The commitment to good governance
The European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) has invested its energy, knowledge and expertise in promoting democracy and good governance at local level. Following the establishment of the Local Democracy Agencies (LDAs) in the Balkan area, on the initiative of the Council of Europe ALDA has been created to coordinate and further implement the work of the LDAs. Hence, since its foundation in 2000 ALDA’s mission is based on core elements, be they: citizens participation, decentralised cooperation, people and local authorities’ empowerment.
In light of this, it comes with itself the strong bond that the Association has with the overall European context, as well as the values promoted by the Council. With the idea of sharing its know-how, while concretely working on the promotion and realization of the distinguishing European principles, ALDA has been awarded the accreditation to implement the “European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE)” in several municipalities in Croatia, Kosovo* and North Macedonia.
#ALDAforELoGE in a nutshell
ELoGE at a glance
From a general perspective, CoE created different toolkits to measure good governance, and “The European Label of Governance Excellence” is, thus, one of them. More in concrete, ELoGE relies on a partnership between the Council of Europe and an existing reputable regional, national or transnational entity or an ad hoc platform with a substantive know-how, expertise or experience in the field of good governance, especially at the local level.
Hence, the ELoGE programme offers tools to local authorities to measure how they comply with the 12 Principles of Good democratic Governance, which are:
1) Participation, representation, correct conduct of the elections; 2) Responsiveness; 3)Efficiency and effectiveness; 4) Openness and transparency; 5) Rule of law; 6) Ethical conduct; 7) Competence and capacity; 8) Innovation and openness to change; 9) Sustainability and long-term vision; 10) Sound financial management; 11) Human rights, cultural diversity and social cohesion; 12) Accountability
This compliance can be measured through the implementation of the benchmark for the European Label of Governance Excellence, which is also an excellent learning opportunity for the municipalities to improve their daily work.
At the end of the ELoGE Programme, a crystal dodecahedron – the symbol of ELoGE – is awarded to the municipalities which have demonstrated compliance with the principles of good governance, measured against a national benchmark.
ALDA for ELoGE in practice
The tasks that the Association is called to fulfill may be summarized in four main aspects, consisting of:
- Support to LDAs in terms of organisation of workshop organized for the subscribing municipalities so to analyse and scrutinise all technical aspects and to prepare the implementation at local level
- Benchmark: prepare the technical files and guidelines to implement it
- Questionnaires, available on an online platform, are prepared by ALDA. The latter supports the local dissemination, as well as he analysis of the data collected
- Final evaluation consists, among others, in the definition of guidelines for evaluation methodology; and the creation of Evaluation committee
#ALDAforELoGE
Check the campaign of ALDA’s social media, to get weekly updates on the 12 principles!
