ALDA has been present in the Western Balkans since its foundation. The idea of the creation of ALDA as an umbrella organisation to promote local democracy started in this region and spread afterwards in the EU and in its Neighborhood.
Under ALDA’s guidance and support, local and regional authorities and Local Democracy Agencies from the Western Balkan countries has been working together and in partnership with other European regions and organisations to make local communities more socially and economically successful, more inclusive, sustainable and fair.

Participatory democracy is well implemented at the local level and contributes to life improvement of citizens and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, ALDA is supporting a wide network of local authorities to assess their work in the field of good governance and sustainable development towards the pre-accession negotiations ongoing between the EU and some of the countries from the Balkans.
Furthermore, the regional dimension and the relative project-oriented approach are at the core of ALDA’s strategies in the Western Balkans, in order to assure a closer cooperation between the European Union and the Balkan countries thus supporting the development of inclusive, fair and sustainable policies also towards their international relations with global actors.

The political strategy of ALDA is to support the access of Western Balkans to EU.

Towards this aim, ALDA is working with the network of the Balkan Network for Democracy, engaging all LDAs in the region.

In order to achieve its objectives, ALDA is actively cooperating with relevant EU institutions, ministries, national institutions from the Balkan countries, local authorities and civil society networks. It is part of many networks and platforms to promote its values and approach of work.

Other foreseen and in progress actions are:

• Supporting and developing the Local Democracy Agencies as agents for change for local democracy and citizens’ participation.
• Promoting regional cooperation and improves the cooperation of Local Democracy Agencies and other stakeholders.
• Supporting actions in decentralized cooperation to use the exchanges of best practices and to get the European communities closed to those of these regions.
• Promoting activities for exchanges, mutual understanding and cooperation among different people from the region, mainly youth.
• Developing projects and actions supporting local resilient communities and empowered and responsible civil society focusing on local democracy and local economic development using the territorial approach to development.
• Supporting the process of EU integration by being an interlocuter of the European policies, by advocating for better policies and further push to accession policies.
• Developing in each country a number of members and partners so to be a relevant partner for the European and global actors supporting local communities while fighting nationalism and promoting peace and reconciliation.

За первые 20 лет своего существования ALDA разработала и усовершенствовала конкретные и целенаправленные стратегии для достижения своей миссии в различных регионах мира.
. Действительно, важно осознавать, что каждый регион имеет свой набор специфических характеристик, являясь результатом исторических, экономических и социальных процессов, что требует определенного подхода.
Ознакомьтесь с нашими региональными стратегиями и узнайте об основных целях и направлениях деятельности, которые мы наметили для поддержки местного участия и партисипативной демократии во всем мире!