Month: October 2020

Interested in inclusive tourism? This fall 2020, starting from November 4th, a series of five workshops will take place within the context of the GATE project  – Granting Accessible Tourism for Everyone where ALDA serves as a consultant, in presentation of the outcomes of the project as well as of a number of other best practices for all to adopt in the field.

In order to allow everyone to attend despite the ongoing Covid-19 situation, the workshops will take place online, maintaining however a highly interactive structure so to encourage active participation and knowledge exchanges among the audience. Each event, held either in English or in Italian, will consist in a 45-50 minute presentation by a GATE project partner and by other expert guests, followed by an allotted time for questions, answers, and other contributions.

While the workshops will be particularly helpful for all those who are specifically involved in the field of tourism, everyone is invited to join and guaranteed to gain useful insights on inclusion and accessibility! The series will unfold as follows:

1. [ENGLISH] November 4th, 3pm CEST | Accessible tourism: four case-studies
2. [ENGLISH] November 18th, 3pm CEST | Handicap, disabilities & inclusion
3. [ITALIAN] November 25th, 3pm CEST | Handicap, disabilità & inclusione
4. [ENGLISH] December 2nd, 3pm CEST | Best practices on inclusive tourism
5. [ITALIAN] December 9th, 3pm CEST | Buone pratiche di turismo inclusivo

Have a look at the AGENDA and don’t forget to register to as many workshops as you want through this link!

All workshops are free upon registration. Click above to book your chance to learn more and discuss about accessible, inclusive tourism for everyone… and invite friends!

The GATE project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Interreg V-A Italy-Austria 2014-2020 with the aim to collaborate on a cross-border level to make sure that inclusive tourism is no longer just the “highlight” of certain alpine and pre-alpine areas, but rather expands all over, becoming a true strength and an inspiration for further practices of inclusion everywhere. Get to know the GATE project partners here. 

Among the several participatory processes ALDA is implementing throughout Europe, a special place is taken by the project carrying on within our very neighborhood in Vicenza (Italy): the “Spark” (Scintilla) project.

Started in April 2019 with the objective of regenerating the urban area surrounding the train station, the so-called “Viale Milano area”, the project enters now a new phase. Thanks to the active involvement of a wide group of citizens, in only one-year time we succeeded in achieving a participatory process, which shed light on the priorities and served to identify the immediate and practical actions to start the transformation of the area.

On September 25th, a dedicated event was organised to present the second stage of the project, called “The Place to Be”, which inaugurates a whole set of activities to give a new impulse to the whole neighbourhood and a renewed alliance between the Neighbourhood, its citizens and the local administration. Part of a street (Via Napoli) was closed to traffic and an outdoor party was arranged, accompanied by great food and sound music, all in compliance with the anti-covid19 regulations in place.

Among the proposed actions, the “Place to be” will transform the Viale Milano area into a greener and friendly hood with spaces dedicated to coworking and smart businesses, entrepreneurs, play areas for families and children, as well as a general greenwashing of the district. As a result, the event was sold-out, and it was very much appreciated by the whole citizenry.

A special thanks to the local administration, associations, and all the single citizens who contributed to its successful outcome!

On Wednesday 7th October 2020, took place the final conference of the project “Empowering Local Authorities & Civil Society to Deliver Solutions with Participatory Democracy”, organised in Brussels and streamed online for all participants.

Officially kicked-off in April 2019 and carried out thanks to the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) programme, the project aimed at strengthening local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova, by empowering them to identify and deliver solutions using participatory methodologies, thus involving the whole community in the decision-making processes.

Despite the hybrid nature of the event, with speakers and participants both online and in presence, the conference enjoyed of a great vivacity and a high level of interaction. At first, the event was introduced by Denis Schrey, Head of Multinational Development Policy Dialogue (KAS) and Oriano Otočan, President of ALDA. This was followed by three presentations conducted by Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Secretary General, David Mathews, President and CEO of the Kettering Foundation (USA) and Alexandru Coica, Project and Area Manager at ALDA.

During her speech, Ms Valmorbida not only described the main findings and the experiences in the four target cities, namely Dnipro and Mariupol in Ukraine, Cimislia and Comrat in Moldova. Most importantly, she presented the highlight and the major output of the project: a published book, titled “Participatory Democracy in Moldova and Ukraine – Empowering authorities and civil society to deliver solutions at the local level”. The book presents the research, the tools and the practical recommendations for local development and it is intended to be a guide and a source of inspiration for all communities interested in embarking in such a participatory journey, aimed at finding pragmatic and shared solutions to local issues.

Later on, the floor was given to Borys Albertovich Filatov, mayor of Dnipro and to Sergiu Andronachi, mayor of Cimislia, who shared their grassroot experiences concerning the application of innovative methods of citizens engagement. Afterwards, the perspective switched from local to a broader perspective, thanks to the input of Mathieu Bousquet, Head of Unit DG NEAR. The conference ended with a debate on recommendations to improve the effectiveness of local participative democracy, moderated by Alexandru Coica, and led by Daniela Morari, Ambassador and Head of the Mission of the Republic of Moldova to the EU.

All in all, the successful results of the project made it clear the immense potential of such processes in terms of problem solving, social empowerment and economic development, as they generate new energies, ideas and contribute to fight against the sense of frustration and brain drain in countries.

By virtue of this, even though this was the last conference, we suspect that actions to foster participatory democracy in Ukraine and Moldova won’t stop here. Stay tuned to discover all follow-ups of this great project!

On Friday October 9th, just after the Extraordinary General Assembly, the 12 candidates to the Governing Board were unanimously elected: an unprecedent situation justified by the number of candidates, being 12 as the positions available, and the excellence of each of them.

Thus, each candidate briefly introduced himself/herself and the ALDA-member organization they represent, highlighting the motivations to become part of the Board.

Afterwards, we all assisted to the proclamation of the new Governing Board of ALDA, officially composed by:

– Mr Maurizio Camin, Association “Trentino con i Balcani” (Italy)

– Mr Emir Coric, Municipality of Centar (North Macedonia)

– Mr Didier Duboisset, Pays Vichy Auvergne (France)

– Ms Shorena Khukhua, Kutaisi Municipality (Georgia)

– Mr Roger Lawrence, individual member (United Kingdom)

– Mr Dobrica Milovanovic, individual member (Serbia)

– Mr Bartek Ostrovski, Merkury Foundation (Poland)

– Mr Oriano Otočan, Istria Region (Croatia)

– Mr Alessandro Perelli, Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region (Italy)

– Mr Andrea Rilievo, Social Cooperative “Studio Progetto” (Italy)

– Ms Natasa Vuckovic, Center for Democracy Foundation (Serbia) – Mr Francesco Zarzana, Association “Progettarte” (Italy)

In addition to the elected members, three statutory members make also part of the Board: a representative of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe or his representative and, finally, a representative of the LDAs network.

On Friday October 9th, just after the Extraordinary General Assembly, the 12 candidates to the Governing Board were unanimously elected: an unprecedent situation justified by the number of candidates, being 12 as the positions available, and the excellence of each of them.

Thus, each candidate briefly introduced himself/herself and the ALDA-member organization they represent, highlighting the motivations to become part of the Board.

Afterwards, we all assisted to the proclamation of the new Governing Board of ALDA, officially composed by:

– Mr Maurizio Camin, Association “Trentino con i Balcani” (Italy)

– Mr Emir Coric, Municipality of Centar (North Macedonia)

– Mr Didier Duboisset, Pays Vichy Auvergne (France)

– Ms Shorena Khukhua, Kutaisi Municipality (Georgia)

– Mr Roger Lawrence, individual member (United Kingdom)

– Mr Dobrica Milovanovic, individual member (Serbia)

– Mr Bartek Ostrovski, Merkury Foundation (Poland)

– Mr Oriano Otočan, Istria Region (Croatia)

– Mr Alessandro Perelli, Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region (Italy)

– Mr Andrea Rilievo, Social Cooperative “Studio Progetto” (Italy)

– Ms Natasa Vuckovic, Center for Democracy Foundation (Serbia) – Mr Francesco Zarzana, Association “Progettarte” (Italy)

In addition to the elected members, three statutory members make also part of the Board: a representative of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe or his representative and, finally, a representative of the LDAs network.

After having been reported several times due to the global sanitary emergency, on Friday 9th October 2020 took finally place in Brussels the ALDA General Assembly, broadcasted online, so that each member of ALDA as well as the whole staff could participate, in accordance with rules related to anti-COVID-19 spreading. It was a very significant day, which marked an essential appointment in the ALDA annual calendar and saw the participation of special guests and keynote speakers.

The all-day long General Assembly was officially opened by Mr Oriano Otočan, President of ALDA, followed by Mr Gilles Pelayo, Head of Unit of the programme Europe for Citizens, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and Mr Xavier Cadoret, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, who both expressed their greetings and best wished for ALDA’s present and future achievements.

This introduction was followed by a statutory part, during which a number of important internal documents underwent the members’ approval. Afterwards, the Extraordinary General Assembly began, and the members had been asked to express their opinions on a series of major decisions.

Among the highlights of the Assembly was the renewal of ALDA Governing Board with the consequent elections of its twelve new components (which will be presented in a separate article).

The afternoon was fully aimed at celebrating the 20 years of ALDA, through the launch of the recent Activity Report, the new Strategic Views 2020-2024 and the presentation of ALDA’s flagship initiatives, introduced by Antonella Valmorbida, ALDA Secretary General, with the interventions of the following keynote speakers:

– Mr Paolo Ciccarelli, Head of the European Commission’s DG DEVCO, intervened on the “European Support to Local Democracy”

– Mr Oriano Otočan, ALDA President, presented the “Balkan network for Local Democracy”

– Mr Denis Schrey, Head of the Multinational Development Policy Dialogue of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, for the “Local Democracy solving Local problems”, a very recent output of the project “Empowering Local Authorities & Civil Society to Deliver Solutions with Participatory Democracy”.

Keeping our tradition, the annual General Assembly ended with the presentation of the new members of ALDA, cheered with an ad-hoc “ALDA-member” certificate, which will be sent to each of them as welcome gift and acknowledgement of their presence in the wide network of ALDA!

Among the several participatory processes ALDA is implementing throughout Europe, a special place is taken by the project carrying on within our very neighbourhood in Vicenza (Italy): the “Spark” (Scintilla) project.