Mois : juin2018

On 5^, July 2018, the kick-off meeting of the project APProach will be held in Paris with all project partners. The content, the general objectives, and the next steps to be carried out for the correct implementation of the project will be presented.

We will be hosting many speakers and experiences, including Ms. Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA, Mr. Hermano Sanches Ruvio, Delegate Counselor in charge of European Issues for the city of Paris, and Mr. Thomas Lecourt, project manager at ALDA. Time will also be allowed for sharing of experiences with the Danish Consulate in Paris and the Association of Democracy Defense in Poland.

APProach is designed to improve EU Citizens’ mobility by establishing an online platform aimed at increasing information-sharing between the municipalities and the EU Mobile Citizens (EUMCs).

Despite the remarkable increase in intra-EU mobility resulting from the subsequent signing of the Schengen Agreement, many citizens travelling across the union do not know exactly the rights they enjoy. Hence, although many more students are applying for the Erasmus+ program and many more are looking for better working opportunities and retirement schemes across the Union, problems are still present when citizens move to live to other countries. As showed by the 2016 Comparative study des obstacles to the rights of free movement and residence for EU citizens and their families, “EU citizens face several obstacles when deciding to move with their families to another EU country, amongst these the accessing employment, double taxation of salaries and pensions, poor administrative services, social inclusion difficulties which lead to lack of interest towards local daily life, schooling insertion, additional requirements to register to vote/stand as a candidate in European and municipal elections in another Member State”.

As such, APProach is resolute to undertake further action aimed at redressing obstacles to integration in three specific fields:

Access to Vote;
School Enrollment;
Active Participation in Welcoming Cities’ life.

These three objectives are to be achieved by the creation of an online platform, APProach indeed, where citizens and municipalities, without hierarchy of users, can share information regarding the three identified objectives. The development of the APP will be complemented by the promotion of awareness of free movement’s rights, such as exchange of best practices between municipalities, creation of focus groups, linguistic trainings, disseminating events etc.

The involved parties are the municipalities of: Etterbeek, Belgium; Lisbon, Portugal; Milan, Italy; Nea Smyrni, Greece; Paris, France; Vejle, Denmark. In addition, Cities of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Warsaw (Poland) are also associate partners in this project.

Furthermore, Neighborhood Council, Youth Councils, and Universities will be included as well at least 7,500 EUMCs and 60 Municipalities’ staffers.

The expected results are in the direction of establishing a truly European communication channel between municipalities, citizens, and stakeholders without a hierarchy of users. This will be accompanied by an increased accession for EUMCs in information in voting rights, information in children’s enrollment to schools, and information in local activities. Moreover, APProach aims at having a concrete impact on improvement in communication and sharing of best practices among municipalities, in strengthening European Civil Society and bolstering a European identity as well as training of municipal staff by fulfilling better language requirements (English B1 at least).

The new project Youth Compact officially kicks off this week! The project partners gathered in Belgrade to discuss the implementation of the activities, the creation of action plan and the communication strategy for the project.

The main objective of the three-year-long project is to help enhance CSOs participation in policy design and in monitoring the process of EU integration in the Western Balkans and to engage youth to participate more actively youth in this process. The activities have been designed based on the experience and achieved results of the previous project  carried out by the Balkan Regional Network for Local Democracy (BRNLD) and their Regional Youth Working Group (RYWG) – Balkan Regional Platform for Youth Participation and Dialogue.
The project is realized by 14 partners, including ALDA and ALDA Skopje and 7 Local Democracy Agencies from the Western Balkans. The project is financed by the European Union through the IPA program for civil society facility.

Liens utiles:
Balkan Regional Platform for Youth Participation and Dialogue

Réunion de lancement du projet Youth Compact à Belgrade

Le nouveau projet Youth Compact démarre officiellement cette semaine ! Les partenaires du projet se sont réunis à Belgrade pour discuter de la mise en œuvre des activités, de la création du plan d’action et de la stratégie de communication pour le projet.
L’objectif principal de ce projet de trois ans est de contribuer à renforcer la participation des organisations issues de la société civile à la conception des politiques et au suivi du processus d’intégration européenne dans les Balkans occidentaux et d’inciter les jeunes à participer plus activement dans ce processus. Les activités ont été conçues sur la base de l’expérience et des résultats obtenus du précédent projet mené par le Réseau régional balkanique pour la démocratie locale (BRNLD) et leur groupe de travail régional pour la jeunesse (RYWG) – Plate-forme régionale des Balkans pour la participation des jeunes et le dialogue.

Le projet est réalisé par 14 partenaires, dont ALDA et ALDA Skopje et 7 Agences de la démocratie locale des Balkans occidentaux. Le projet est financé par l’Union européenne à travers le programme IPA pour la société civile.

Liens utiles :
Plate-forme régionale des Balkans pour la participation des jeunes et le dialogue

Tutti a Belgrado per il lancio del progetto Youth Compact

È iniziato ufficialmente questa settimana il nuovo progetto Youth Compact! I partner si sono riuniti a Belgrado, in Serbia, per accordarsi sulle attività da svolgere e la strategia di comunicazione da adottare.

Il progetto avrà una durata di tre anni, ed il suo principale obiettivo è quello di rendere più attiva la partecipazione delle Organizzazioni della Società Civile (CSOs – Civil Society Organisations) nell’elaborazione delle politiche e nel monitoraggio del processo di integrazione europea dei Balcani Occidentali, nonché aiutare i giovani a partecipare più attivamente in questo processo.  Le attività da svolgere sono state scelte in base all’esperienza e ai risultati raggiunti dal progetto precedentemente avviato dalla “Rete Regionale dei Balcani per la Democrazia Locale” e dal loro “Gruppo Regionale di Lavoro Giovanile – la Piattaforma Regionale dei Balcani per il Dialogo e la Partecipazione Giovanile”.

Il progetto è stato realizzato da quattordici partner, inclusa ALDA e ALDA Skopje, e dalle sette Agenzie della Democrazia Locale situate nei Balcani. Il progetto è finanziato dall’ Unione Europea attraverso il programma IPA “Civil Society Facility”.

Link utili:
Piattaforma Regionale dei Balcani per il Dialogo e la Partecipazione Giovanile

Первая встреча по проекту Youth Compact состоится в Белграде

Новый проект Youth Compact официально стартует на этой неделе! Партнеры проекта собрались в Белграде для обсуждения реализации мероприятий, создания плана действий и коммуникационной стратегии для проекта.

Основная цель трехлетнего проекта – помочь активизировать участие ОГО в разработке политики и в мониторинге процесса интеграции ЕС на Западных Балканах и привлечь молодежь к более активному участию в этом процессе. Эти мероприятия были разработаны на основе опыта и достигнутых результатов предыдущего проекта, осуществляемого Балканской региональной сетью местной демократии (BRNLD) и их региональной молодежной рабочей группой (RYWG) – Балканской региональной платформой для участия молодежи и диалога.

Проект реализуется четырьмя партнерами, включая ALDA и ALDA Skopje и 7 агентств местной демократии на Западных Балканах. Проект финансируется Европейским Союзом через программу IPA для объектов гражданского общества.

Полезные ссылки:
Балканская региональная платформа для участия молодежи и диалога

“Youth Compact” početni sastanak u Beogradu

Novi projekat “Youth Compact” zvanično počinje ove nedelje! Projektni partneri su se okupili u Beogradu kako bi razgovarali o implementaciji aktivnosti, kreiranju akcionog plana i komunikacionoj strategiji projekta.

Glavni cilj trogodišnjeg projekta je da pomogne u povećanju učešća OCD-a u kreiranju politike i praćenju procesa evropskih integracija na zapadnom Balkanu i angažovanju mladih da se aktivnije uključe u ovaj proces. Aktivnosti su projektovane na osnovu iskustva i postignutih rezultata prethodnog projekta koji je sprovela Balkanska regionalna mreža za lokalnu demokratiju (BRMLD) i njihova regionalna omladinska radna grupa (RORG) – Regionalna platforma za učešće i dijalog mladih Balkana.

Projekat realizuje 14 partnera, uključujući ALDA i ALDA Skoplje i 7 Agencija Lokalne Demokratije sa Zapadnog Balkana. Projekat je finansiran od strane Evropske unije kroz IPA program podrške civilnom društvu.

Korisni linkovi:
Balkan Regional Platform for Youth Participation and Dialogue

بدء اجتماع الشباب في بلغراد

سينطلق مشروع الشباب الجديد رسميا هذا الأسبوع! اجتمع شركاء المشروع في بلغراد لمناقشة تنفيذ الأنشطة، وخلق خطة العمل واستراتيجية الاتصال للمشروع.

الهدف الرئيسي من هذا المشروع الذي يمتد لثلاث سنوات هو المساعدة في تعزيز مشاركة منظمات المجتمع المدني في تصميم السياسات وفي مراقبة عملية اندماج الاتحاد الأوروبي في غرب البلقان وإشراك الشباب في المشاركة بشكل أكثر فعالية للشباب في هذه العملية. وقد تم تصميم الأنشطة بناءً على الخبرة والنتائج المحققة للمشروع السابق الذي نفذته شبكة البلقان الإقليمية للديمقراطية المحلية (BRNLD ) ومجموعة العمل الإقليمية للشباب (RYWG ) – المنصة الإقليمية لمشاركة وحوار الشباب في البلقان.

ويتحقق المشروع من 14 شريكًا، بما في ذلك Le وLe Skopje و7 وكالات محلية للديمقراطية من غرب البلقان. يتم تمويل المشروع من قبل الاتحاد الأوروبي من خلال برنامج IPA لمرفق المجتمع المدني.

روابط مفيدة:
المنصة الإقليمية البلقانية لمشاركة الشباب والحوار

Two senior researchers: Jasna Milošević Đorđević from Belgrade University, Pavle Pavlović from Podgorica University, the team members of ALDA and eight Local Democracy Agencies in the Western Balkans collaborated, as project partners in order to compose the results of the project study.

The main topic of the project, youth cultural participation, has emerged as a continuation from the previous activities that were conducted at a local level in LDA host cities, as well and in 40 towns and municipalities across the region. Here, culture is seen as an incentive for youth participation, a space of employment opportunities and a way of spending leisure time creatively. Moreover, culture further active engagement skills and enhance the participation in policymaking.

A very important feature of this publication is that its primary focus is on grass – root level, thus providing an overview of the state of art in youth cultural needs. In addition, another feature of the study entails a comparative insight into the legislative and institutional framework, especially into local practices in a diverse cultural context.

Finally, the publication serves as a useful source of information on present prevailing trends in the transformation of the cultural value system among the young generation in the Balkans.

It would be an oversight not to mention, that the regional team of Youth trainers and Youth engagement workers contributed significantly to the studies. These workers were continuously trained in the project and therefore, their inputs and feedback are seen as a valuable contribution to the deeper understanding of the different aspects of youth cultural participation.

Liens utiles:
Balkan Regional Platform for Youth Participation and Dialogue

The reform process of the European Citizens’ Initiative is entering its most crucial stage to date, but the current state of affairs is far from satisfactory. Civil society has called upon the EU Parliament to have a debate and vote in plenary on every successful ECI before the Commission adopts its formal response. This is a modest request to the EU Parliament, but a crucial one in ensuring that the ECI finally sees a political impact. The call was supported by over 70 civil society organisations et all 5 successful ECIs. The first call have managed to shake up the European Parliament by convincing some MEPs from the strong political groups of EPP and S&D, in addition to the already strong support from the Greens/GUE, that we need the European Parliament to step up their role in the ECI. But, despite the united civil society push and all of our efforts including a public action in Brussels, the Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) has treated our call with total disregard, and finally last week voted against the amendment in their final report. They simply do not want to oblige themselves to an automatic follow-up response to successful ECIs.

The AFCO Committee has the mandate to take their report directly to trilogue negotiations on the ECI revision without giving the opportunity to the plenary of the European Parliament to table amendments. Because of this, we are trying to get as many civil society organisations to join our #EPForgetUsNot campaign in one last effort to improve a serious fault in the ECI. We want MEPs to vote to withhold this mandate, and many are mobilizing to do so. Considering that the ECI is not up for revision often and that civil society was bluntly ignored, we need to build a vigorous civil society front. We’ve already managed to raise the level of debate on the ECI, but now we need your help in a final push for the strengthening of European democracy.

Next Monday, just prior to the crucially important plenary vote on whether or not to take the current AFCO report to trilogues, we are sending all 751 MEPs a follow-up open letter. We are calling upon MEPs to challenge the mandate to start trilogues because the AFCO report crucially fails to effectively address the fundamental problem of follow-up to successful ECIs, and it does not commit the Parliament to take any more ownership of the ECI. Only when the mandate is challenged, amendments can be tabled again, and this fundamental aspect of the reform can be addressed.

We need as many players to join our campaign in order to have a fighting chance of getting a simple majority of MEPs to support us and our demands. It would be really valuable for us to have ALDA on board, which has already been supported by over 70 civil society organisations and all 5 successful ECIs. This is our last chance to save the ECI from a politically meaningless future.

Would you be willing to support #EPForgetUsNot campaign and co-sign the open letter? Let us know as soon as possible by email, phone or filling out this form. The deadline for collecting co-signatories is Monday, July 2nd at 10:00am.

Representatives of the coalition Elect Mostar constituted of the several NGO’s (Local Democracy Agency Mostar, Youth Cultural Centre Abrašević and Youth Council of the City of Mostar) met the 26 June in Mostar with the delegation of the ”Reflection Group on Mostar” of the Congress of the Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe as a part of Group’s two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The agenda of the meeting was the situation in the City of Mostar, the City where the local elections didn’t take place for a decade and where the City Council formally doesn’t exist since 2012.

The creation of the ”Reflection Group on Mostar” was the direct reaction of the Council of Europe to the coalition’s Elect Mostar action which was organized at the day of local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 2016. Since that year local election weren’t held only in the City of Mostar, coalition decided to organize non-formal vote of the citizens which caused major local and regional media coverage and draw the attention of the international community. Representatives of the Coalition and the Reflection Group discussed the possible concrete actions and projects that can be implemented towards the resolution of the situation in Mostar with the special accent on the role of young people and the need to strengthen education for democracy and active citizenship. The coalition Elect Mostar fully welcomed the involvement of international institutions whose support was indispensable to achieve further progress and the communication between the parties will be continued and further developed.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is closely following the situation of local and regional democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over the coming months, it will carry out a mission to observe the regional elections to be held on 7 October 2018 and a monitoring mission to assess the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (November 2018).

RECOV international event titled “Open-government: principles, methods and ICT open source tools” is being held this week in Skopje. More than 35 international participants are going to attend the three-day seminar from 26th to 28th June.

Union of Municipalities of Montiferru and Alto Campidano successfully realized the first Local Path within the project RECOV: Rethinking collaborative values for public services, where ALDA is coordinator.