This is us: commitment, awareness and teamwork. ALDA Staff Meeting 2023

Starting from the local to promote and encourage democratic development, while placing citizens and members at the center. This was the guiding light for the ALDA Staff Meeting 2023!

Hence, from 24 to 26 January 2023, ALDA colleagues met in Vicenza, for three-days full immersion discussing together the milestone of the Association, getting to know each other better, and strengthening the sense of community.

From North Macedonia to Tunisia, from Belgium to Moldova via France and Italy: our heterogeneous and intercultural team of 50 people seized the occasion to see each other again, and as stressed by Abdelaziz Bousleh — Head of the Tunis Office “despite the distance, it is the best opportunity to feel the scope of the activities and the crucial effort behind”. Exactly this: behind the scenes, ALDA is more than an Association: it is people, it is ideas and commitment. It is a one single team that shares together values and energy to make a change, to act locally while thinking globally.

Thus, as also recalled by Antonella Valmorbida, our Secretary General, it is about “working in concert with members, with partners to promote a sustainable agenda, which aims to give impetus to initiatives with a broad European, Eastern Neighborhood, Balkan and Mediterranean scope».

Staff Meeting 2023: working in concert with members, with partners to promote a sustainable agenda

Aiming at engaging in such a wide area represents, to some extent, the expertise of ALDA on decentralised cooperation, while stimulating citizens’ engagement for a sustainable and locally developed democracy. Similarly, being active in different areas allow the Association to continuously implement its mission, starting from the various necessities that each community is facing. Furthermore, thanks to its partnership extended in more than 40 countries, ALDA has been able to empower realities to express themselves and concretize essential projects, encouraging a collaboration with local authorities, as also explained by Maddalena Alberti, from the Association of LDA Zavidovici.

Stimulated by several exchanges with partners and stakeholders, working in unison to put into practice both the guidelines of the European Union and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, different Thematic Hubs have been designed to maximize the impact on specific areas: be they – environment, youth, inclusion and gender issues together with migration. The latter was also the core aspect of the speech delivered by Andrea Rilievo, representative of the ALDA Governing Board. Thus, the Association not only has already implemented a series of initiatives targeting the phenomenon, but it is also working on a specific agenda, fully dedicated to migration.

To conclude on a positive note, a very first outcome of this new approach based in hubs, is already available: the Gender, Equality and Anti-Discrimination Policy has been released and presented during the staff meeting. ALDA will be in first line to make sure that the policy will be followed, and it will work together with members and stakeholders to further progress on this topic.

We thank every colleague who joined the meeting, together we can reach the impossible! Happy “Staff Meeting 2023” everyone!