Western Balkans in the spotlight during key events in Trieste and Sarajevo
The Western Balkans Summit 2017 took place on 12 July in Trieste, Italy, gathering Heads of Government of the Western Balkans and their counterparts from 6 EU Member States, together with high representatives of the European Commission. One of the key topics of this year’s summit is regional cooperation and youth.
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The Western Balkans Summit 2017 took place on 12 July in Trieste, Italy, gathering Heads of Government of the Western Balkans and their counterparts from 6 EU Member States, together with high representatives of the European Commission. One of the key topics of this year’s summit is regional cooperation and youth.
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Provedba građanskih inicijativa na lokalnoj razini: iskustvo Bjelorusije
Civil Service opportunities with ALDA for young people in Brussels, Strasbourg and Skopje
ALDA’s commitment for Libya: the statement of our Vice-President Alessandro Perelli
Mariupol - Paving the way to future LDA
A collection of the most significant moments from the preparatory mission in view of the opening of the Local Democracy Agency in Mariupol (Ukraine), in July 2017.
Representative of LDA Montenegro in Working group for creation of Local Action Plan for youth of Niksic Municipality
The working group for draft of the Local Action Plan for youth 2018 – 2022 of Municipality of Niksic started with work.
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The working group for a draft of the Local Action Plan for youth 2018 – 2022 of Municipality of Niksic started with work.
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Soon the 1st International Forum of Creative Mobilities: save the date!
ALDA is partnering with Creative Mobilities in its 1st International Forum. The event, co-organised with Territoires Associés, Syndicat Mixte des Transport en Commun (SMTC) and Terra21, will take place in Grenoble (France) on 29 September 2017.
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The Forum will focus on the human dimension of urban mobility, including the potential synergies between mobility, creativity, culture(s) and sustainable development in cities and human settlements. Visits and activities will be organised the day before and after the Forum, while a charter of principles for Creative Mobilities and a call for experimentations will be launched during the Forum.
ALDA is partnering with Creative Mobilities in its 1st International Forum. The event, co-organised with Territoires Associés, Syndicat Mixte des Transport en Commun (SMTC) and Terra21, will take place in Grenoble (France) on 29 September 2017.
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The Forum will focus on the human dimension of urban mobility, including the potential synergies between mobility, creativity, culture(s) and sustainable development in cities and human settlements. Visits and activities will be organised the day before and after the Forum, while a charter of principles for Creative Mobilities and a call for experimentations will be launched during the Forum.
ALDA supports the steps forward for the European Solidarity Corps
On 18 July, ALDA brought in its contribution into the public hearing on the European Solidarity Corps and Youth Initiatives organised by the European Economic and Social Committee.
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The aim of the event was to discuss with representatives of civil society, policy makers, private and public institutions how to ensure high quality standards for the European Solidarity Corps and a Youth Initiative able to respond to today’s societal challenges.
The debate, moderated by Mr Pavel Trantina, rapporteur of the Study Group SOC/566 on Youth initiative/ Consolidation of the European Solidarity Corps has highlighted a number of still existing concerns in regards to the programme.
The first concern raised was about the definition of volunteering and solidarity actions which is rather vague or restrictive. This, consequently leads to a lack of distinction between volunteering and occupational placements which might trigger the quality of the service.
Other quality related questions were in relation to the quality of the placement along with the qualifications of the volunteers/trainees particularly in special fields such as education or health care. Not less important is the outreach and information of young people about the programme and particularly inclusion of people with fewer opportunities.
The participants at the debate stressed the strong need to involve youth organisations and young people in the co-management of the programme, during the design, implementation and evaluation of the programme. This is of particular importance when talking about pre-placement, along the placement and upon return support provided by sending organisation, the online platform having limited opportunities to ensure the quality of the placements in this sense.
The legislative proposal at the moment foresees a central role of the National Agencies in the management and implementation of the programme while civil society questions the accessibility, administrative burdens and National Agencies’ capacity to support alone the implementation of the ESC at the local level.
Last, but not least, the strongest concern since the very beginning of ESC idea is in relation to the impact of the ESC on Erasmus+, particularly the reallocation and shrinking budget of the already existing youth dedicate programmes and annual budget adjustment.
Mr Robert Franče, Head of Sector, Erasmus+: Youth from the European Commission stressed that the need to maintain the quality level while not creating something elitist and follow the inclusiveness principle. Moreover, he pointed out that compared to other legislative proposals, the ESC for the regulation is very brief and the concept note provides more detailed information about the formats of the initiatives.
The EESC will continue the public consultations with civil society organisations throughout the next months to produce a final opinion at the end of October. ALDA is following closely the evolution of the ESC pleading for a programme that will bring added value and strengthen the solidarity at the local level.
On 18 July, ALDA brought in its contribution into the public hearing on the European Solidarity Corps and Youth Initiatives organised by the European Economic and Social Committee.
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The aim of the event was to discuss with representatives of civil society, policy makers, private and public institutions how to ensure high quality standards for the European Solidarity Corps and a Youth Initiative able to respond to today’s societal challenges.
The debate, moderated by Mr Pavel Trantina, rapporteur of the Study Group SOC/566 on Youth initiative/ Consolidation of the European Solidarity Corps has highlighted a number of still existing concerns in regards to the programme.
The first concern raised was about the definition of volunteering and solidarity actions which is rather vague or restrictive. This, consequently leads to a lack of distinction between volunteering and occupational placements which might trigger the quality of the service.
Other quality related questions were in relation to the quality of the placement along with the qualifications of the volunteers/trainees particularly in special fields such as education or health care. Not less important is the outreach and information of young people about the programme and particularly inclusion of people with fewer opportunities.
The participants at the debate stressed the strong need to involve youth organisations and young people in the co-management of the programme, during the design, implementation and evaluation of the programme. This is of particular importance when talking about pre-placement, along the placement and upon return support provided by sending organisation, the online platform having limited opportunities to ensure the quality of the placements in this sense.
The legislative proposal at the moment foresees a central role of the National Agencies in the management and implementation of the programme while civil society questions the accessibility, administrative burdens and National Agencies’ capacity to support alone the implementation of the ESC at the local level.
Last, but not least, the strongest concern since the very beginning of ESC idea is in relation to the impact of the ESC on Erasmus+, particularly the reallocation and shrinking budget of the already existing youth dedicate programmes and annual budget adjustment.
Mr Robert Franče, Head of Sector, Erasmus+: Youth from the European Commission stressed that the need to maintain the quality level while not creating something elitist and follow the inclusiveness principle. Moreover, he pointed out that compared to other legislative proposals, the ESC for the regulation is very brief and the concept note provides more detailed information about the formats of the initiatives.
The EESC will continue the public consultations with civil society organisations throughout the next months to produce a final opinion at the end of October. ALDA is following closely the evolution of the ESC pleading for a programme that will bring added value and strengthen the solidarity at the local level.
ALDA continues to deepen its transatlantic cooperation with Kettering Foundation
ALDA joined the Deliberative Democracy Institute exchange at Kettering Foundation in Dayton (USA) on 10-14 July.
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The Kettering Foundation is a private, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, which was founded in 1927 in order to “sponsor and carry out scientific research for benefit of Humanity”. In the early 70’s, the Kettering Foundation reorganised itself as a private operating foundation. Working with external collaborators and researchers, the foundation began to focus on basic political research, striving to understand how citizens and political systems can work together. Foundation’s primary research question today is: “what does it take to make democracy work as it should?”
The Eastern Partnership Coordinator and Project Manager of ALDA, Nino Tvaltvadze, and the Director of Local Democracy Agency of Armenia, Lusine Aleksandrian, participated in the Deliberative Democracy Institute exchange, which brings together scholars, journalists, community leaders and civil society practitioners who use a range of strategies designed to improve civil society by encouraging citizen participation and advancing knowledge of democratic practices. During the DDI exchange, participants explored the conditions under which citizens assume responsibility for changing their communities and consider the ways that deliberative approaches may provide a possible model for decision making.
This year, the event brought together about 150 participants from all over the world. ALDA’s delegation was also joined by the representatives of Istituto Scientifico Biomedico Euro Mediterraneo, Federica Marangio and Alessia Rochira from the University of Salento, and Marco Gregorio Marinaci from the Education Department of Education and Science. The participants of DDI are people who have a wide range of interests and the same desire: to understand and develop ways for ordinary people to have a greater role in shaping their own future.In this edition, all participants explored interesting cases from India, Fiji, Argentina and other countries. Gathered in the regional groups throughout the world, they had named and framed issued representing the most common concerns of the society. The members of the regional group Europe worked together on such issues like polarisation, migration crises, as well as the lack of participatory democracy.
After this interesting and positive experience, the participants start to contextualise their own experiences in the lens of deliberative politics. ALDA is very proud to be part of this process and share the common concerns of other people in the world about civic participation, participatory democracy and empowerment of communities.
We would like to thank the Kettering Foundation for the active cooperation and inspiring events, where the feeling is that we are not alone in the struggle to make people’s lives better.
Korisni linkovi:
Kettering Foundation website
ALDA joined the Deliberative Democracy Institute exchange at Kettering Foundation in Dayton (USA) on 10-14 July.
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The Kettering Foundation is a private, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, which was founded in 1927 in order to “sponsor and carry out scientific research for benefit of Humanity”. In the early 70’s, the Kettering Foundation reorganised itself as a private operating foundation. Working with external collaborators and researchers, the foundation began to focus on basic political research, striving to understand how citizens and political systems can work together. Foundation’s primary research question today is: “what does it take to make democracy work as it should?”
The Eastern Partnership Coordinator and Project Manager of ALDA, Nino Tvaltvadze, and the Director of Local Democracy Agency of Armenia, Lusine Aleksandrian, participated in the Deliberative Democracy Institute exchange, which brings together scholars, journalists, community leaders and civil society practitioners who use a range of strategies designed to improve civil society by encouraging citizen participation and advancing knowledge of democratic practices. During the DDI exchange, participants explored the conditions under which citizens assume responsibility for changing their communities and consider the ways that deliberative approaches may provide a possible model for decision making.
This year, the event brought together about 150 participants from all over the world. ALDA’s delegation was also joined by the representatives of Istituto Scientifico Biomedico Euro Mediterraneo, Federica Marangio and Alessia Rochira from the University of Salento, and Marco Gregorio Marinaci from the Education Department of Education and Science. The participants of DDI are people who have a wide range of interests and the same desire: to understand and develop ways for ordinary people to have a greater role in shaping their own future.In this edition, all participants explored interesting cases from India, Fiji, Argentina and other countries. Gathered in the regional groups throughout the world, they had named and framed issued representing the most common concerns of the society. The members of the regional group Europe worked together on such issues like polarisation, migration crises, as well as the lack of participatory democracy.
After this interesting and positive experience, the participants start to contextualise their own experiences in the lens of deliberative politics. ALDA is very proud to be part of this process and share the common concerns of other people in the world about civic participation, participatory democracy and empowerment of communities.
We would like to thank the Kettering Foundation for the active cooperation and inspiring events, where the feeling is that we are not alone in the struggle to make people’s lives better.
Korisni linkovi:
Kettering Foundation website