Updates on the “ELoGE” initiative for Croatia and North Macedonia

From the 27th to the 30th of September, ALDA Secretary General, Ms. Antonella Valmorbida, took part in an institutional mission in Kosovo* and North Macedonia to convene with colleagues, delegates and ministers at local and European level.

More specifically, on September 28, ALDA Secretary General Ms. Valmorbida, and Director of the ALDA Office in Skopje and SEE Coordinator , Ms. Katica Janeva had a meeting with Mr. Frank Power — Head of Office of the Council of Europe, in Pristina, Kosovo*. The meeting, which was held in the Council of Europe Offices, consolidated the longstanding connection between ALDA and the Council.

The next day, September 29, Ms Valmorbida and Ms Janeva were received by Ms. Lejla Dervisagic and Ms. Katalin Tamus, respectively: Head of Operations  and Head of Programmes from the Council of Europe, in Skopje, North Macedonia, for another fruitful encounter.

Both of these meetings were meant to lay the foundation for the implementation of the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) program, for which, in 2021, ALDA received the accreditation from the Council of Europe to implement it both in North Macedonia and Croatia until 2023. ALDA is already a partner organisation in the implementation of ELoGE in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

---

The aforementioned project aims to contribute to activate different Local Authorities from North Macedonia

---

More in depth, ELoGE is designed to support municipalities to enhance their performance and provide high quality services in an improved system of local self-government. Local government offices who want to take part in the program must evaluate the quality of their own implemented public services through the 12 principles of Good Governance (developed by the Centre of Expertise during the past 10 years) to assess the performance of the Local Governments in the Council of Europe Member States. Principles range from responsiveness to rule of law, ethical conduct, sound financial management, fair conduct of elections, representation and participation. If a local Government scores proves to be efficient enough in these sectors, it gets the label ELoGE – European Label of Governance Excellence. 

ALDA is currently implementing the ELoGE programme in North Macedonia, while in Kosovo* the application is being evaluated and more information will be disclosed in the following weeks. More specifically, the “European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) in North Macedonia” is a 2 year project funded by the Council of Europe and implemented by the European Association for Local Democracy – ALDA in partnership with the Center of Expertise for Local Government Reform of the Council of Europe.  Both program offices of the Council of Europe in Pristina and Skopje are willing to support this project and to contribute to its implementation and promotion.

The aforementioned project aims to contribute to activate different Local Authorities from North Macedonia:

• by providing selected Municipalities from North Macedonia with trainings on good local governance standards and methods; 
• by raising awareness among selected Municipalities in North Macedonia on the role of CoE and the 12 Principles of Good Governance; 
• by informing citizens about the existence of tools to measure the performance of their Local Authorities and make them aware of what good governance means by facilitating citizen participation in all the decision-making processes and involving civil society organisations in the implementation of good governance principles in North Macedonia and 
• finally by  assisting the selected Municipalities in the application process for the ELoGE accreditation at the Council of Europe.

As an entity fully accredited to implement ELoGE, ALDA is committed to do so in a meaningful number of municipalities, within a set timeline, by making necessary adaptations, identifying the municipalities who wish to implement ELoGE and helping them undertake the different steps required to meet the criteria.

These two days of the mission, as well as the others, were rewarding, inspiring and beneficial to everyone involved.   

***
More information about the mission can be found here

• Meeting with Zoran Dimitrovski – Deputy Minister of Local Self-Government (North Macedonia)
• Meeting with Elbert Krasniqi – Minister of Local Government Administration (RKS)
• Meeting with Emir Coric – ALDA Governing Board Member

---