Mois : août2012

ALDA will attend the 29th International Seminar for young people on “Federalism in Europe and in the world”, taking place in Ventotene (Italy) from the 2nd to the 7th September 2012.
Almost 150 young people from across the continent will participate at the event, to form the federalist thinking and develop proposals for action.

The seminar is promoted by the Institute for Federalist Studies “Spinelli”, in collaboration with the GFE and the MFE, with the support of Lazio Region, Province of Latina and Ventotene.
The main aims of the Seminar is to spread throughout the World Federalist Movement ideas and their applications in a global context among the participants and several experts that will participate to this seminar.
The seminar deals with several issues related to international economics, migration, peace-building and peace-maintenance and with the integration processes in the European and in the global context.
During this week there will be different moments to share experiences and knowledge about these matters, there will be working groups and roundtables in order to get in depth in these fields and to promote a better understanding of Federalist Movement. ALDA will also actively participate at the seminar, in particular with its representative Mr. Ruggiero Mennea, Governing Board member, that in the last round of the discussion will present the Association, its fields of action and the connections between ALDA and the Federalist Movement.
The European Federalist Movement from 1982 yearly purposes the International seminar in Ventotene Island with a tight program concerning federalism in Europe and in the world.
Ventotene, an island off the Italian coast, was the place where Altiero Spinelli, author of the Federalist Ventotene Manifesto, was imprisoned during the Second World War. Each year, young Federalists gather here to discuss with leading experts from the European and World Federalist Movement federalist ideas European and global issues. The seminar is a unique and intensive experience on European and Federalist studies.
Download the programme of the International Seminar on “Federalism in Europe and in the world” (ici.
Further info at www.istitutospinelli.org.

Close to one thousand representatives of civil society organisations from around the world will be coming to Montréal’s Palais des Congrès from September 3 to 7.
These ‘super citizens’, activists working for democracy and the rights of millions of people all over the planet, will be taking part in the 11th World Assembly of global civil society network CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, organised in collaboration with the Institut du Nouveau Monde (INM).

CIVICUS is an international alliance of members and partners working to strengthen people’s participation and democracy. Its network encompasses social activists, protest movements, trade unions, religious networks, professional associations, NGOs, training and research organisations, representatives of the business world and philanthropic foundations and funding agencies.
Here in Canada, there is a new feeling of urgency about the ways in which power is exercised, which reflects people’s concerns elsewhere in the world. The Occupy movement and the casserole movement, the Arab and Maple Springs are all recent citizen actions that reflect a crisis of legitimacy for national governments and a questioning of our current models of governance. More and more people, especially young people, are demonstrating political dissent and demanding to be heard in their efforts to make their societies fairer and more just.
The CIVICUS World Assembly, whose theme this year is Defining a new social contract—making the future together, will bring delegates from a hundred countries from around the world to Montreal to lay the foundations for a new, inclusive social contract to bolster the rights of citizens to exist, express themselves, and interact collectively.
The CIVICUS World Assembly will bring together organisations that are world leaders in the promotion of social progress, along with government and local authorities, traditional and social media, multilateral institutions, and academics and young innovators. Among the organisations represented will be Amnesty International, World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, Rockefeller Foundation, International Association for Public Participation, ActionAid, Greenpeace International, and many others. Among Canadian organisations represented will be Canada World Youth, Confederation of National Trade Unions, Coalition pour la souveraineté alimentaire, Équiterre, and others.
Speakers include Marina Silva, environmental activist and former Minister of Environment (Brazil), Caroline Anstey, World Bank (United Kingdom), Kumi Naidoo, head of Greenpeace International, Ana-Maria Garzón, Sustainable Agriculture Network, Rainforest Alliance (Colombia), Dr  Zuhang Ming, Participation Center (China), Daniel Ben-Horin, TechSoup (United States), Kamal Lahbib, Forum des Alternatives (Morocco), Léo Bureau-Blouin, former president of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (Canada), Lakshmi Puri, UN Women (India), Olav Kjørven, United Nations Development Programme (Norway), Frances Westley, J.W. McConnell Chair in Social Innovation, University of Waterloo (Canada), Reza Eslami-Somea, Shahid Beheshti University (Iran), Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Human Rights Working Group (Indonesia), Éric H. Pelletier, International Organisation of La Francophonie (Canada), Roberto Bissio, Third World Institute (Uruguay), and Auret Van Heerden, Fair Labor Association (South Africa).
According to INM Executive Director Michel Venne, this international event in Montreal will provide an opportunity for all of civil society in Quebec and the rest of Canada to meet face-to-face with close to a thousand delegates from the most important citizen action organisations from around the world. “The CIVICUS World Assembly furthers our objective of contributing to the development of civic competence, especially among young Quebecers, who will benefit from exposure to a rich international perspective early in their lives as citizens,” he observes.
The World Assembly’s programme is divided into three tracks: Changing Nations Through Citizens, Building Partnerships for Social Innovation, and Redefining Global Governance. Some of the topics under discussion at the World Assembly will be:
•    New models of consumption and production
•    Business and human rights
•    Youth leadership at the global level and in institutions
•    Boosting women’s participation and voice in governance
•    Online activism and offline action
•    A new global financial architecture
•    Entrepreneurial solutions to social problems
•    South-South cooperation
•    From food security to food sovereignty
•    Desperately seeking sustainability: a post Rio+20 discussion
•    Funding trends, innovation and partnership
“The world is facing multiple crises and it is essential that all social actors broaden their dialogue,” explains Henri Valot, Outreach Director at CIVICUS. “Governments alone have neither the capacity nor the reach to fulfill their mandate and to meet contemporary challenges. In response to this crisis of legitimacy, citizens are challenging the governance structures currently in place and questioning their respective roles and responsibilities. We must strengthen ways of acting together, and this international summit on citizen action in Montreal is a key opportunity to mobilise citizens and civil society organisations around the world.”
Registration for the World Assembly is currently under way. Places are filling up fast but organisations and individuals can still register online at: www.civicusassembly.org.
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international alliance of members and partners in over 100 countries. CIVICUS works to promote the emergence, growth and protection of citizen action, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of association are threatened.
The Institut du Nouveau Monde is a non-partisan organisation with the mission of promoting citizen participation and the renewal of ideas in Quebec. The INM’s aim is to encourage citizen participation, to contribute to the development of civic competence and to strengthen social cohesion and democratic institutions.

The International association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) will organise a seminar  in Geneva on 30th and 31st August, which will gather more than 50 high level participants.
The Mayor of the City of Mostar, Mr. Ljubo Beslic, will be one of speakers during the seminar on “Local Authorities in the prevention of conflict, peace building and reconciliation” and will present the experience of his City and the role of the Local Democracy Agency, and ALDA, in Mostar.

Ms Marine Henry, project manager in ALDA, will also attend this meeting.
This event, organised with the support of the City of Geneva and two departments of the European Commission, will be structured around three pillars.
A dialogue with the European Commission to facilitate exchange between the European Commission and elected people in order to define the guidelines of the cooperation between the European Commission and Local Authorities for the forthcoming years;
A seminar on “Local Authorities in the prevention of conflict, peace building and reconciliation” organised in the framework of the Permanent Commission “Intercultural dialogue and peace” presided by the City of Kinshasa.
A first workshop on the strategic programme planning of  AIMF for the definition of the programme 2014-2020.

An international conference on “Ageing Society, Ageing Culture?”  will take place on 18–19 October 2012 in Maribor, Slovenia.
The conference is organized  by the University Network of the European Capitals of Culture (UNeECC) with the University of Maribor (UM) and the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI). UNeECC will also held jointly his 6th General Assembly Meeting.
Registration  is now open till 31 August 2012. Click here to register
Further information (ici.

It was extended to September 3, the deadline for enrollment to the twelfth edition of the  post-graduate specialization course on “Local participatory action and sustainable urban development».
The course is organised by the University IUAV of Venice, which will host the didactic activities, in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Planning at the Politecnico of Milan and with the sponsorship of Italian Local Agenda 21.

The training project  aims to deepen the new skills and knowledge required for professionals who plan and design interventions for local or urban development, and local administrators and technicians who work within a strategic, intersectoral and participatory action. The course trains professionals to be able to activate and manage paths on participatory urban, environmental and social issues. It is particularly aimed at engineers, managers and officials of governments or private companies, third sector professionals and recent graduates who wish to enrich their knowledge on methods and techniques for listening and being involved on the construction of shared strategies and choices, on participation in planning policies, programs and projects.
The course is reserved to graduates with at least a three years bachelor degree, or equivalent European title. Additional information are available at www.azionelocale.net
Information on terms and forms are available at: http://www.iuav.it/master/.
Participants have the opportunity to gain academic credits and an to participate to an internship.