ALDA working on Good governance and citizen participation

ALDA – the European Association for Local Democracy – is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the promotion of good governance and citizen participation at the local level, focusing in particular on activities that facilitate cooperation between local authorities and civil society.

In the framework of promoting good governance and citizen participation at the local level, ALDA focuses on various themes, such as European integration, decentralisation, civic initiatives and volunteering, human rights, and sustainable economic development.

ALDA works in the European Union promoting active European citizenship, in tight cooperation with local authorities, civil society networks, and European institutions. The activities of ALDA help raising citizen’s understanding and sense of belonging to the European Union, and stimulate intercultural dialogue and civic participation.

LADDER project: Development Education and Awareness Raising as pillars for the achievement of good governance

The project “LADDER – Local Authorities as Drivers for Development Education and Raising awareness” started on January 2015 and will be running until December 2017 (36-month duration). Funded by EuropeAid, LADDER will seek to enhance and increase the action of Local Authorities in EU DEAR policies, with special reference to the EU Neighbouring area. To do so, the following specific objectives have been identified: 1) strengthen the capacity of associations of local authorities (LAs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) to act in a sustainable way as drivers for development, fostering their role of multipliers within their countries, communities and networks; 2) inform, raise awareness and engage citizens in global issues, global interdependency and development education; 3) develop & reinforce the cooperation between LAs and CSOs, to lead to winning synergies; 4) improve DEAR methods in non-formal education system, through the development of new and innovative methods and tools addressed to a wide range of stakeholders (including educators, civil servants, NGOs, youth leaders etc.).

LADDER project strongly focuses on a global need for “good governance” through promoting the role of Local Authorities, civil society and their networks as qualified actors for the implementation of the European policies for development, in the framework of the newly agreed SDGs.

Trainings on good governance and citizen participation

ALDA, among its several activities, also takes part to conferences and organises trainings and informative events to deliver information and share good practices on how to foster good governance through the improvement of citizen participation to political and social life of their communities. In particular, ALDA is amongst the major actor for the application of “The Code of Good Practices of the CoE”. These kinds of activities are particularly addressed to the European Neighbour countries, such as in the Eastern Partnership, in the Mediterranean areas and in the Southern Caucasus.

Paving the way to the future Local Democracy Agencies

ALDA works in the Western Balkans and in the European Neighbourhood – Mediterranean area, Eastern Europe, and Southern Caucasus – to foster good governance, citizen participation, European integration, and decentralisation. It coordinates and supports the network of 11 Local Democracy Agencies and 3 Operational Partners in their activities. The last LDA was opened on May 2015 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.

ALDA has been working for a long time also on the opening of the two upcoming LDAs, in Moldova and Tunisia, on the basis of the past experiences in this field. The one in Tunisia, in particular, will represent an important step to ensure good governance and citizen participation in a so-called “new democracy”, in order to bring fruitful results for all key stakeholders involved in the process.