Il prossimo giugno 2023 si terrà a Etterbeek, Bruxelles (BE) l'Assemblea generale di ALDA, l'evento annuale più importante dell'Associazione.
More than a General Assembly, the 3-day event will be a real Festival, where colleagues, members and partners of ALDA will come together for fruitful exchanges on key EU priorities, sharing knowledge and best practices on themes such as migration, inclusion, gender equality, environmental protection, sustainable development and human rights – just to name a few – and get to know each other, thus strengthening the belonging to the network and take a more active role in the Association.
The event will include participants from the EU countries but also from the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Ukraine and from the Maghreb and other African countries. The General Assembly is expected to be open by the Commissioner, Vice President of the Commission, Mrs. Dubravka Šuica, while also the President of the Congress, Mr. Leen Verbeek is invited (tbc). Other key participants from the European Commission and the European Parliament will be present as well.
The ALDA Festival will occur on June 7-8-9, 2023 at the premises of Etterbeek City Hall (member of ALDA), in Brussels and will see more than ever the members at the core.
Around the message that “Local Democracy will save Democracy”, the whole event will be intended to address issues of general and global interest, but which have a strong impact in our daily lives and on a local level. All Festival’s events will be focusing on the role of local democracy, participatory mechanisms and citizens engagement in making communities more resilient and stronger to overcome multiple crises.
Indeed, conferences, round tables and workshops will be organized with the participation of high-level panelists, in order to stimulate discussion and establish a concrete and constructive dialogue with the Institutions. Among them, representatives of the European Commission and the Council of Europe will be present during the General Assembly of ALDA. Gilles Pelayo, Head of Unit, European Commission, CERV Programme, will be with us and our members for a round-table on youth empowerment and education and Chiara Adamo, DG Intpa – Gender, human rights and democratic governance, Deputy Director, will take part and provide key highlights in the discussion on Local Democracy in the Middle East and Africa region.
As proof that local democracy will save democracy, 2023 marks an important milestone for ALDA and the LDAs network, being the 30th anniversary since the creation of the first LDA in the Western Balkans. Thus, year after year the LDAs have worked to reconstruct a more inclusive and cohesive society, in the aftermath of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Today, 30 years later, LDAs proved to be effective tools to promote citizens engagement and decentralised cooperation at the local level, to the point that the network itself has expanded from a couple of Agencies in the early 1990s to 16 today. The ALDA Festival will thus see a dedicated moment to celebrate this important milestone and to open the discussion to future further development of the Network, analysis challenges and opportunities.
Un'altra importante sessione sarà incentrata sulla situazione delle Agenzie della Democrazia Locale in Ucraina, come ulteriore occasione per ricordare che l'impegno di ALDA a sostegno della società civile ucraina prosegue ed assume dimensioni sempre maggiori, con l'apertura a breve di nuove ADL nel Paese. È attesa una delegazione importante dall'Ucraina ma anche dalle città partner.
#ALDAperl'Ucraina
Tutti i membri di ALDA, i partner e le parti interessate sono caldamente invitati a partecipare ed a contribuire al Festival.
Per ulteriori informazioni, contattateci all'indirizzo: alda@alda-europe.eu
***
Single events' agendas
- International Networking Path – EPIC project [6 June, 14:00 – 18:00]
- EU Programs and tools to support citizens participation, democracy and good governance [7 June, 9:00 – 11:00]
- Final Conference of EPIC – European Platform of Integrating Cities [7 June, 10:00 – 19:00]
- Follow-up on CoFoE: Discussing the Final Draft of the Sub-Group Democracy [7 June, 11:00 – 12:30]
- 2024 European Elections: TALE world café [7 June, 14:00 – 15:30]
- Challenges for local communities in the face of migration of Ukrainians during the war [7 June, 14:00 – 17:30]
- Education becomes digital: P-Cube final conference [7 June, 16:00 – 17:30]
- Assemblea Generale di ALDA[8 June, 9:00 – 16:00]
- Town Twinning Program [8 June, 16:30 – 18:00]
- Is there a crisis in democracy? Symptoms and cures [8 June, 19:30 – 21:00]
- 30 Years of Local Democracy Agencies in the Balkans [9 June, 9:00 – 10:30]
- La democrazia locale nel contesto di un rinnovato quadro geopolitico nei Paesi del partenariato orientale [9 June, 11:00 – 12:30]
- Stronger together: Exploring EU’s contribution to local democracy around the globe [9 June, 14:00 – 16:00]
- Fighting hate speech and hate crime at the EU level: an overview of the rising crisis [9 June, 14:00 – 15:30]