WTD

AT A GLANCE

WTD – Working Together for Development is a multi-annual development project designed by the Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) in cooperation with 21 international partners and associates coming from 16 different countries of the enlarged Europe. The project lasts 30 months and involves both Associations of Local Authorities and NGO networks, and aims at improving their capacities to act as development agents in and outside Europe, in partnership with European and national institutions.
WTD is based on ALDA’s long term vision of development and the method of multilateral decentralised cooperation. The project uses a multi-stakeholder approach and focuses on creating strong partnerships between Local Authorities and NGOs. Local Authorities and NGOs have extensive knowledge of their local communities, and their joint activities and cooperation play an important role in the field of development.

OBJECTIVES

Local Authorities and Non State Actors play a relevant role – fully recognised as a fundamental principle – in the framework of the EC development policies, complementary to the roles of national governments and the Community.
It is of the utmost importance to support these actors, in order to ensure their ownership of the development strategies and to favor their full involvement in the policy making process, enhancing their capacities to act as development agents in and outside Europe.

In particular, it is fundamental to foster the role of LAs and NSAs as promoters of democracy, social justice and human rights, promoting and favoring a structured dialogue within and among all types of LAs and NSAs and between them and the European Institutions, in accordance with the principles of the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action on aid effectiveness.
A greater involvement of these actors in development aspects, both at the local and at the European level, strengthening their voice in the development process, will favor the construction of a more prosperous, equitable and stable societies in the whole world.
A significant specific role in this framework is assigned to local authorities associations and civil society networks. Their core characteristic of multi-actor bodies, as well as their capacity to reach a wide number of different stakeholders and to make LAs and civil society organisations working together in a concerted manner, contribute to their more efficient action in the field of development at all levels.
This project targets local authorities associations and civil society networks in 7 different Member States. It aims at fostering the role of local authorities associations and civil society networks in the field of development, enhancing their capacities to act as development agents in and outside Europe, partnering with the European Institutions in the implementation of the EC development policies.

Through strengthening the role of NSA and LA associations in the field of development, the present proposal also aims at:

strengthening their capacity to build trans-national alliances and to disseminate best practices;
increasing the number of multi-actor partnerships and consolidating exchanges between different types of LAs and NSAs networks, within their organisations and with Community institutions;
strengthening the capacity of Las and NSAs platforms in the new Member States (5 new Member States are involved in the present actions) in order to make them play an active role in their countries and at the EU level, including ensuring smooth integration of EU development policies;
providing to LAs and NSAs networks new capacities to act as “multipliers” agents in the field of development, especially through fostering the involvement of their members at the local, regional and national level.

PROJECT’S ASSOCIATES

Besides the partners, WTD enjoys the contribution of the following project’s associates:

Albanian Association of Municipalities – AL
Communities Association of Armenia – AM
Croatian Institute for Local Government – HR
NALAG – National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia – GE
New Israel Fund – Shatil – IL
Association of Kosovo Municipalities – KS
ZELS – Association of the Units of Local Self-government of the Republic of Macedonia – MK
BCSDN – Balkan Civil Society Development Network – MK
The Citizens’ Pact for South Eastern Europe – SRB
YÖNDER – Association of Local Government Managers – TR
Union of Municipalities of Marmara – TR

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