reached by building a thematic network of European (medium sized) cosmopolitan cities that will each:
3STEPS project network in Greece, Italy, Turkey, France, and Spain
The 3STEPS international conference, entitled “Social inclusion of (low-skilled) migrants and refugees in education. Join 3STEPS network” took place on 23 November 2022 in Strasbourg. Hosted by ALDA, partners and guests (both online and offline) actively joined the conference, grasping the most of it.
From a general perspective, the 3STEPS project is meant to support social inclusion of migrants and refugees by fostering two methodologies previously implemented – be they “Basic Education Methodology” and “Tandem Now”. Specifically, the project intended to increase the chances of migrants and refugees to remain within the educational and vocational system of their host country by providing them basic skills as well as a stable grounding for further personal achievements.
The first part of the conference was dedicated to insights on the implemented activities and the outcomes of the project based on the information collected by each partner. Here the main aspects:
In addition, as pointed out by participants, what is quite necessary when discussing “Inclusive Education” is the improvement of collaboration among the different stakeholders, thus requiring constant actions and the sharing of knowledge, tools and good practices through a solid network.
The latter is thus among the will behind the project: creating a group of people interested in the topic, so that to have an international collaboration, while also working to develop a policy brief, useful for further studies and improvements. A holistic approach that takes into consideration both educational and vocational development, focusing on individuals’ singularities are at the core of “Inclusive Education”: hence, having a network working to ease and to reflect around these hints will be of great value.
Overall, the International Networking Conference marked an important milestone in further localising the event, in engaging with organisations and citizens in Strasbourg, while further spreading awareness and exchange on Inclusive Education.
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact: Anita Lugli, Project Manager
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November marked an important milestone in developing cooperation for democracy. The high-level conference organised by Regional Representation of the European Commission in Wroclaw and the College of Eastern Europe, further testified the commitment not only of ALDA, but also of many international and multi-stakeholders in supporting Ukraine.
Held in Wroclaw and entitled “Development Cooperation for Democracy: the role of local governments and civil society. A multistakeholder tool to support Ukraine”, the conference gathered different actors, be they institutions or civil society organisations, to exchange and reflect on how to develop a holistic approach to respond to the crisis.
“Today, at the House of Europe in Wrocław, we are talking about development cooperation for democracy and support for Ukraine fighting for our common freedom”, said Mr. Jacek Wasik, Director of the Regional Representation of the European Commission in Wroclaw in his opening speech. The same spirit of cooperation and hope was also stressed by Laurynas Vaičiūnas, Chairman of the Foundation College of Eastern Europe
The added value of this conference was underlined by the representative of the city of Wroclaw as well; recalling the deep bond among noth only the two countries, but also among the Polish city with the two sisters-cities in Ukraine: Lviv and Kyiv.
Similarly, Oriano Otočan, ALDA President, shared the experience of the Association in the management of post-conflict situations. Thus, ALDA itself was initiated after the war in Western Balkans, bringing together both local and international stakeholders to ease the situation and provide solutions.
If on the one hand democracy is now under attack in Ukraine, on the other hand and especially for the Country of Kyiv, the decentralisation process is fundamental. As mentioned by Giulio Venneri, Team leader, Rule of law and Democracy Team, DG NEAR, European Commission, local leadership is the key element now also in order to guarantee future resilience.
Furthermore, support should be given also in terms of finance, as well as “on-site” projects: the renovation of a school building is among the examples illustrated by Marcin Krzyżanowski Deputy Marshall of the Lower Siliesia Voivodoship.
A further insight on the local situation has been provided by Svitlana Yarova, Member of the City Council Vinnitsa, Deputy Head of the Institut for City Development, who presented the integrated development of Vinnystia. In addition, Yana Brovdiy, Officer – International Partnerships (U-LEAD), CEMR, illustrated the activities done not only in Ukraine but also in the EaP region, especially on digitalisation and gender equality. Another great voice from the civil society world came from Carlotta Besozzi – Coordinator Civil Society Europe – who stressed the importance of including CSOs in the instrument of Rebuild Ukraine; and Alexandru Coica, reporting on the successful examples of the Local Democracy Agencies, as testified by Anzhelika Pylypenko, Representative of LDA Dnipro.
The second panel was entirely dedicated to the key role of civil society organisations, precisely focusing on “Decentralised cooperation, multi stakeholder cooperation and city Diplomacy as a tool for development cooperation – practical recommendations”
Thanks to this moment of exchange, panellists and participants had the opportunity to work on a draft declaration. “The Polish democratic transformation was a strong success, it should be an export product and we should be more aware of that and adopt a strong narrative on this matter” expressed Bartek Ostrowski – ALDA Vice President.
Panellists joining this moment were all professionals and experts working closely with people and citizens; while transferring the need of the society to the institutions; bridging the two sides. “ Being a part of the international environment means being a part of a learning community. Solidarity is key to have a place in the global world”, emphasised Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA. The idea of CSOs as a bridge between people and institutions was also reiterated by Artem Zozulia, Chairman of the Ukraine Foundation; while Denis Schrey, KAS, Programme Director of the Multinational Development Policy Dialogue and Network Coordinator, European Network of Political Foundations (ENOP) stressed how “The multi-stakeholders approach is key to translate the cultural differences between countries”.
Similarly both Jan Wais, Deputy Director of the Office for International Cooperation, Wroclaw Municipality; and Krzysztof Latka, Chairman of the Foundation for the Central and Eastern Europe Development contributed by providing their own perspectives and insights so that to foster the collaboration and mutual understanding when working together for a common goal.
Overall, this conference not only proved the continuous commitment to peace and democracy of ALDA and the institutions and CSOs joining together in the event, but also demonstrates that collaboration and multilateral cooperation are key factors to provide concrete solutions to the current war that Ukraine is facing.
The theme of migration is ubiquitous in each other’s events of the project “From footprints to makeshift camps: The migration crisis and European citizenship” (Des traces de pas aux camps de fortune : Crise migratoire et citoyennetés européennes). Every day, more and more refugees and migrants leave their countries and move towards Europe. The question is: “What can we do to help them?”. This project aims to raise young francophones awareness of this topic because it is with them that change begins.
From thematic games and communication tools, young people will deepen their understanding on migration, share their stories and provide innovative suggestions.
The main objectives of this project are:
“Beliefs and Superstitions from Here and Elsewhere” project will gather young people from four countries: Belgium, France, Macedonia and Serbia. For ten days they will discuss beliefs and superstitions from here and elsewhere. The exchange will be realized in Reunion Island. The topic will be tackled through various activities, workshops, meetings, visits, testimonies. Young people will be encouraged to express themselves, to listen to each other, to exchange and to create results on the topic in order to enrich themselves.
The main objectives of this project are:
Effective collaboration across government departments and with non-governmental actors is essential to good governance. In addition, effective collaboration with societal actors in public service delivery and policy-making can help governments improve their ability to address user needs and innovate their problem solving capacity.
Effective engagement with societal actors can help unlock societal assets, thereby easing the resource needs on governments, allow new services and new businesses to be born and help citizens to actively participate in the decisions that affect their lives.
This is the political base from which Co-Created project has been thought. Co-Created aims at equipping civil servants with the basic skills needed to implement co-creation approaches with the actors of the civil society. The project uses ICT solutions as learning innovative tools.
The main objectives of this project are:
The project will be based on building a thematic network of European Metropolitan Cities that will exchange experiences about their management and role in the future of European governance, by focusing on the participation of citizens in these processes. The network will gather Metropolitan Cities with years of experiences with the Metropolis institutions and realities.
The tools of the project will include:
The main objectives of this project are:
In line with the objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme and in order to foster the achievement of Europe2020 goals, the YouthMetre project aims at supporting EU Member States, municipalities and regions in carrying out effective policy reforms in the field of Youth, in line with the indications provided by the EU Youth Strategy and according to the priorities perceived by its target population: young Europeans.
In line with the objectives of the Call, YouthMetre foresees activities whose specific aim is to provide in-depth knowledge about the self-perceived needs of the target group(s) (Young Europeans) in learning, teaching, training or youth work situations and effective methodologies and tools that help policy makers to develop initiatives in line with the target population’s collected needs.
The project addresses “Priority 7- Using e-participation as an instrument to foster young people’s empowerment and active participation in democratic life”.
It starts from the outcomes of previous youth projects, through OMC YouthMetre empowers youth to engage with and impact on EU youth policy. An e-tool will be produced to close the gap between youth and institutions by collecting the perceived needs of youth in key policy areas and providing guidelines to public institutions that help address them. YouthMetre aims at directly providing youngsters with necessary skills and knowledge to foster effective implementation, by policy makers, of the guidelines provided by the “Youthmetre”.