Local Democracy Agencies

Activity report 2014

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INDEX ABOUT ALDA ...................................................................................................................................3  

WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT ALDA? ...........................................................................................................................................3  WHAT WE DO AND WHERE WE WORK ....................................................................................................................................3  

THE NETWORK OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCIES OUR RAISON D’ÊTRE: ............4  SUPPORTING GOOD GOVERNANCE AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION ON THE FIELD .....................................................5  FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE LDAS.........................................................................................................................5  

DETAILED PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCIES IN 2014......................................................................................................................................................7  

LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY ARMENIA .............................................................................................................................7  Projects in 2014 ............................................................................................................................................................................7  

LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY ALBANIA........................................................................................................................... 14  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SERBIA .......................................................................... 15  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY GEORGIA........................................................................................................................... 20  

Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 20  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY KOSOVO ............................................................................................................................ 29  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY MONTENEGRO ................................................................................................................ 30  

Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 30  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY MOSTAR............................................................................................................................ 39  

Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 39  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY PRIJEDOR .......................................................................................................................... 45  

Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 45  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY SUBOTICA......................................................................................................................... 54  

Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 54  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY ZAVIDOVIĆI ..................................................................................................................... 60  

Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 60  LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCIES – OPERATIONAL PARTNERS ...................................71  

LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY – OP OSIJEK..................................................................................................................... 71  Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 71  

LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY – OP SISAK ...................................................................................................................... 77  Projects in 2014 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 77  

LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCY – OP VERTENEGLIO/BRTONIGLA ............................................................................. 84                            

         

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ABOUT ALDA

The European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of good governance and citizen participation at the local level. ALDA in particular focuses on activities that facilitate cooperation between local authorities and civil society in the European Union and its Neighbourhood.

ALDA, established in 1999 at the initiative of the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, among its activities coordinates and supports a network of Local Democracy Agencies, created in the early 1990s. The Local Democracy Agencies are self-sustainable, locally registered NGOs acting as promoters of good governance and local self-government in their regions.

ALDA is a membership based organisation gathering more than 170 members – including local authorities, associations of local authorities and non-governmental organisations – from over 35 countries. It is funded through membership fees as well as project funding from the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and other public and private donors.

What is unique about ALDA?

Most of ALDA’s work is based on the method of multilateral decentralised cooperation. This method involves a multi-stakeholder approach, which focuses on strong partnerships between local authorities and civil society organisations. These partnerships create positive synergy and ensure that common goals are reached jointly and successfully.

What we do and where we work

In the framework of promoting good governance and citizen participation at the local level ALDA focuses on various themes, such as European integration, decentralisation, civic initiatives and volunteering, human rights, and sustainable economic development.

The activities of ALDA are articulated around three main areas: ALDA Europe, ALDA Cooperation, and ALDA Plus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE NETWORK OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCIES OUR RAISON D’ÊTRE:

       

                                 

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Supporting good governance and citizen participation on the field

ALDA coordinates and supports the network of 10 Local Democracy Agencies (LDAs) and 3 Operational Partners (OPs) in their activities. Most of the Local Democracy Agencies are located in the Western Balkans, but ALDA is more and more active in the European Neighborhood. In 2006 it expanded its network to Southern Caucasus.

The LDAs and OPs are supported by more than 100 partners (local authorities and civil society

organisations) all over Europe, providing financial and political support to fulfil their mandate and to accompany local democracy, civil society empowerment and participation in the decision-making process at local level.

Most of ALDA and LDA’s work is based on an innovative and successful method of

multilateral decentralised cooperation, which involves a multi-stakeholder approach and focuses on partnerships between Local Authorities and Non-Governmental Organisations. These partnerships create synergy and ensure that common goals are reached in a successful way. It focuses on mutual benefit of the cooperation, on a participative and long term approach in order to strength the real effectiveness of the impact on both communities. The multilateral approach allows a better sustainability as well as a multicultural input to the initiatives.

The LDAs partnerships by means of multilateral decentralised co-operation have been

developed through two main lines of action: I. Territorial based approach, involving all the actors of the communities concerned on a geographic base; II. Thematic networking focused on specific, commonly determined issues connecting different local communities. Objectives of the activity of Local Democracy Agencies and Operational Partners are:

• To promote good local governance and support initiatives aimed at improved citizen participation

• To enhance institution and capacity building at local level through exchange of know-how and training of local elected representatives and administrators

• To develop a Europe-wide network of citizens committed to respect for human and minority rights

• To foster the development of a civil society in which all sections of the community participate

• To support intercultural dialogue and diversity management capacities in multicultural local communities

• To promote the respect for human / minority rights in local communities

Financial sustainability of the LDAs

A study carried out by ALDA in 2013 shows that the overall budget of the LDAs per year constantly increased since 2009 despite the economic context, guaranteeing a sufficient availability of resources for the implementation of the respective action plans. The available funds are managed by the LDAs themselves or by the members of the partnership established for the implementation of a specific project. Following the implementation of projects and activities, financial reports are drawn up to ensure transparency and appropriate use of the funds.

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There are three different types of funding sources:

1. funds resulting from the LDA’s fundraising 2. ALDA’s support to the LDAs 3. fees of the LDAs’ partners.

The funds resulting from the fundraising activity of the LDAs have steadily increased over the

years, representing in 2012 a total of 87,10% of the total available budget. These funds come from European, national and other international supporting programmes originating from the EU, the Council of Europe, national, regional and local authorities and other international organisations. At the same time, the other two sources, partners’ fees and ALDA’s support to LDAs, considerably decreased in terms of financial support.

ALDA pursues its coordination and supporting mission to the LDAs by providing them with adequate expertise at all stages of the implementation of projects (funding opportunities, establishment of new partnerships, project implementation, and exchange and sharing of good practices, technical support, joint projects etc.). ALDA has been involving in several projects and providing support of all kind to the Local Democracy Agencies in order to further the promotion of local democracy and citizen’s participation at local level.

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DETAILED PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCIES IN 2014

Local Democracy Agency Armenia

Lusine Aleksandryan

Established: in 2011 Delegate: Lusine Aleksandryan Partners: Region Rhône-Alpes, France (Lead partner); City of Gyumri (Host city); Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy; Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development, Armenia; Journalists’ Club “Asparez”, Armenia; International Centre for Human Development, Armenia; Communities Finance Officers Association, Armenia Priorities:

• Supporting the capacity building of local authorities and civil society in citizens’ participation

• Supporting the practices of citizens’ participation in promoting sustainable tourism • Strengthening and developing regional cooperation and training activities for local staff

Projects in 2014 “Code of good practice for civil participation in the decision-making process”

During our workshop “Citizens Participation in decision-making process at the local level” in Gyumri in December 2013 ALDA secretary general presented “Code of good practice for civil participation in the decision-making process” prepared by the Conference of INGOs of the Council Europe. The participants were too interested and suggested LDA Armenia to translate it from English into Armenian in order to more local organizations can have access to it. The manual was translated and was distributed among the stakeholders. Cooperation with the Council of Europe “Support to Consolidating Democracy in Armenia” Project Launching Event

LDA Armenia director assistant Esmarida Poghosyan participated in the “Support to Consolidating Democracy in Armenia” project launching event on the 5th of February that took place in Yerevan, Armenia. More than 100 people were present at the event; the representatives of the civil society, NGO members and the head of communities. Mr. Oleksandr Pavlyuk, head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan, Mr. Armen Gevorgyan, RA Deputy Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration, Mr. Ole Rasmussen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and Mr. Knud Andersen, Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Regions, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities were the speakers of the event.

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Mr. Pavlyuk announced the launching of the 3 years long program in collaboration with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and expressed special gratitude to the Government of Denmark.

Mr. Armen Gevorgyan greeted all participants and wished fruitful years of hard working and tight collaboration. The European Union played a crucial role in the establishment procedure of the local democracy. They are all positive about the further results of the project, as it has emerged in a very difficult period, where many challenges are to be faced. The project will provide sustainable support to the consolidation of the democracy and enhance the rule of the law. The active participation and engagement of the civil society and the empowerment of the council of Aldermen in all communities are the highlighted criteria of the project. The principle aim is to have big, financial communities, where the population can solve their problems at local level with the direct support of the local self-government bodies.

Mr. Ole Rasmussen stated that this project is about a fight against all threats of transparent

local democracy and good governance. Moreover, three components of the project, which are supportive of local government reforms, capacity building of local authorities and strengthening local elected representatives’ leadership have equal importance. First of all project implementers should cope with demographic challenges, understand what is happening and develop relevant tools and techniques. The European delegation doesn’t have any intention to teach lessons, rather than they are on the spot to implement the reforms together, to build atmosphere of transparency, trust and sense of leadership, to fill the missing gaps, remove what contradicts to the establishment of local democracy and find out together the best solutions and make steps forward. The project itself cannot achieve success without direct support of the government and the civil society.

Mr. Knud Andersen outlined the importance of the heads of the communities, as they are the

people that will intensively promote democracy, form unique form of experiences and establish European standards of understanding of democracy and principles of good governance. Democracy is a progress and a long journey and there is no democracy without direct participation of the civil society. In Armenia he witnesses a big gap among the civil society and the local governance; hence project implementers should affectively cooperate with all levels of local authorities, involving non-governmental organizations and do all possible to build trust among them.

LDA Armenia will be mainly involved in the project when conducting pilot Citizen Fora most likely this fall and next year. “Regional Seminars of council of Europe”

On 26 March 2014 the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation 351(2014) on local democracy in Armenia. The report acknowledges the efforts made by the Armenian authorities to implement the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and at the same time identifies a number of areas of concern, calling for further improvement. In particular, it is recommended to review the legislation for implementing the principle of subsidiarity, to foster inter-municipal co-operation and increase the capacity of community councils, and to define and ensure the exercise of full and exclusive powers for local authorities.

Regional seminars (North and South) were organized to disseminate the findings of the monitoring report and its recommendations among Armenian local elected representatives, and to foster a discussion about measures and policies that could help putting in practice these recommendations. The ideas and suggestions coming from participants were consolidated into a “Call to the Government of Armenia” to be delivered to the Government.

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The seminars were organized by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in cooperation with:

• Communities Association of Armenian (CAA) • Armenia Municipal Councillors’ Association (AMCA) • Communities Finance Officers Association (CFOA) • Local Democracy Agency Foundation, Armenia

Georgian delegation and Lusine Aleksandryan were present at the seminar in Gyumri and took

part as well in the thematic debates. ALDA Secretary General Antonella Valmorbida was invited to take part as a moderator in one of the thematic debate “The role of municipal councils”.

“Local Government trainings for Gyumri municipality staff”

In cooperation with Counterpart International Armenia and with support of Association of Local Democracy Agencies “Local Democracy Agency” foundation organized 5-day LG trainings for Gyumri municipality staff. The trainings for the staff took place from 20th of March till 2nd of April 2014.

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The trainings covered issues on leadership and strategic planning, local self-government legislation, service provision, partnership and cooperation, PR, transparent and participatory governance, community budget. Municipality from its part provided premise for the implementation of the trainings.

On the 20th and 21st of March 2014, the first phase of trainings for the employees of Gyumri municipality was held in Gyumri municipality conference room.

With an opening speech, the Staff employer of Gyumri Municipality Robert Asatryan mentioned the importance of such training, hence within the last year there were essential amendments in the working staff conditioned with the change of the city mayor.

The training sessions are great possibility for employees to learn more. Indeed, even though the new hired employees have all the relevant qualifications, sometimes they face lack of theoretical knowledge combined with practical tools. Moreover, in the middle of April, the employees of each department have to pass certification exams, and the gained knowledge during these trainings will be very useful.

Proud of trainers and participants, the organizers describe this opportunity as an important moment of learning, sharing and producing.

Second phase of trainings for the municipality staff of Gyumri took place on 1st and 2nd of April, 2014. The participants again displayed very active and participatory behavior showing their team member capacities and strengths. Following the methodology of the first phase at the very beginning of the sessions the trainers distributed quizzes to the participants to check their level of knowledge. At the end of the sessions the same quizzes were given to be filled in to measure the differences before and after the sessions and assess the effectiveness and productivity of the trainings. Role games and team assignments were part of the chosen training methodology.

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The only challenge the participants faced in this phase was the community budget session, as the topic was very complicated and inclusive and hard to be absorbed by the employees from non-financial departments that have nothing with financial and budget activities in their everyday working procedure.

The training courses were wrapped up with the handing of certificates. Lusine Aleksandryan, the director of LDA foundation Armenia, presented and thanked the organizations with the assistance of which the trainings took place and were of great success. Mr. Chartaryan, the department acting head of projects and analytics, gave the closing speech once more mentioning the importance of these courses for the municipality employees. He expressed his deep gratitude to the organizers for that useful initiation and stated the possible continuity of the trainings in future.

International participation and cooperation “Project of International Cooperation “South-East-e””

Within the frames of the project South East-E FVG region in Italy organized an international workshop entitled “Development of Economic Relations and strengthening the process of Participatory Democracy in the Caucasian Region and South East Europe” on 12th of July in Monfalcone, Italy. As FVG region is one of the international partners of LDA foundation Lusine Aleksandryan was also invited.

The introductive session of the meeting was held by Mrs Silvia Altran, Mayor of Monfalcone. Many representatives coming from Georgia and Armenia expressed their contribution to the project and readiness for the future cooperation. The Armenian delegation was represented by Mr Sargis Ghazaryan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Italy, Mrs Anna Fiorini Beriot, Responsible of the Cooperation between the Mediterranean area and Armenia in the Rhône-Alpes Region (France), and Lusine Aleksandryan, Delegate of LDA foundation in Armenia in Gyumri.

The meeting was concluded by the intervention of Mr Gianni Torrenti, Regional Councilor for Culture and Solidarity of Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region, which showed the strategies and activities of the region in the cooperation for development.

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“Transborder Cooperation Programme” LDA Georgia/ LDA Armenia

On 8th of September a meeting was organized at the initiative of ALDA, LDA Georgia and LDA Armenia in Gyumri. The meeting aimed to identify strategic paths of cooperation with development and plan future joint activities. The event was attended by LDA Delegates Lusine Aleksandryan and Nino Tvaltvadze, Local partners of the LDAs (Nodar Jikia- Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association – Kutaisi branch Program Director /GILA/, Levon Barseghyan- Journalists’ club “Asparez”, Armine Tukhikyan – Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development, Vahan Movsisyan-Communities Finance Officers Association, Vahan Tumanyan-“Shirak Centre” NGO), Municipalities of Gyumri (head of educational department- Hayk Sultanyan and Kutaisi (head of Administration - Zviadi Javakhia), Secretary General of ALDA Antonella Valmorbida.

Lusine and Nino presented the situation of two LDA’s, difficulties and opportunities, implemented projects.

At the next step of the meeting discussion was held about the future cooperation between LDA

Georgia and LDA Armenia. It has to be underlined that partners from the both sides, were actively involved in the discussion. Three main topics were identified for future cooperation:

• Women’s rights; • Tourism development; • IDP and conflict resolution

1. Women’s rights – particularly women’s participation in politics. As the percentage of

participation is low in both countries, LDA Armenia and Georgia can work with candidates, it was also admitted that in Armenia there are women Mayors – one was participating in the

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event and the Georgian delegation got to know her, so we decided to make some TV show in order to inspire Georgian women too, because we do not have women mayors. Kutaisi city hall representative promised their assistance too if this project idea will be developed.

2. Conflict resolution projects – both countries have the area affected by conflict. As for LDAs

it is not primarily aim to work on conflict resolution, LDA Georgia and Armenia can make some project in order to: support economic development, to raise self-awareness on different issues concerning democracy and human rights.

3. Regional tourism development. A tourism forum is planned to organize in March-April

2015 in Armenia by Rhône-Alpes region and Afrat organization. As Rhône-Alpes is the lead partner of LDA Armenia the organizational part will be realized by LDA Armenia. Lusine was going to have the meeting with AFRAT after the meeting with the partners and Georgian delegation so still didn’t know what are going to be the priorities. Georgian delegation suggested that different tours like wine-tour can be organized in the frames of the project which can be started from Georgia and end in Armenia. (Lusine held the meeting with Afrat afterwards and it became clear that the project will only focus on the implementation of a forum on tourism issues. It can be discussed and decided with Rhône-Alpes if Georgian delegation involved in tourism issues can be invited also to the forum).

4. LDA Armenia and LDA Georgia can jointly work on migration problem, because during the

visit it was obvious that it is a huge problem in Armenia like in Georgia.

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Local Democracy Agency Albania

Established: in 2007 Delegate: For information, please contact ALDA Coordinator Citizens Programme Aldo Xhani Partners: Association Project Prijedor, Italy (Lead partner) The relocation of LDA Albania is planned in 2015 in Vlora. In 2014 LDA Albania was not operational.

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Local Democracy Agency Central and Southern Serbia

Sasa Marinkov

Established: in 2001 Delegate: Sasa Marinkov Partners: City of Aarhus, Denmark (Lead partner); City of Nis (Host City); Tavolo Trentino con Kraljevo, Italy; Associação Mais Cidadania, Lisbon, Portugal; City of Kragujevac, Serbia; City of Kraljevo, Serbia; Association for LDA Zavidovici, Italy; City of Saltdal, Norway Priorities:

• Fostering democratic governance and citizen participation at local level • Youth empowerment • Supporting the process of Serbia’s EU integration

LDA Central and Southern Serbia was established in 2001 in the City of Niš, Serbia. In 2003 it was officially registered under the name Centar lokalne demokratije LDA under Serbian law.

With the aim of spreading its program further onto the territories in need, in April 2014 LDA

has moved its headquarters to Knjaževac, a city in South-Eastern Serbia. The LDA covers wider region by working in Niš, Knjaževac, Kraljevo and Kragujevac.

LDA aims to contribute to development of local democracy in the communities of Eastern,

Southern and Central Serbia through capacity building programs based on the principles of active citizenship and establishment of concrete mechanisms of citizens’ participation in development of their communities.

The year 2014 was a year of many changes for LDA. Most notably, we got a new host town, reallocated our headquarters from Niš to Knjaževac and welcomed some new people to our team. With the support from ALDA we have closed one and open a new chapter for LDA, with new energy, new ideas, new partnerships and new possibilities.

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Throughout 2013 we undertook a complex process of analyzing and reassessing the situation of LDA in Niš. By the end of 2013 this resulted in a proposal for the strategy of further development of LDA that was presented to the ALDA Bureau and our partners for further comments and approval at the beginning of 2014. After a positive feedback we have approached Municipality of Knjaževac, which previously proved to be very proactive and open for cooperation, and started talks on raising the cooperation with LDA and ALDA to the next level. Being strategically interested for international decentralized cooperation it was easily agreed by both sides that Knjaževac could benefit from cooperation with LDA and ALDA so a process of relaunching LDA started. During the month of April basic preconditions were fulfilled for reallocation of LDA to Knjaževac. Municipality of Knjaževac provided premises for our headquarter office and became our new host town. The office itself was officially opened in October during a visit from our Secretary General, Antonella Valmorbida, and Regional Programmes Coordinator, Stanka Parac Damjanovic, for the occasion of official signing of Letter of Intent for cooperation between our network and Municipality of Knjaževac. With this Letter of Intent Municipality of Knjaževac confirmed further its commitment to operate as the host city to the Local Democracy Centre – LDA, providing necessary conditions for co-operation based on projects development, and became full-fledged member of The Association of Local Democracy Agencies – ALDA.

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LDA’s new host town, Knjaževac, is a town and municipality situated in South-eastern Serbia, in the region bordering Bulgaria. The municipality extends over an area of 1202 km2 and is the fourth largest in the Republic of Serbia. The town itself is located in the valley, at the confluence of two rivers, but countryside of whole municipality is mostly hilly and mountainous. The municipality has a population of 30,902 inhabitants who live in 86 inhabited places, one town and 85 villages. Knjaževac is categorized as municipality in the category IV, which means it is one of least developed in Serbia and this justifies even more so the need for LDA to be active in this area.  

 Knjaževac used to be a location for big exporting factories but today it is developing towards

more tourist area that utilizes its countryside (park of nature, several historic sites, ski resort and a spa). Main existing industries are:

• Clothing and footwear industry  • Furniture and timber industry  • Food and Beverage, Agriculture (fruit production)  • Rural tourism  

 Knjaževac has a well-developed system of social services with quite a few innovative social

services in the community financed by the local authorities (municipality is known for this feature on a regional and national level).

 

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Several cultural festivals take place every year in Knjaževac: national Festival of Youth Culture of Serbia and Festival of Etno Associations (national); several local festivals of traditional culture and food. Knjaževac is part of the Road of Wine of Serbia. National sport manifestations (ski and extreme sports) are taking place annually since several years ago. The Land Museum is managing several historical sites and has a rich collection of artifacts dating from pre-historical age, through Roman Empire to the world unique collection of special wool socks that are part of the national costume, very colorful.    

This past year has also brought new opportunities for LDA not only to strengthen existing but also to build some new partnerships with stakeholders both on local and international level: Youth Office, Land Museum, City Library, schools and Development Agency of Knjaževac Municipality, Patrimoine sans frontiers - France, Margherita Societa' Cooperativa Sociale a r.l. – Italy, Soziokulturelle Initiative Erfurt e.V. – Germany…    

All throughout 2014 LDA has continued with the implementation of specific activities within the following projects: Increase Your Employability Through Working In Tourism

• EVS project with RIC Bela Krajina from Slovenia, where LDA acted as partner sending organization for two volunteers;

Coordinating Trentino con i Balcani office in Kraljevo

• LDA supported the work of Tavolo’s coordinator in Serbia; Application successful, Europe for Citizens project of Europa Haz from Budapest

• LDA as locally engaged partner promoted project activities for the benefit of current and potential stakeholders of the Europe for Citizens Programme in Nis and Knjaževac, supported organization of two trainings and took part in a study visit to German NGOs in Berlin;

Local Coalitions For Community Development

• ALDA project supported through IPA funds for Montenegro, where LDA acted as partner involved in subgranting and training component of the project.

In our role as resource for active citizenship initiatives both for local authorities and citizens,

LDA has provided support to: • Knjaževac Municipality for their participation in the project ‘’Bet On EU’’, project funded

through Europe for Citizens programme, • Women’s Cooperative – Zadrugarice in their formal registration and first activities in

promoting small business initiatives of women from Nis and surrounding areas.

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So what’s ahead of us? Besides regular joint project development, priorities for the upcoming period, after securing local stability of LDA, will be:

• To support establishment of new partnerships between Knjaževac and EU municipalities, also members of ALDA. At the same time this will contribute to the much needed renewing of LDAs partner network as well. This is surely a challenging task but good ground has been set during previous year so we look to future with optimism.

• To continue to cooperate closely with Balkan LDAs, with the support of ALDA office in Skopje, in developing regional initiatives. Our joint efforts have already given positive results with the EU supported Regional platform for youth participation and dialogue and other opportunities are appearing at the horizon. It is true what they say: where there is unity there is always victory.  

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Local Democracy Agency Georgia

Nino Tvaltvadze

Established: in 1996 Delegate: Nino Tvaltvadze Partners: City of Strasbourg, France (Lead partner); City of Kutaisi, Georgia (Host city); Municipality of Monfalcone, Italy; City of Tbilisi, Georgia; National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia; Kutaisi Branch of Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Georgia; Partners-Georgia, Georgia; Kutaisi Newport International Association, Georgia; Newport Kutaisi Twining Association, United Kingdom Priorities:

• Capacity building programmes for local authorities and Non-Government Organizations • Promoting active citizenship and good governance • Promotion of women and youth rights • Supporting and initiating cross-border and regional co-operation • Promoting EU integration and European values at local level

Today LDA Georgia is in the situation to get a second wind. It is a chance to continue the work

that has been done by the previous staff, while at the same time bringing some updates to give the organization fresh breath. The year 2014 was very important for the Local Democracy Agency Georgia:

• From the July 2014, as the result of the competition, new executive director – Nino Tvaltvadze was selected and approved by the board of the organization

• from November 2014 organization has moved to the new office • from the proposed projects three were funded • new staff was hired • fruitful and active steps were taken toward strengthening trans-border cooperation

with LDA Armenia • new international partner from Poland – Kujavian Pomeranian region expressed the

will and readiness to join the LDA Georgia’s partners

Projects in 2014 “Kutaisi: IT WORKS! (Information Transparency With Officials Responsible for Kutaisi Service) – Funded by the European Commission”

From the year 2013, coalition project of Kutaisi city hall has been launched. Together with Kutaisi Education, Development and Employment Center - LDA Georgia started to implement the activities which aims at supporting improved governance and public finance management in Kutaisi via transparent budget, public policy and government services based on community needs by

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ensuring the cooperation and participation of community leaders, civic groups, local citizens, media and local authorities.

The task of LDA Georgia was to organize two day training to build the skills of local officials in program budget creation and participatory budgeting. Training was held in Daba Chaqvi, Hotel Oasis for two groups of participants. First group attended the training from 29.08 till 31.08 and the second one from 31.08 till 02.09.

Training duration was 2 full days for each group -16 hours in total. Training participants were:

• The public officials employed in the city hall Kutaisi; • Employees of Kutaisi city council administration; • Local Journalists working in Kutaisi; • Representatives of local NGO sector;

In total 40 participants; the training was evaluated very positively, Almost every participant

declared the will to participate in this kind of training once again; at the end of the training, participants underlined the importance of the usage of gained knowledge in their daily work;

“Mobilized Civil Society For Local Development” – funded by the European Commission

From September, 2014 together with Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) and National Association of Local Authorities Georgia (NALAG) new project “Mobilized civil Society for Local development” was launched; the project consists of five components: Component 1. Capacity Building of CSOs in municipalities of Georgia

Capacity building is a key element of this proposal including training not only for registered NGOs outside of the capital city of Tbilisi but we also envisage capacity building for community leaders and community based organizations. In addition we also plan organization of seminars for local elected officials and members of Georgian Parliament to increase their knowledge about EU standards for local democracy. Component 2 - Creation of horizontal network

Creation of the horizontal network of regional CSOs (NGOs and CBOs) is needed for monitoring implementation of LG reform and identification of local needs. The aim of this network

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is to establish efficient tool for horizontal exchange of information, mobilization of popular support and coordination of activities. Component 3 – Promotion of Policy dialogue on LG reform Component 4 – Organization of Media campaign Component 5 – Dissemination information on EU-Georgia AA agreement with specific focus on Public administration reforms In the frame of the project two important activities were implemented during 2014:

• On 3rd of November, LDA Georgia Delegate took part as a facilitator in the National conference organized by the NALAG in the frame of the project “Mobilized civil society for Local democracy”. The conference was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Regional development and Infrastructure, Parliament members, representatives of Local Governments and Civil Society;

• From 19-21 November, 4 day training was organized for the 36 representatives of Local Non-governmental organizations in Kutaisi. Trainers were from ALDA – Irene Zanetti, Aldo Xhani and Paula Rauzan LDA Sisak Delegate. In addition, delegation from Armenia attended the training organized in the frame of the project “Mobilized Civil Society for Local Democracy”.

The participants from Armenia were:

• Mrs. Lusine Aleksandryan- "Local Democracy Agency" foundation Armenia • Mr. Vahe Sargsyan- Communities Finance Officers Association of Armenia It was very interesting cooperation, training was international. Participation of Armenian

delegation made training even more interesting, it appeared that in most cases they are dealing with the same problems and challenges during their work. They really became the part of the team, despite the fact of the language barrier.

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“Protected Voice Guarantee of effective self-governance” – funded by the Open Society Foundation Georgia

Project proposal was prepared together with the partner organization Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and submitted to the Open Society Foundation Georgia OSGF; the aim of the project is to define the criminal immunities for the elected local public officials. The task of LDA Georgia is to conduct the research on European experience in this regard, to organize the study visit in Strasbourg, to conduct 8 focus group meetings in order to discuss the issue with local public officials and civil society representatives and to prepare the bill and advocate it within the parliament. The duration of the project is 9 months.

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During the reporting period – expert on Local government issues was hired by LDA Georgia. The work on research was begun, questionnaire for the focus groups was prepared. In January 2015, 10 focus groups were organized in Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Poti and Ozurgeti Municipalities, in total 101 public officials and 56 local civil society representatives took part in the anonymous focus group survey. Participants were asked about the need of criminal immunities for locally elected public officials, about the degree of independence of LG representatives, about the competences and abilities of LG in Georgia. LDA Georgia will present the results of the survey and research in Strasbourg- during the study visit.

It should be underlined that in 2014, LDA Georgia got approval of two more projects, the implementation of which will start from 2015:

Project IMERY – Joint Initiative of Municipalities of Imerety Regions – Project proposal was

submitted to the Eurasia Foundation open doors program. Project had three main directions: a) To support the public participation at local level b) To increase the communication skills of newly elected Gamgebelis/Mayor of 12

municipalities of Imerety region and to support new mechanism of reporting by organizing live TV shows on local media

c) To increase the capacity of regional Journalists on the topics regarding local government and new legislation. Project idea was supported by the Governor’s Administration in Imerety region

The way forward for reforms in the housing sector: empowering grass-root homeowners

associations in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – Full application was submitted to the European Commission. Applicant of the project is Initiative Wohnungswirtschaft Osteuropa (IWO) e.V. LDA Georgia is one of the co-applicants in Georgia. The overall goal of the proposed project is to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the housing sector in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The action aims to promote management of real estate and energy efficient refurbishment of multidwelling houses and to improve the conditions for age-appropriate and barrier-free living conditions in multi-family buildings.

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“International and trans-border cooperation of LDA Georgia”

On the 7-9th of September, 2014 with the help and support of ALDA the visit to Gyumri – Local Democracy Agency Armenia was organized. Meeting’s objectives were:

• To develop better understanding of each context, difficulties and opportunities • To identify strategic paths of cooperation with development - sharing strategic views and

possibilities of cooperation • Plan future activities • Be better included in the ALDA activities and promote transborder cooperation approach • Mapping possible common stakeholders and approach to them

Participants were

• LDA Delegates / Lusine Aleksandryan-LDA Armenia, Nino Tvaltvadze- LDA Georgia/ • Local partners of the LDAs (Nodar Jikia- Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association – Kutaisi

branch Program Director /GILA/, Levon Barseghyan - Journalists’ club “Asparez”, Armine Tukhikyan – Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development, Vahan Movsisyan-Communities Finance Officers Association, Vahan Tumanyan-“Shirak Centre” NGO)

• Municipalities of Gyumri (head of educational department- Hayk Sultanyan and Kutaisi (head of Administration - Zviadi Javakhia)

• Secretary General of ALDA Antonella Valmorbida

Both LDAs presented their work experience, challenges and future plans. Meeting was very successful and at the end the draft of action plan was created:

It has to be underlined that partners from the both sides, were actively involved in the discussion. Three main topics were identified for future cooperation:

• Women’s rights; • Tourism development; • IDP and conflict resolution; • Migration;

As follow up for the meeting LDA Georgia and LDA Armenia will work together on project

proposals. “Visits to Strasbourg“

On 12-16th of October, LDA Georgia delegate, took part in the 27th congress session of Local and Regional Authorities in Strasbourg. Visit was very fruitful, meetings were held with:

• Fancois Friederich and Ana Rusu from Directorate General of Democracy of COE. The issues concerning future cooperation with LDA Georgia in the frame of the electoral project, was discussed during the meeting. As a result another meeting with Mikheil Kechakmadze was held in Tbilisi COE office. It is planned to have active cooperation from 2015.

• Tanja Hannemann – Department of European and International affairs of Strasbourg; During the meeting concrete issues were discussed like: study visit in Strasbourg in the frame of the project “Protected voice-guarantee of effective local governance”, action plan of organization for 2015 and wider cooperation with the leading partner city of Strasbourg;

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• Nawel Rafik – vice mayor of city of Strasbourg – meeting was introductory. Mrs. Nawel Rafik invited the executive director of LDA Georgia on the upcoming event of Club de Strasbourg in November, where work of LDA Georgia will be presented to other cities too.

• Georgian Delegation – during the visit executive director of LDA Georgia got to know the deputy minister of Regional development and infrastructure – Tengiz Shergelashvili, Representative of Reforms center- George Toklikishvili, Mayor of Tbilisi – David Narmania;

The delegate attended the session where the report of COE was presented regarding the local

elections of 2014 in Georgia. Summary of the report was positive (Primary election of Gamegebelis/mayors, good organizational/technical work of the central election commission), but also remarks concerning the aggressive pre-election campaign.

• On the 3-5th November, 2014 LDA Georgia Delegate took part in the Strasbourg club

meeting. She was invited by Nawel Rafik Elmrini- vice mayor of city of Strasbourg. Kutaisi delegation was presented by: Beka Kancheli – deputy head of Kutaisi Sakrebulo, Ioseb Khakhaleishvili –deputy Governor of Imerety Region. This visit was very important and fruitful for LDA Georgia, on the 4th of November Nino Tvaltvadze made a speech and presented organization during club de Strasburg meeting. After presentation Mrs Milena Perpelea - director of international relations of Ploiesti Municipality, Romania expressed the will to become the new partner of LDA. The communication in this regard with Ployesti Municipality continues.

• On 11-13 of December, 2014 with the invitation of Council of Europe, LDA Georgia Delegate took part in the closing event of COE project in Georgia regarding women participation in Politics, which was implemented by the Georgian NGO EMC.

Two women from Georgia, elected in the local municipalities, project manager Lina

Gvinianidze, Mikheil Kechakmadze- COE representative in Georgia and Nino Tvaltvadze were participants of the event. The visit was very interesting, movie about hard life of women in Georgia was presented in the Council of Europe, several meetings were held with:

• Sedef Cankoçak – Secretary a.i. to the Current Affairs Committee – Congress of the Council of Europe;

• Carolina Lasen Diaz – Head of Gender Equality Unit – Directorate General of Democracy, Council of Europe;

• Women representatives of parliamentarian Assembly of COE; and etc.

It is planned to have wider cooperation of LDA Georgia and COE in 2015. During the visit some concrete aspects of collaboration were discussed.

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Local Democracy Agency Kosovo

Elbert Krasniqi

Established: in 2011 Delegate: Elbert Krasniqi Partners: Association Trentino con I Balcani, Italy (Lead partner); Municipality of Peja/Pec, Kosovo (Host city); Amici dei bambini, Italy and Kosovo; RTM Region Third World, Italy and Kosovo; Only Equal Rights Association S.U.D, Italy; ALFA Formation, France; Municipality of Yalova, Turkey; Association of Municipalities of Kosovo AKM Priorities:

• Promotion of the Local Democracy Agency of Kosovo • Promotion of the local democracy and European integration • Promotion of culture, youth and equal opportunities • Promotion of dialogue among communities • Promotion of local economic development • Support logistics for the LDA’s partners

The LDA was not operational in 2014, and its activities have started again in 2015.

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Local Democracy Agency Montenegro

Kerim Medjedovic

Established: in 2001 Delegate: Kerim Medjedovic Partners: Friuli.Venezia Giulia Region, Italy (Lead partner); Municipality of Nikšić, Montenegro (Host city); Municipality of Kotor, Montenegro; Municipality of Rozaje, Montenegro; Union of Municipalities of Montenegro; Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Montenegro; Association Betton-Montenegro, France; City of Neuchatel, Switzerland Priorities:

• Local administration capacity development • Human rights and peace building • Youth participation • Local economical development • European Union integration processes

Projects in 2014 “3D – Development of democratic participation of civil society, the third sector and social inclusion” LEAD PARTNER: Municipality of Dolegna del Collio, Italy OTHER PARTNERS: Municipality of Monfalcone (Italy), Municipality of Subotica (Serbia), Italian Community in Montenegro DONOR: Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region TIMING: January 2013 – December 2014 PURPOSES:

Promoting horizontal and vertical subsidiarity by supporting freedom of association and voluntary work and favoring civil coexistence. The project aims to participate in the creation of an efficient decentralized system that supports action, the civil society, democratic participation and improves the integration of different communities, including minority communities, particularly in the field of youth. ACTIVITIES:

• Training for operators in the social area, for the members of nonprofit organizations and the third sector, as well as, for the local administrators

• Setting up service Centre for third sector and volunteering • Promotion of the coexistence

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• Campaign for promotion of active citizenship • Sensitization and promotion of culture of solidarity and volunteer work, especially among

youth SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

• Developed   skills   and   activation   of   new   tools   of   good   governance   and   democratic  participation  in  development  planning  process  in  participating  local  communities  

• Established   info  point  at   the  Local  democracy  agency   to   support  youth  volunteerism  and  civil  society  

• The  exchange  of  good  practices  and  democratic  standards  on  the  topic  of  participation  and  social  dialogue  between  FVG  region  and  project  partners  

• Two   interns   successfully   accomplished   9   months   internship   in   LDA   and   continued  working  with  LDA  Montenegro  

“Local coalitions for community development - LCCD” LEAD PARTNER: Association of Local Democracy Agencies ALDA OTHER PARTNERS: PALGO Centre Serbia; Local Democracy Agency Subotica – Serbia; Local Democracy Agency Nis - Serbia DONOR: Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro (IPA 2011 Civil Society facility development programme) TIMING: December 2012 – June 2015 PURPOSES:

• To help to strengthen the capacity of community based organizations for service provision to citizens

• To help to improve the capacity of CSOs for participation in policy/decision making and raise awareness of CSO initiated actions

• To develop the capacity of CSOs for cross-sectoral partnership building and reinforce the role of CSOs as a relevant stakeholder in public administration reform and EU approximation process

• To contribute to the strengthening and sustaining of the role of CSOs in community development through training and networking for policy reforms

ACTIVITIES:

• EU standards of good governance at local level – series of training seminars for CSOs and local authorities

• Citizen’s participation in policy and decision making at local level – series of local public debates in six municipalities

• Building local capacities for EU project development and implementation – series of trainings for local CSOs

• Sub-granting Programme for local CSOs • Information campaign and networking activities

SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

Sub-granting program has been fully realized, and sub-grantees implemented project activities in their communities with support of ALDA and LDA. Capacities and skills of local CSO have been

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developed for the cooperation with local institutions, for project development and for building partnerships, as well as capacities are developed for participation and civil dialogue. This project improved public awareness and role of the CSOs in local community development. Visible and tangible results and lasting impact of 8 projects will be presented through documentary films.

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“Centre for Social Economy Development - CRSE” LEAD PARTNER: COSM – Cooperativa Salute Mentale, Italy OTHER PARTNERS: Interland – Consorzio per L’Integrazione ed il lavoro (Italy); NGO Sjore od mota Kotor (Montenegro) DONOR: Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region TIMING: September 2013 – September 2015 PURPOSES:

The project focuses on development of the social economy and social entrepreneurship in Montenegro. Project aims to provide start up process for the new social enterprises in Montenegro, and to provide support and to strengthen the organizations that perform activities that are by its nature similar to social economy, which will represent the examples of best practices that will help to legal regulation of this area. Also there is a focus on the provision of the inclusion of vulnerable groups (especially youth) into the economical processes and development in their communities. ACTIVITIES:

• Creation of a feasibility study that underlines the strategic determinants of the government regarding the possibility, the mode and the resources necessary for creating strategy and structure dedicated to the social entrepreneurship development in Montenegro;

• Planning, organizing and setting up an agency/service center for the start up support, training and the development of the social enterprises in Montenegro;

• Activities of sensitizing the public and state institutions, civil society organizations on the topic of social economy;

• Realization of the training courses for the establishment, planning, setting up and management of the social enterprise;

• Exchange of the best practices between FVG and Montenegro on topic of social economy SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

The Center for the development of the social economy is established and it is functional. Results of the work of the center have quickly become visible, and that is creation of the feasibility study for development of social economy in Montenegro, organization of series of the workshops and seminar for the promotion of social economy. Center tends to develop cooperation among actors that are promoting social economy or have activities that are social entrepreneurship. The memorandum of cooperation among the stakeholders is produced and the network working for this cause is being established. A number of production and services activities – new cooperatives are launched.

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“Internship program for university graduates” LEAD PARTNER: National Employment Agency of Montenegro DONOR: Government of Montenegro TIMING: September 2013 – October 2014 PURPOSES:

This internship program represents planed systematic activity of knowledge and experience gain for the newly graduates, in order to develop skills and competence for performance of duties and tasks. ACTIVITIES:

• Engagement  of  two  interns  • Transfer  of  the  practical  skills  and  knowledge  to  the  program  participants  • Providing  training,  seminars  and  organization  of  the  study  visits  for  interns  • Evaluation  and  monitoring  of  the  program  participants  work  

SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

Two young people had opportunity to accomplish their internship in the Agency through Government of Montenegro Employment Bureau. They proved to be very promising young people who have taken given opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills, and create solid basis for their future professional orientation. As real successful story we can name the fact that both the interns remained engaged and one of them actively participates in the work of the LDA, while the internship in the agency recommended second one for the job in another Montenegrin NGO – Union of the Visually Impaired Persons Associations. “Cooperazione Montenegro - Integrated plan of action for local development in the social field, promoting educational initiatives and intercultural relations strengthening” LEAD PARTNER: Municipality of Monfalcone OTHER PARTNERS: Italian Community in Montenegro; Health center Tivat; Municipality of Kotor; Special Psychiatric Hospital Dobrota Kotor; ALDA; Municipality of Nikšić and Department of mental health Trieste DONOR: Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia TIMING: June 2012 – May 2014 PURPOSES:

The overall plan of the project is to contribute to local development in order to improve people's livelihoods through interventions for social and health structures improvement, development of informational and educational programs for social inclusion and implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the integration. Centre for support to civil society, youth and voluntarism functioning; Exchange in dealing with mental health problems – youth in risky behaviour; Contribution to the creation of cultural dialogue between Italian Community and other ethnic groups.

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ACTIVITIES: • The first action in the project concerns counseling for young people in the medical center in

Tivat. Interventions aimed at improving the use of resources and the installation of the elevator in the department of pediatrics, to primarily enable easier access to persons with disabilities.

• The second action, "Education and Development", coordinated by the LDA from Nikšić, consisted of two interventions:

1. The first intervention concerns the development of territorial social services and the preventive educative campaign that is focused on the area of Kotor and includes the Municipality of Kotor and the Department for the prevention of drug abuse and risky behavior of young in Psychiatric Hospital Kotor.

2. Second intervention includes activities of awareness raising for the social inclusion trough the meetings, workshops and other services provided by “Central Service” of LDA Montenegro.

SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

The social structures and territorial services of prevention improved through: upgrade of the structures of youth counseling center within the ambulance in Tivat, developed activities of the central services at the Local Democracy Agency Montenegro - conducted research Youth and leisure in Nikšić, upgraded support to the activities of the Municipal office for the prevention of risky behavior in Kotor, developed territorial services with the participation and cooperation with SPB Kotor

Enhanced professional skills and competence factors that aim at implementation of programs of territorial interventions based on the use of local resources. Awareness raised and performed an education of citizens in order to prevent prejudice and create a system of positive values related to intercultural integration.

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“Open Mind – Organization of the Participation in Enlarged Networks: Montenegro is Inclusive, Not Discriminatory” LEAD PARTNER: Caritas Montenegro OTHER PARTNERS: Caritas Italy; Associazione Trentino con I Balcani DONOR: Project is co-financed by EU funds TIMING: October 2013 – October 2015 PURPOSES:

Higher quality of political representation of the NGOs involved in the protection of vulnerable groups with a focus on organizations that deal with mental health, support to NGOs dealing with mental health in order for this target group to become an active participant in social and political life, creating new opportunities for NGOs involved in the decision-making and to promote dialogue with the government sector, promotion of the social reintegration of people with mental health problems in Montenegro. ACTIVITIES:

• Strengthening and capacity building of NGOs • Special trainings and exchange of experiences with other local, national and EU NGOs • Promotion of social reintegration of people with mental health problems in Montenegro • Local inter-sectoral working groups establishment to tackle the mental health problems • The formation of these teams as an innovative approach that aims to promote cooperation

between public institutions, civil society and mental health services. SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

• NGOs dealing with mental health have been trained and exchanged the experiences • 4 working groups activated with 80 participants, meeting at least 3 times per year,

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• Multiple awareness raising campaigns have been organized • Production of promotional material (video, website, brochures, posters) • General public on topic of mental health has been sensitized.

“Start Up Training” LEAD PARTNER: Cooperative CRAMARS - Tolmezzo OTHER PARTNERS: Confindustria Udine; Legacoop FVG; Montenegrin Employers Federation DONOR: Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia TIMING: January 2012 – June 2014 PURPOSES:

The creation of the “Professional Training Center” that will provide effective responses for educational needs for the progressive development of Montenegrin enterprises and employees and other subjects. The project contributes to the advancement of the process of internationalization of Montenegrin companies. ACTIVITIES:

• Support to the employment and engagement of human resources • Detection and analysis of the needs for Montenegrin companies in the field of employees

qualifications • Professional training for the Montenegrin companies employees • Activities of connecting employers' associations from Italy and Montenegro

SUCCESSEFUL STORIES:

The needs for Montenegrin employers for improvement of skills and knowledge of their employees have been identified. The “gaps” that are needed to be filled were detected and in accordance with the needs of employers the list of potential trainings and its curricula have been defined. One educative session for the members of the Montenegrin Employers Federation has been carried out on the topic of Public relations. A large number of companies, members of the Employers Federation expressed interest to participate in the work of the Center, for their employees training education. Training services would be offered to a wider labor market and specific target groups such as young people and other difficult-to-employ categories.    

 

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Local Democracy Agency Mostar

Dženana Dedić

Established: in 2004 Delegate: Dženana Dedić Partners: Apulia region, Italy (Lead Partner); City of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Host city), City of Monfalcone, Italy; Province of Brindisi, Italy; NGO IPSIA, Italy; City of Kragujevac, Serbia; Municipality of Vejle, Denmark Priorities:

• Creating active citizenship by involving citizens in decision-making processes • Building the capacities of local authorities for better local self government • Supporting youth activism and the position of women • Strengthening partnership networks (national and international) to develop strong national

and regional cooperation programmes

Projects in 2014  “Strengthening accountability of women and young political leaders in BiH – the role of woman in public and political life”  LEAD PARTNER: Council of Europe DONOR: Council of Europe and USAID TIMING: February 2014 – October 2014 PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The Council of Europe, in Co-operation with the School of Political Studies BiH, has organized the program entitled “Strengthening Accountability of Women and Young Political Leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina” The goal of this programme is to focus on three mutually reinforcing objectives designed to empower women and youth to take more active roles in political processes that will help create a new and more accountable generation of political party leadership in the run up to the 2014 general elections. These include raising awareness on the importance of women in political processes and improving their engagement in political life. PURPOSES:

• Increase engagement of women in political processes; • Create a new and more accountable generation of political party leadership; and • Improve cross-party communication on issues important for the country’s progress

toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

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ACTIVITIES: Activities were realised by 18 NGOs and 27 coordinators of this Project, in the entire Bosnia

and Herzegovina, on the territory of 84 cities/municipalities, gathered 18.000 participants, women and youth mostly. THE ROLE OF LDA:

Local Democracy Agency Mostar has, in co-ordination with 1 Co-ordinator, participated in realisation of project activities on the territory of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (City of Mostar, Municipalities of Jablanica and Knjic) and Western-Herzegovina Canton (Municipalities of Posušje, Grude, Široki Brijeg and Ljubuški). 10 meetings gathered 800 women. The brochure of the project can be downloaded here http://www.spsbh.ba/FINAL%20-%20latinica.pdf

“New urban topology Mostar – Beirut – Stockholm” “Exhibition Patchwork Mostar” PARTNERS: Foundation for Contemporary art and architecture Färgfabriken Stockholm (Sweden) DONOR: Swedish Postcode Lottery and its Postcode Lottery Culture Foundation TIMING: November 2013 – January 2015 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: New urban topology Mostar – Beirut - Stockholm

As a part of the international project for democracy, New Urban Topologies (NUT) Färgfabriken has since autumn of 2010 arranged seminars, city walks and workshops in cities across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Balkans. Swedish architects, city planners and artists have met colleagues in Chisinau, Minsk, Alexandria, Amman, Skopje, Mostar, Jakarta and Kharkiv who in turn have met with students and rulers of their home cities. The purpose of this is to examine the impact of these international exchanges, these informal meetings between rulers, students, city planners, artists and architects. Could they inspire the future processes of creating our cities?

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A multicultural city retains its opportunities and challenges, cultural richness and fragmentation of society. The "New Urban Topology - Mostar and Beirut" focuses on two cities that have historically been under the constant influence of these questions, two cities that are often switch between interaction and fragmentation, Beirut (Lebanon) and Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The experience of the "New Urban topology - Mostar and Beirut" was presented at the exhibition “Patchwork Mostar” organised in November of 2014. Exhibition “Patchwork Mostar”

The Exhibition “Patchwork Mostar” was organized as a new model to enable the participation of people at all stages of the development processes within the City of Mostar. The focus of the program is on the correlation of artistic and epic approach in order to get the social reflection of the urban space.

The Exhibition was presented through documentary films and through set of workshops and seminars organized during Exhibition itself. The aim was to open up the subject of urban space to a wider audience, so to have possibility to hear the voice of citizens as well as to establish dialogue between different policy makers and users of the space. In the same time both Beirut and Stockholm were presented to the local audience in different contexts trying to investigate possibilities of transformation in to the contemporary urban discussion.

The interactive exhibition "Patchwork Mostar" in the period from 7th – 28th November developed a discourse about the city and the life of the city seen from different perspectives.

ACTIVITIES:

Exhibition activities and results:

Preexhibition activities:

• Research on the use of space and public facilities in the city • Open competition for young people on the subject of “Mostar 2025”

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• Workshop for students „Patchwork Mostar- Kolaž sjećanja i snova“ 28 students, from 8 high schools, 6 days preparation + 3 day workshop = 252 participations

Exhibition activities:

• Workshop “Animated moments” for children age 8 – 15, 18, from 6 elementary schools,- 5 days workshop = 90 participations

• Workshop for citizens „Patchwork Mostar- Kolaž sjećanja i snova” 15 citizens, 3 workshop sessions = 45 participations

• Workshop for professionals “Social reflection of urban space” for 10 professionals, 3 workshop sessions = 30 participations

• Opening ceremony app. 100 invitees • Closing ceremony app. 50 invitees • Concert app 50 invitees • Exhibition every day visitors 650

Total 1.267 participations and visits

As one of the most important recommendations of the “Patchwork Mostar” Exhibition is:

• To establish an independent platform that will, through various forms of activity in the fields of architecture, art, urban planning, music, photography, literature, extend opportunity for all interested parties to educate and thus strengthen the link between all participants in this process: CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE, DIALOGUE AND ART – ADA Mostar

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„Speed date a politician - 36 key issues for young people of the city of Mostar” PARTNERS: Youth Council of the City of Mostar DONOR: Council of Europe and Lichtenstein TIMING: August 2014 – October 2014 PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The idea of the project is for young people to set up 36 key questions to young politicians who represent the future political scene of Mostar and who will fight for a better future in the city. "The speed date a politician" are recorded, documented and published on the websites of the Mostar Youth Council (www.vmgm.org) and the Local Democracy Agency (www.ldamostar.org).

Job? Social welfare? Corruption? Bribery? Incentives? Youth activism? were the most frequent questions that the young want to be answered from their future representatives in the political scene.

The aim of the project was to increase the responsibility and participation of young politicians on the political scene of Mostar and to increase the motivation of young people to take part in the elections in 2014.

“Trust, Understanding, Responsibility for the Future” “PRO-Future” DONOR: USAID and CRS Catholic Relief Services PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The goal of the PRO-Future project is to build trust among female and male citizens of all ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to support the environment in which the BIH citizens, encouraged by key influencers, advocate for new social changes resulting in the improved

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quality of life. The PRO-Future will work with female and male citizens to have them understand that there are different political and historical narratives and to encourage key influencers to support local reconciliation initiatives. The project is being implemented in:

• 30 towns/municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, • 14 towns/municipalities from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina • 16 towns/municipalities from the Republic of Srpska • Target groups are: the youth, war victims, women, religious communities, associations of

war victims, parent&school councils, and formal and informal civil society groups.

City of Mostar participates in this project together with Municipality Nevesinje from Republic of Srpska of BH. Representative of LDA Mostar is the member of coordinating team for planning and implementation of the project activities. "Improving media literacy through content analysis of online media”

PARTNERS: Faculty of Humanities of University “Dzemal Bijedic” Mostar and NGO “Plus” Mostar DONOR: USAID TIMING: May 2013 – March 2014 PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The project’s aim is education of target groups (teachers and students Department of Communication, representatives of PR agency Apriori and New Media solution, and non-governmental organizations Local Democracy Agency and Plus) in the field of media literacy to develop and improve media education and research media literacy to online media.

This booklet has been produced within the project "Improvement of media literacy through

content analysis of online media” http://www.ldamostar.org/preuzimanja/brosuraFHN-Mostar.pdf  

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Local Democracy Agency Prijedor

Dragan Dosen

Established: in 2000 Delegate: Dragan Dosen Partners: Association Project Prijedor, Italy (Lead partner); Municipality of Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Host city); ALDA Office in Vicenza, Italy; Association Tavolo Trentino con Kraljevo, Serbia; Association Tavolo Trentino con il Kosovo, Kosovo Priorities:

• Supporting citizen participation • Supporting the democratic process at the local level • Fostering the social network between citizens, organizations and institutions • Supporting social inclusion and local economic development • Contribution to the work on memory

Projects in 2014

The activities below are realized within the three-year program 2014-2016 "Horizons of reciprocity toward Europe 2020" which implements the Association Progetto Prijedor, Partner leader of LDA Prijedor. There are highlighted the most important activities: “Bridges of reciprocity” LEAD PARTNER: Associazione Progetto Prijedor, Trento, Italy OTHER PARTNERS: Social cooperative Kaleidoscopio; Cooperative Impact Hub from Trento DONOR: Autonomous Province of Trento TIMING: February 2014 – January 2015 PURPOSES:

The project "Bridges of Reciprocity" intends to lay the foundation for creating reciprocal relationships and partnerships of medium to long term among some youth organizations and individuals from Prijedor partners Trentino, united, within their social and cultural work, the enhancement of young people as a resource for the local community. This combination, which will be the backdrop to all the activities of knowledge exchange and training proposed by the project, should be understood in a double meaning: on the one hand, the possibility for young people, to create opportunities "peer-to-peer" in their sphere of activity; on the other hand, the activation by the same projects and initiatives to bring a real improvement in the life of their local community reference in different areas (ecology, art, social work, culture, etc.)

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ACTIVITIES • Realization of 2 paths workshop on topics of interest that emerged during the 2013

monitoring and during the visit in Trento in the end of April 2014, which were: a. The use of poor materials and / or recovery in the creation of games and activities with

children and b. The use of poor materials and / or recovery in the design and creation of furniture.  

• The first workshop was realized in September and October 2014 and the second one was realized in November and December 2014. Both workshops were realized in Prijedor by experts from cooperative Kaleidoscopio and Impact Hub.  

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

• The laboratories and workshops had two success stories: first, strengthen mutual understanding between the participating organizations, through direct contact of the subjects Trentino partners with Bosnian reality; on the other, to offer young people belonging to the youth organizations of Prijedor a real opportunity to experience "hands on" best practices, techniques and tools to increase the effectiveness and visibility of their work in the territory.

• The project is aimed at the creation, starting from instances emerged as part of the monitoring carried out last year, stable relations of cooperation and bilateral cooperation between the associations and cooperatives interested in Prijedor and in Trentino.  

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“SONVO 2014 Youth fair” LEAD PARTNER: Associazione Progetto Prijedor, Trento, Italy OTHER PARTNERS: Youth association Info Point from Prijedor; Council of youth from the City of Prijedor; Catholic Relief Services (CRS) DONOR: Autonomous Province of Trento and Municipality of Prijedor TIMING: March 2014 – August 2014 PURPOSE:

The fifth international fair of youth organizations has been created with the aim of presenting, networking, education and improving the quality of youth organizations from Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of the surrounding countries.

This year's fair was held under the theme "Youth and the EU" to promote opportunities for

young people from the local level through active programs of the European Union. ACTIVITIES:

The official opening ceremony started at 17:00. The event was inaugurated by the representative of the local authorities in Prijedor.

Presentation of the organizations on the stand started at 16:30 in the small square of Prijedor.

The organizations in this way were able to promote their promotional materials and their activities, they also had the opportunity to showcase their work and their activities undertaken to date, ongoing projects and projects they would like to accomplish in the future with new significant other. Delivery thanks to organizations participating in the event, the announcement of the winner of the youth sports activities and the delivery of the cups to the team winners were made at the close of the event.

The youth sports activities (volleyball, football and basketball) were realized in the period 10 to

15 August 2014 at 18:00-22:00 and the organizer of the same was the youth organization PUUM, the partner of the Fair 2014.

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The seminar for coordinators and representatives of the participating organizations was held in the space of the Youth Council of the City of Prijedor (OSP) on the same day in the period from the hours 11:00 to 2:00 p.m.. The theme of the seminar was "Erasmus +" and moderators of the seminar / roundtable was Mitja Bukovec by the Association for the development of volunteering in Slovenia, Novo Mesto, Nebojša Savanović, the representative of the association PUUM -a and the representative of the Network for Peace Building in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Concert of bands DBAU Prijedor and Punished Kraljevo had taken place at 21:00 - 23:00. SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

• Promoted youth activism • Created links between youth organizations in Southeast Europe through the promotion of

instruments in common • Created links between youth organizations in Southeast Europe and the EU residents • Better visibility of youth organizations by strengthening the work locally and internationally • More informed young people and those active in youth about the different possibilities and

conditions in order to achieve good quality projects and sustainable • Created working group composed of representatives of youth organizations that can work

together to get the local authorities and state funding for the next editions of the fair

“Born for reading” LEAD PARTNER: Associazione Progetto Prijedor, Trento, Italy OTHER PARTNERS: National Coordination of “Born to Read”; provincial working group of “Born to Read” of Trento; pediatric wards of the hospital and the House of Health in Prijedor; Preschool Prijedor DONOR: Autonomous Province of Trento TIMING: February 2014 – January 2015 PURPOSE:

Born to Read aims to promote reading aloud to children aged between 6 months and 6 years. It starts from the observation of the stimulation and feeling of security generated, from the first year of life, in children sitting near an adult reading and telling stories. The pleasure of sharing the story is unmatched.

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ACTIVITIES: • Definition of working group of the project  • Formation of the Group of action directed by the National Coordination of Born to Read • Training for volunteer readers made by the coordination of Trentino Born to Read • Training of participants in the program of distance adoptions (private donors) that can bring

books and project information in the homes of poor families with children. • Realization of a memorandum of understanding on the territory • Workshop of construction of books • Animation of reading in pediatric wards and nursery schools • Publicizing the initiative

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

This project contributed to spread among parents the habit of reading aloud every day with and for their children as early as 6 months of age, promoted through the tool of reading opportunities for sharing between parents and children, marked by intimacy, complicity and affection, improved the emotional relationships between family members, stimulated the ability to learn and think from an early age and helped to build vocabulary and the existential and cultural universe of children.

“Prijedor – city of mural” LEAD PARTNER: Associazione Progetto Prijedor, Trento, Italy OTHER PARTNERS: Association of Artists of Prijedor; family of Paola de Manincor; Association Andromeda, City of Lavis; Association Pro Eco-museum of the Dolomites to the Ga DONOR: Autonomous Province of Trento PURPOSE:

In continuity with the 2013 edition of the international prize named Paola de Manincor (artist from Trentino who in 1998 painted, with the support of the City of Trento, the first mural in Prijedor) action provides for the organization of the editions 2014, 2015 and in 2016 the competition.

Each year will be issued the invitation to participate in the competition thanks to which the best

proposals will be selected. The best proposals will then be exhibited in one of the galleries of

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Prijedor and, during the opening night of the exhibition, will be declared the winner of the competition.

Three months after the proclamation of the winning work, the selected work will be carried out

on the facade of a building in the city of Prijedor. Between editions and one of the competition, the initiative will be adequately promoted

through the production and dissemination of communication materials that will be published on the website / multimedia platform of this project and the implementation of promotional events dedicated. ACTIVITIES:

• Writing and publishing the competition on the website of the Association and social networks - May 2014

• Closing of the competition and sorting and publication of submitted proposals - the first half of July 2014

• Judging and selection of winners - July 2014 • Realization of the exhibition of received proposals • Realization of the winning mural - August 2014  

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

• Contribution to the development of culture and tourism of the city of Prijedor, that contribute to the branding of Prijedor on cultural and tourist map of Europe  

• Contribute to the improvement of the offer of cultural and tourist experiences in Prijedor  • Encourage the promotion of tourism in Prijedor as a city of art and artists  • Improving the appearance of the space of the city through the rehabilitation and

beautification of surfaces that need technical and aesthetic interventions  • Improve the visibility of artists from Prijedor  • Increase the motivation of people to look after them aware of the art of cultural and artistic

themes  • To train and spread a positive view on art and culture  • Provide more information to citizens about the past artistic and cultural city  • To encourage an increased sensitivity of policy makers towards art and culture in general

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“Daily centre for people with mental disabilities over 18 years of life” LEAD PARTNER: Associazione Progetto Prijedor OTHER PARTNERS: Center for social work; Association for mentally disabled people from Prijedor DONOR: Autonomous Province of Trento TIMING: February 2014 – January 2015 PURPOSE:

The project, started in 2012, in December 2013 led to the opening of a space for people with mental disabilities donated by Municipality of Prijedor.

The Center provides the opening, five times a week, a day center for older people with mental disabilities. In the center, there is organized the distribution of meals and there are made different occupational activities with an occupational therapist, based on the interest of the users (sewing, embroidery, processing and creation of puppets, bags, key chains, etc.).

There were also organized activities such as excursions, entertainment activities, sports activities, to increase the inclusion of these people in the community, and others, such as the publication of newsletters and promotional materials, the organization of round tables, to raise public awareness and reduce prejudices. ACTIVITIES:

• Day center for mentally disabled people over 18 years of life, opened five times a week • Preparation and distribution of meals for users of daily center • Realization of different occupational activities with an occupational therapist, based on the

interest of the users (sewing, embroidery, processing and creation of puppets, bags, key chains, etc.)

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

Improved lives of people with intellectual disabilities over 18 years of life, people with mental disabilities more integrated in the community, decreased in the solitude of the disabled, reduction of poverty of people with disabilities, public awareness and reduction of prejudices and stereotypes.    

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“Daily center with public kitchen for elder people in Ljubija” LEAD PARTNER: Associzione Progetto Prijedor OTHER PARTNERS: Prijedor Municipal Administration; Social Service Centre Prijedor; Municipality of Trento; City of Levico; elderly day center Ljubija; Ljubija Social Council DONOR: Autonomous Province of Trento; City of Trento TIMING: February 2014 – January 2015 PURPOSE:

A particularly problematic aspect of Prijedor is the presence of a large group of elderly without family support. Seniors over sixty, especially from private single-family, have to meet their daily needs in the single person, which makes them much more vulnerable to possible events typical of this age. The presence of the nuclei detached, in fact, has as a consequence the fact that the daily life of the elderly is more unstructured and characterized by various forms of insulation. For these factors, a large number of older people is at risk of the extreme poverty; to this must be added that, also because of poor accumulation of economic resources in the public funds, health care is inadequate and is not fully assured. This situation is particularly acute in the constituency of Ljubija, 14 km from Prijedor, which has a socio-economic situation even more critical than in the capital.

To address these issues, the APP in recent years has proposed to expand the services offered by the Day Centre Ljubija, opened in 2001, and is intended for seniors and elderly members of this community. The Centre provides an opportunity for the elderly to spend their days on the activities of socialization and creation of products made by hand. The activities of 2013 led to the restructuring of the House of Health made available by the Municipality of Prijedor to expand the spaces of the Day Centre. To date, the House of Health has become the first Polo Social Prijedor hosting, as well as outpatient services, a registry office, a canteen service that meets the needs of disadvantaged people, a service to the person (showers) and one space of socialization and socio-cultural animation. ACTIVITIES:

• Continue to support social Polo Ljubija, specifically with the financing of the coordinator of the Polo and the coordinator of the elderly day center  

• Support for another year the cost of the public kitchen in Ljubija SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

Thanks to the realization of spaces for social inclusion through the opening of spaces and services is possible to improve the quality of responses to the needs of the most vulnerable groups of the population and the wellbeing of the community in general.

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“Remote adoption” LEAD PARTNER: Associazione Progetto Prijedor OTHER PARTNERS: Committee entrusts Prijedor; Social Services; Prijedor municipality DONOR: Private donors TIMING: February 2014 – January 2015 PURPOSE:

Since 1997 began the PROJECT DISTANCE ADOPTIONS (entrusts) that involved up to now 811 families in Prijedor and as many Trentine (for most). These are still outstanding 281 reports. This activity goes beyond economic aid: among many families has created a stable relationship, made of meetings in Prijedor, exchanges in Trentino, reciprocity   ACTIVITIES:

• Distribution of material assistance in the amount of 120 euros every four months  • Visiting the families of the donors once a month  • The exchange of letters or e-mails between donors and families in donations

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

The economic aid, while important, becomes an instrument through which to create relationships that go beyond this dimension, and help to feed the population of Prijedor with greater hope for the future and to combat the apathy that is currently one of the major problems of the area. The same travel - visit organized by APP for families "foster" are effective "travel report". The recipients of this aid are especially families in economic distress, lonely elderly and students of secondary schools and universities, who need support in order to continue their studies and to become in this way a resource for the future of their community.

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Local Democracy Agency Subotica

Silvija Patarcic

Established: in 1993 Delegate: Silvija Patarcic Partners: Wolverhampton City Council, UK (Lead Partner) Priorities:

• Fostering democratic governance and citizen participation at local level • Strengthening socio-economic development • Promoting youth volunteering • Supporting the European Union integration

Projects in 2014 “Support for networking and twinning at European level SNET.EU” LEAD FUNCTIONAL PARTNER: LDA Osijek LEAD PARTNER Serbia: LDA Subotica OTHER PARTNERS: ALDA; Open University Subotica, Evangelical Theological Faculty Osijek; Croatian Institute for Local Government HILS Osijek DONOR: European Union; IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme Croatia-Serbia TIMING: September 2012 – March 2014 PURPOSES:

Contribute to building and strengthening the capacity of local governments in urban and rural border areas in Serbia and Croatia for effective networking and cooperation in European projects, promotion of active citizenship, improving cooperation and exchange of experiences between local governments of Croatia and Serbia. Twinning of cities and municipalities, finding and establishing partnerships with municipalities and cities of the European Union. ACTIVITIES:

• Educational seminars for local authorities and representatives civil society on European public policies and EU integration  

• Training programs for the development of joint EU projects  • Establishment of Resource Centers for twinning and networking of local authorities in the

Serbian and Croatian border region  

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• Promotional workshops and exchange of good practice within Resource Centres  • Joint thematic workshops (“coffee houses”) in cities and municipalities in border areas of

Croatia and Serbia. SUCCESSFUL STORIES

Establishing new contacts between local authorities and NGOs from Croatia and Serbia, with the aim of creating joint project proposals in the framework of EU funded programmes. Resource centres in Subotica and Osijek were established for networking and town twinning. Project activities promoted European policies and concepts of active citizenship and twinning, and led to strengthening of the relationships between involved cities and municipalities. The project contributed to the creation of good quality platform for further cross-border cooperation based on common projects. “Marking the Day of Europe – EU Labyrinth” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Subotica OTHER PARTNERS: City of Subotica; Municipality of Kanjiza; Municipality of Backa Topola, and their Youth Offices; European House Hungary; Delegation of EU in Serbia, Representation of EU in Hungary DONOR: Provincial Secretariat for Sport and Youth; LDA Subotica and City of Subotica TIMING: April – May 2014 PURPOSES:

Marking the Day of Europe, with the aim of raising awareness of citizens, in particular youth about the EU values and possibilities that the EU promotes. The programme included an information campaign and public events in the city of Subotica and neighbour communities Kanjiza and Backa Topola. ACTIVITIES:

Celebration of the Day of Europe on the main squares of Subotica, Backa Topola and Kanjiza with the EU Labyrinth, promotional materials, quiz about Europe and EU member states.

The activity was implemented with the 100 km2 labyrinth installed on the main squares, which the citizens could explore and find their way through it by answering ten questions about the EU and the integration process. At the exit symbolic EU passports and promotional/educational publications were handed out to the participants. SUCCESSFUL STORIES

Through this traditional event in which the main objective is sharing the knowledge about Europe and European values among the citizens, LDA Subotica, Delegation of the EU in Serbia, and the City administration had the opportunity to once again work together for a common goal. Furthermore, the EU Labyrinth gathered many interested citizens, especially young people and as a non-formal learning tool, motivated them to discover something new about the EU in a creative and interactive way.

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“Building Bridges of Democracy phase 2: the DANUBIANA project” LEAD PARTNER: NGO European House – Budapest OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Subotica and NGOs from 7 EU member states DONOR: European Commission; Europe for Citizens Programme TIMING: September 2013 – February 2015 PURPOSES:

As the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUDRS) entered into a pilot phase of implementation in the 14 states of the Danube region, the objective of the 2nd

phase of the “Building Bridges of Democracy” project is to contribute by means of civil society organizations from 9 countries to the successful implementation of the EUDRS and to promote active European citizenship. During the project a number of programmes are organized to increase the visibility and public understanding of the EUDRS. ACTIVITIES:

• Street actions, nine-country monitoring of implementation of the EUDRS on national level, a two-week volunteer exchange programme, the holding of Danube classes in schools (one per country) with the use of an educational kit and research work on Danube identity vis-à-vis European identity

• The project also compared the experience of the EUDRS and the Baltic Sea Strategy through a study trip to Sweden. An interactive project activity was geocaching “boxes” which were placed along the Danube to be found by interested parties.

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“Do we work with dignity?” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Subotica OTHER PARTNERS: Centre for democracy Belgrade; City of Subotica Ombudsman; Development Association of Backa Topola Municipality; Centre for Development of the Tisa Region DONOR: Centre for democracy Belgrade, re-granting scheme (USAID-ISC fund) TIMING: March 2014 – June 2014 PURPOSES:

The overall objective of the project was to raise the level of awareness and involvement of citizens in the area of labor rights - illegal work. The project highlighted the problem of informal work and the high rate of unemployment, especially women, in Subotica, Kanjiza and Backa Topola. ACTIVITIES:

• Three street actions (Subotica, Backa Topola and Kanjiza) - giving out informational material about labor right and surveying the citizens on labor related issues

• Three thematic debates on the Right to decent work – the problem of informal work, in three local communities (Subotica, Backa Topola and Kanjiza) with the aim of motivating and involving stakeholders from the local community (representatives of: the National Employment Service, labor unions, civil society organizations, public institutions, business entities, chambers of commerce) to publicly discuss about this issue in order to inform the wider local community.

“Application Successful” LEAD PARTNER: NGO European House – Budapest OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Subotica and Centre for Peace; Non-violence and Human Rights Osijek, Croatia DONOR: European Commission, Europe for Citizens Programme TIMING: January 2014 – March 2015 PURPOSES:

The project aims to increase the knowledge of the new Europe for Citizens Programme (2014-2020) in Croatia and Serbia, develop skills to run quality projects and promote partnerships across Europe.

The projects objective is to promote activities for the benefit of current and potential stakeholders of the Europe for Citizens Programme in a regional setting and making well-targeted circles of citizens of the participating countries aware of EU policy agenda issues, shared values, questions of participatory democracy and citizenship.

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ACTIVITIES: • Regional information and training sessions about the Europe for Citizens programme in the

partner countries (Croatia, Serbia) where local stakeholders learned about the potential of the ECP and exchange experience.

• Knowledge-sharing information and partner search meetings organised in Hungary, Germany and France

• Evaluation session in Brussels with the presentation of project results to policy makers “Development network of Subotica” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Subotica OTHER PARTNERS: City of Subotica; Regional Development Agency Panonreg DONOR: Provincial Secretariat for local self-government and interregional cooperation – Government of Vojvodina Province TIMING: December 2014 – March 2015 PURPOSES:

The overall objective of the project is to establish a cross-sectoral network for the development of Subotica through its functional empowerment as a partner to local government in the implementation of sustainable development strategy 2013-2022 as well as the partner in building sustainable institutional mechanism of cooperation between CSOs and local government in the function of improved information, consultation and participation in the implementation of public policy. In addition, the project aims to empower the Development Network consisting currently of 30 members, NGOs, cultural and educational institutions, development agencies for joint preparation and drafting of development projects under the new IPA Programme 2014-2020 and the new available EU funds intended for CSOs and local governments. ACTIVITIES:

• Preparatory meetings of the working group for drafting the mission and goals of the Network  

• Training seminar for network management, building cross-sector partnerships • Training seminar about the IPA II Programme 2014-2020 - New perspectives and new

challenges of the EU integration • Creation of an online address book of the members of the network

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“Vojvodina.EU – The Collection of Success Stories IPA 2007 - 2013” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Subotica OTHER PARTNERS: City of Subotica; NGO Prospero, Temerin, Serbia DONOR: Provincial Secretariat for local self-government and interregional cooperation – Government of Vojvodina Province TIMING: December 2014 – June 2015 PURPOSES:

The project aims to promote the role of local governments and civil society organizations in Vojvodina as key actors implementing IPA Programme 2007-2013, and contribute to strengthening their capacities for building cross-sectoral partnerships to prepare for the challenges of IPA 2 Programme 2014-2020.

The result of the project will be an online and print publication/collection of EU projects implemented by local governments in Vojvodina during IPA I period ACTIVITIES:

• Preparation, collection and production of the database Vojvodina.EU: projects implemented in the IPA 2007-2013 period

• Three contact seminars in Subotica, Vrsac and Ruma – promotion of examples of good practice in EU projects

• Preparation and production of the online and print publication - The Collection of Success Stories

• Promotional activities

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Local Democracy Agency Zavidovići

Sladajn Ilic

Established: in 1997 Delegate: Sladjan Ilic Partners: Association of Local Authorities of Brescia, Italy; Municipality of Alba, Italy; Municipality of Zavidovići, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Host city); Municipality of Roncadelle, Italy; Trade Union SPI-CGIL, Italy; Inter-University Consortium, Venezia, Italy; NGO Liberacion Carpenedolo, Italy; Local Coordination for Peace of Cremona, Italy; Arci New Organization, Italy; NGO CGIL, Italy; NGO SPI-CGIL, Italy; UISP Brescia, Italy; UISP Cremona, Italy; Friends of Emmaus, Italy Municipality of Torre de Picenardi, Italy; Association Strani Vari, Italy; Association Donne in nero Alba, Italy Priorities:

• Strengthening its activities in the key sectors Youth policies, Social Welfare and Sustainable Economic Development

• Increasing in each sector the net of local actors involved, promoting their role, animating and supporting them through DA’s Italian partners and network

• Enlarging the relationship with local and international NGOs, Bosnian institutions and foreign authorities

• Supporting local NGOs, active in the social and educative field to become more sustainable

Projects in 2014 ALDA PROJECTS: “Democratic Compact: Improving Democracy in Europe (DECIDE)” LEAD PARTNER: Association of Local Democracy Agencies – ALDA DONOR: EU (European Commission – Education, Audiovisual and Communication Executive Agency (EACEA), within the programme: Europe for Citizens) TIMING: 30 May 2013 – 29 May 2015 PURPOSES:

DECIDE aims at developing, through the establishment of a thematic network of towns and by adopting a bottom-up approach, a democratic compact, namely a set of measures that are needed in Europe to increase the quality of democracy and citizen participation.

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NON ALDA PROJECTS: “Safe place for victims of domestic violence – monitoring the independence and development of local resources” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići OTHER PARTNERS: Association “Sigurno mjesto” Zavidovići DONOR: Municipality of Alba (Italy) TIMING: continuous (since 2011) PURPOSES:

The main purpose of this initiative is to fight domestic violence by using many different activities. The basic goals that are outlined in the project are, first, the implementation of prevention and sensibilisation activities, extending them to rural areas, strengthening of the Association, which has grown from a local network for the prevention of domestic violence and the provision of direct services to support victims, also, continued training of local subjects on specific forms of assistance to victims, promotion of local protocol on the procedure in cases of domestic violence and exchange of experiences between the Italian and Bosnian entities. ACTIVITIES:

The new project "Safe place for victims of domestic violence: monitoring the independence and development of local resources" was launched in 2013.

The project by now succeeded to reinforce and strengthen activities in the field of prevention of domestic violence and raising awareness, all in cooperation with partners from Alba, Italy.

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The project activities in 2014 were: • Workshops for pregnant women • Workshops on domestic violence with students • Workshops on domestic violence with rural women • Public debate on domestic violence • Meeting and support groups for economical empowering of women • Support desk • Reception and tutoring • Supervision • Promotional activities, and marking the International Day for the Elimination of

Violence against Women on November 25th 2014. “Strengthening the role of women in public and political life” LEAD PARTNER: Council of Europe OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Zavidovići DONOR: USAID TIMING: May – October 2014 PURPOSES:

The goal of the project was to strengthen awareness of women about their role in the society, and to encourage them to think about how they can, through engaging in public and political life, influence the improvement of the situation in their community. Also, women who took part in the workshops and street campaigns filled anonymous questionnaires, which will be used for a comprehensive analysis of the status of women in BiH, conducted by the Council of Europe. ACTIVITIES:

There were five workshops in total – in Kovaci, Mecevici, Krivaja and Zavidovićiand Žepče. Besides the workshops, there were also street campaigns, where promotional materials and symbolic gifts were distributed to women.

“Form@innova - Formazione e innovazione per lo sviluppo d’insieme” LEAD PARTNERS: Province Gorizia (Italy); KALLIPOLIS – Associazione non profit per uno sviluppo urbano sesotenibile; Tenda per la Pace e I Diritti; IRES – Istituto di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali del Friuli Venezia Giulia OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Zavidovići; Agriculture cooperative “INSIEME” Bratunac; University of East Sarajevo – Faculty of Technology DONOR: Region Friuli Venezia Giulia TIMING: 2013 - 2014

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PURPOSES: The goal of the project is to strengthen the local business and in particular the Agricultural

Cooperative "Insieme" and its network of members producers, facilitating local development and strengthening social cohesion. ACTIVITIES:

The project is developed through the following activities: • Adjustment of the production site of the Agricultural Cooperative "Insieme" with respect to

European standards • Implementation of training programs (courses and seminars) through participatory

processes; • Implementation of a development plan aimed at enhancing the existing business structure • Promotion of opportunities for training and information aimed at students, young people and

adults in Friuli Venezia Giulia “Strani Vari” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići OTHER PARTNERS: Associazione Strani Vari (Italy); Association Ceker; elementary schools from Zavidovići; Association Sigurno Mjesto DONOR: YEPP Langhe (Italy) TIMING: Continuous (since 2003) PURPOSES:

• To support creative expression and imagination of children • Raising awareness of children on different themes • Indirect involvement of family and citizens • To support the joint efforts of Bosnian and Italian animators • Expanding the form of participation of civil society organizations, strengthen joint activities

of social significance • Promotion of the Association and voluntarism, and creating useful relations between the

actors involved ACTIVITIES:

This year edition of Strani Vari Project was carried out from 4th to 15th August 2015 in the Municipality of Zavidovici. This was, as always, a summer activity with workshops for all children of the city of Zavidovici and 5 neighboring villages (Ribnica, Hajderovici, Kovaci, Gostovic and Brezik). Around 30 Bosnian youth from the Association Ceker (Zavidovici) and 25 young Italians were included as animators.

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“Kindergarten exchange Alba/Zavidovići” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići OTHER PARTNERS: Kindergarten Alba and Zavidovići DONOR: Municipality of Alba TIMING: continuous (since 2008) PURPOSES:

To exchange experiences between kindergarten teachers from Italy and BiH, and to improve the conditions of pre-school education for children. ACTIVITIES:

Continuous exchange between the kindergarten from Alba (Italy) and kindergarten from Zavidovići. In 2014 we organized the visit of teachers from Alba who visited Kindergarten in Zavidovići. During the year children and teachers had exchange on creation of stories and books for children, created children’s library in Zavidovići Kindergarten. “Ludobus” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići OTHER PARTNERS: UG Ceker, scholls from Zavidovići area DONOR: LDA Zavidovići TIMING: Continuous (since 2006) PURPOSES:

• To include children from rural areas in activities, and to give them an opportunity to play and learn with educators.

• To support growth and development of emotional skills, to offer a space of play and entertainment for children and adolescents in the school context.

• Also, training of youth leaders to ensure the continuation of the practice at the end of the project, skills development and extension of knowledge in the social- educational role of parents, increase in capacity for intervention in rural areas of Zavidovići

ACTIVITIES:

Since spring we continued the activities of the project "Peace Games - Educational services for children and young adults as in rural areas of Zavidovići" which are implemented in collaboration with the Association "Ceker".

Around 10 animators and some new volunteers are regularly involved in the activities.

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EUROPEAN VOLUNTARY SERVICE “Participatory Video as a Tool for Volunteers” LEAD PARTNER: System and Generation Turkey – sending organization OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Zavidovići – hosting organization DONOR: EU – Youth in Action TIMING: February – July 2014

“Meeting Generations 2014” LEAD PARTNER: System and Generation Turkey – hosting organization OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Zavidovići – sending organization DONOR: EU – Youth in Action TIMING: February – July 2014

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PURPOSES: • Building relations with youth and other citizens in the host country • Learning languages and meeting different cultures • Acquiring practical experience while implementing projects

ACTIVITIES: • Active participation of volunteers in the host organization activities • Organizing events/visits in the organization • Participating in different events where young people are active • Developing project ideas of volunteers • Participating in fundraising activities with the host organization • Attending workshops, meetings, seminars • Other relevant activities as defined by the host organization

“Exchange with Roncadelle – Female Volleyball” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići OTHER PARTNERS: Municipality of Zavidovići; Municipality of Roncadelle; ŽOK Zavidovići DONOR: Comune di Roncadelle TIMING: Continuous (since 2008) PURPOSES:

To improve cooperation between Italian and BiH subjects, in the frame of the twinning agreement between municipalities Zavidovići and Roncadelle (Italy) ACTIVITIES:

LDA Zavidovići organized and supported the participation of a team from Zavidovići, Women’s Volleyball Club “Zavidovići”, in a volleyball tournament "Memorial Alessandra" in Roncadelle. The exchange happened in December 2014, with the participation of players but also some friends and cooperates who have participated in previous years.

“Vivicittà” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići OTHER PARTNERS: UISP Brescia; UISP Cremona; Municipality of Zavidovići; Association of Zavidovići sport teachers; Basketball Club “Krivaja”, Female Volleyball Club from Zavidovići, I.I.S. “Torriani” Cremona; Association Sigurno Mjesto DONORS: UISP; LDA Zavidovići TIMING: Annual (since 1998) PURPOSES:

The international event, whose general sponsor is the UISP (Unione Italiana Sport per tutti), takes place in 90 cities around the world, and also in Zavidovići since 1998. The aim is to promote peace, solidarity and friendship.

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ACTIVITIES: ,Vivicitta’ 2014'' was held in Zavidovići on April 20, 2014. The sports event was organized by

Association of Zavidovići sport teachers, in collaboration with the Municipality of Zavidovići and UISP Brescia and Cremona. The host of the event was LDA Zavidovići. Hundreds of athletes from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Turkey have been participating in the race. As a part of this sports event, there were also, traditionally, a female volleyball tournament and male basketball tournament.

“Support to persons affected by floods” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Zavidovići DONOR: Private donors TIMING: 2014 PURPOSES:

Material assistance to persons affected by floods and landslides ACTIVITIES:

On May 15th, 2014, the whole area of Zavidovici Municipality was affected by the natural disaster in the form of vast rain that caused floods and landslides that were never seen before on this territory. There are many roads, regional and local, destroyed by the flooding, mountain streams and vast rain. Immediately after the cease of rain, there were information about many landslides that are dangerous for people and for houses and other goods.

Because of all this, over 1000 people were moved from their homes. In the valleys, and hills, floods and vast rain have destroyed many agricultural fields, including grains, vegetables, and small fruit fields, that are the only source of income for many inhabitants.

LDA Zavidovići was included in the process of helping those affected by the floods from the very beginning. In the first days, when it was very important to act quickly to help the people who were left without anything, the resources of LDA were put in service of disseminating the humanitarian aid more effectively in the local communities.

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“No hate coalition in Zavidovići” LEAD PARTNER: Coalition “Kultura mira” DONOR: OSCE TIMING: 2014 PURPOSES:

Prevention of incidents motivated by prejudices ACTIVITIES:

LDA Zavidovići is active member of the Coalition for prevention of incidents motivated by prejudices „KULTURA MIRA – CULTURE OF PEACE“, that was formed at the beginning of 2014 in Zavidovići. The local Coalition is part of wider national network SuperCitizens with participation of representatives of civil society, local communities and individuals working on the prevention of incidents and crimes of hate and contributing to the process of reconciliation. SuperCitizens come together in a coalition to combat hate, basing its unique work on the premise that the real change begins at the local level.

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LOCAL DEMOCRACY AGENCIES – OPERATIONAL PARTNERS

Local Democracy Agency – OP Osijek

Miljenko Turniski

Established: in 1993 Delegate: Miljenko Turniski Partners: City of Lausanne, Switzerland (Lead partner); City of Osijek, Croatia (Host city); Erdut Municipality, Croatia; Municipality Montenero Di Bisaccia, Italy Priorities:

• Democratic governance and active European citizenship • Social inclusion and intercultural dialogue • Local Sustainable Development

Projects in 2014 “Place for Me” LEAD PARTNER: Youth Association Breza, Osijek Croatia OTHER PARTNERS: Volunteer Centre Osijek, Croatia and Local Democracy Agency, Osijek, Croatia DONOR: European Commission, IPA for Civil Society Capacity Building for Delivering of Innovative Social Services in the Areas of Special State Concern, Croatia TIMING: May 2012 – January 2014 PURPOSES:

To strengthen capacities of civil society in the areas of special state concern for delivery of innovative social services and implementation of Croatian strategy of prevention of behavioural disorders. ACTIVITIES:

• Creative workshops for children and youth • Workshops and counseling for parents • Training on innovative social services for local stakeholders • Resourceful web site • Community manifestations

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SUCCESSEFUL STORIES: Innovative social services for children and parents from the area of special state concern

successfully piloted in Erdut Municipality, Croatia.

“Youth for EU” LEAD PARTNER: Local Democracy Agency in Brtonigla, Croatia OTHER PARTNERS: Local Democracy Agency, Osijek, Croatia; Local Democracy Agency Sisak, Croatia; Association of Local Democracy Agencies, France DONOR: European Commission – IPA Information and Communication Programme TIMING: January 2013 – February 2014 PURPOSES:

To contribute to spread the information about European Union, its policies, programmes and financial instruments in high schools and through young people in Osijek-Baranja, Sisak-Moslavina and Istria County involved in order to have informed citizens aware of the benefits of EU enlargement and supportive to Croatia entering the EU ACTIVITIES:

• Final event of the project, Osijek, 24th January 2014

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SUCCESSFUL STORIES: Document “The Voice of the Youth” which summarizes the issues, needs and proposals of the

youth for the raising of the quality of life in Croatia created and handed to the representatives of local and regional governments in Osijek-Baranja, Sisak-Moslavina and Istria Counties and the Croatian member in the European Parliament, Ms. Biljana Borzan.

Support for networking and twinning at European level – SNET.EU LEAD PARTNERS: Local Democracy Agency in Osijek, Croatia OTHER PARTNERS: Croatian Institute for Local Self-Government, Osijek, Croatia; Evangelic Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia; Association of Local Democracy Agencies, Strasbourg, France; Local Democracy Agency Subotica, Serbia; Open University of Subotica, Subotica, Serbia DONOR: European Commission, IPA CBC Croatia – Serbia TIMING: September 2012 – March 2014 PURPOSES:

• To build capacities of local institutions and local authorities for understanding regional EU policy and European integration process

• To promote town twinning as a tool for development of European active citizenship • To contribute to twin town/municipality partner search for LA from Croatia and Serbia at

European level • To contribute to networking and cooperation between LA from Croatia and Serbia

ACTIVITIES:

• Capacity building activities (3 conferences, 1 training, 2 seminars) • Resource centres’ activities (promotional workshops on twinning, partner search,

consultations) • Thematic networking activities (12 local thematic events in municipalities and cities in

border regions of Croatia and Serbia) • Final conference, Osijek, Croatia, 21st February 2014

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

There are 12 municipalities in border regions of Croatia and Serbia which strengthened their relations, built their capacities for effective cooperation at regional and European level, learned

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about concepts of active citizenship and twinning and exchanged 74 projects ideas creating thus a platform for future project oriented cooperation

“War crimes and Trials – Judicial, Political and Societal Implications of War Crime Trials in Europe” LEAD PARTNER: Max-Mannheimer-Studienzentrum Dachau, Germany OTHER PARTNERS: Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia, Belgrade, DRJSCS, Limoges, France, Max-Mannheimer-Studienzentrum Dachau, Germany DONOR: French – German Youth Office TIMING: 2012 – 2014 PURPOSE:

To discover, analyze and discuss the role of War Crime Trials (WCT) and their judicial, political and societal implications in the 20th century, especially regarding Croatia, Serbia, France and Germany ACTIVITIES:

• Preparations for the third seminar to be held in France Seminar in Paris and Limoges, France, March 30th March 2014 – 7th April 2014

SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

Fostered dialogue between young people form France, Germany, Serbia and Croatia on difficult issues related to war crimes in 20th century in Europe.

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Local Partnership for Anti Corruption Education LEAD PARTNER: Forum for Freedom in Education, Croatia OTHER PARTNERS: Local Democracy Agency; Local Democracy Agency Sisak; Network of Education Policy Centres; Info Zone Split DONORS: European commission, government of the Republic of Croatia; Office for Cooperation with NGOs and City of Lausanne, Switzerland TIMING: April 2013 – October 2014 PURPOSES:

• To enhance the impact of the CSOs in identification, implementation, support, and further development of anti-corruption policies and practices in education system

• To map corruptive practices regarding educational system with focus on secondary education

• To equip key local stakeholders for effective implementation of anti-corruption policies; • To raise awareness among students on harmfulness of certain practices; • To provide support to local education stakeholders in implementation of anti-corruption

policies and practices in schools ACTIVITIES:

• Awareness raising campaign • Creative contest for students • Peer educators training on anti-corruption • Teacher training on anti-corruption, Osijek (29th – 30th March 2014) • School Campaign • Publication of best students artwork (on-line) • Publication of lessons plans (on-line) • Guidelines for the development of Code of Ethics published and disseminated • Round table and delivery of certificates, Osijek, 7th November 2014 • Reporting

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SUCCESSFUL STORIES: Students and key stakeholders in secondary education raised their awareness and built their

capacities for implementation of anti-corruption policies in schools in four Croatian counties: Zagreb County, Sisak-Moslavina County, Split – Dalmatia county and Osijek-Baranja County.

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Local Democracy Agency – OP Sisak

Paula Rauzan

Established: in 1996 Delegate: Paula Rauzan Partners: ALDA (Lead partner); Municipality of Sisak, Croatia (Host city); Municipality of Hrvatska Kostajnica, Croatia; Municipality of Petrinja, Croatia; Municipality of Kutina, Croatia; Municipality of Dvor, Croatia; NGO “Going to Europe”, Modena, Italy; International School for Peace Studies, Northern Ireland Priorities:

• Fostering voluntarism and active citizenship • Contribution to the local economic development • Fostering local democracy and twinning • Raising awareness about Human rights, gender issues

Projects in 2014

LDA Sisak is a beneficiary of the Institutional support of the Croatian National Foundation for Civil Society Development for association’ stabilisation and/or development.

Within LDA Sisak is operating Volunteer’ Centre Sisak!

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“Active citizens combating youth unemployment-JOBNET” LEAD PARTNER: Carpathian Foundation Hungary OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Sisak (Croatia); Carpathian Foundation Slovakia; Kompetenzagentun im Haus der offenen Tur (Germany); Agency for Migration and Adaptation AMIGA o.s. (Czech Republic), Valmeira Region Community Foundation (Latvia) DONOR: European Union; Europe for Citizens Programme and Office for Civil Society Organisations of Republic of Croatia Government TIMING: October 2012 – April 2014 PURPOSES:

By highlighting and promoting innovative bottom-up solutions, Europe-wide aimed at combating youth unemployment. The main objective of the project is to build a trans-frontier network of civil society organisations (CSOs) to identify, share, discuss and encourage initiatives successfully tackling youth unemployment in different European countries which can be deployed in other EU states as well. The project intends to involve unemployed youth as actives citizens following the principle: "Nothing about us, without us". PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

In the frame of the project, six CSOs from Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Latvia closely cooperate with each other and all key actors to raise public awareness on importance of active citizenship, citizens', CSOs' initiatives tackling youth unemployment. The trans-frontier network of wide stakeholders explores the background of the problem by conducting a comparative international audiovisual research in the respective countries. At an international conference, participants exchange information, knowledge on successfully applied practices handling youth unemployment, e.g. entrepreneurship, skill development, internships, guidance & mentoring, combating early school leaving, youth banks and youth involvement, empowerment techniques. The network served as a platform and resource-base to disseminate practices how to help young jobseekers to understand labour market, economic and job crisis, and methods of pioneering solutions to stimulate job growth and job seeking techniques.

The outcomes of the research and European debate (conference) are published on DVD, and

in publication containing best practices of these countries. These along with a commonly formulated recommendation sent to decision/policy makers of the respective countries and EU besides wide range dissemination to the public and actors affected by, interested in the increasing tendency of youth joblessness.

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“Youth for EU” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Verteneglio OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Sisak; LDA Osijek; Foundation for partnership and civil society development; Croatian Environmental Press Centre; Youth association K.R.I.D.; ALDA; Europe Direct – Comune di Trieste; Associazione Giosef Giovani Senza Frontiere DONOR: European Commission; IPA INFO 2010 Programme and Office for civil Society Organizations of Republic of Croatia Government TIMING: January 2013 – February 2014 PURPOSES:

Project implemented in 3 Croatian Counties: Istria, Sisak-Moslavina and Osijek-Baranja. Overall objective is to contribute to spread of information about European Union, its policies, programmes and financial instruments in high schools and through young people in the Regions involved, so to have informed citizens aware of the benefits of EU enlargement and supportive to Croatia entering the EU. Specific objectives are to improve youth knowledge about the benefits of Croatian access in the European Union; to increase the youth general understanding about EU policies, programmes and financial instruments; to encourage the participation of young citizens in the construction of a new Europe; to have a multiplying effect to involve directly and indirectly as many young people as possible in order to create a better informed public; to promote debates through youth to remove their doubts about imminent enter of Croatia in the European Union. SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

Informed youngsters about EU benefits and commitments to enlargement; improved access to information about pre and post accession financial instruments; improved knowledge about EU, its policies and programmes; decreased the number of euro sceptics among Croatian youth; improved communication between youth and regional institutions; production of audiovisual materials to promote the Croatian access in the EU; production of new materials and information tools. “Local Partnerships for Anti-Corruption Education, supported by European Commission, IPA Anticorruption 2010” LEAD PARTNER: Forum for Freedom in Education OTHER PARTNERS: LDA Sisak; LDA Osijek; Network of Education Policy Centres; Info Zona Split DONOR: European Commission; IPA Transition Assistance and Institution Building Component for 2010 and Office for Civil Society Organisations of Republic of Croatia Government TIMING: April 2013 – December 2014 PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The project implemented in 4 Croatian Counties (City of Zagreb, Sisak-Mosavina, Osijek-Baranja and Split-Dalmatia) aiming to enhance the impact of the CSOs in identification, implementation, support, and further development of anti-corruption policies and practices in educational system. Specific objectives:

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(1) To map corruptive practices regarding educational system with focus on secondary education

(2) To equip key local stakeholders for effective implementation of anti-corruption policies (3) To raise awareness among students on harmfulness of certain practices (4) To provide support to local educational stakeholders in implementation of anti-corruption

policies and practices in schools ACTIVITIES:

• Research on corruption practices - mapping and exploring existing corruption practices and its forms by collecting qualitative in-depth information about forms of corruption in secondary education in Croatia

• Local networking between schools, local community and CSOs in supporting schools in anti-corruption education implementation

• Campaign for high school students on damages of corruptive practices • Education and strengthening young people of damages of corruptive practices • Anti-corruption Teacher training program • Advocacy of involvement of anti-corruption education in school curriculum.

“For Community without Domestic Violence” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Sisak DONOR: own resources TIMING: January – December 2014 PURPOSES:

To reduce domestic violence in Sisak-Moslavina County area by giving first aid and strengthening the victims of domestic violence, achieving more quality protection of domestic violence victims in and out of the institutions and sensitizing the public on issues of domestic violence and society's responsibility in providing help for the victims. ACTIVITIES:

Hot line for victims of domestic violence and Virtual self help group, supervisions for the hot line volunteers, and public awareness campaign on domestic violence issues. SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

The project resulted with improved services for domestic violence victims and with bigger sensitivity of the wider community on domestic violence issues. “Volunteer Centre Sisak” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Sisak OTHER PARTNERS: Home for elderly and independence persons Sisak DONOR: Town of Sisak TIMING: January – December 2014

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Volunteers' Centre Sisak (VCS) is a local volunteers' center intended for volunteers'

programmes in Sisak area. VCS is working on community development throughout volunteering, connecting interested people in voluntarism with institutions and organizations that need volunteers.

Moreover VCS:

• In cooperation with public institutions and non-governmental organizations creates and implements quality local programmes based on identifying needs of the local community and potential programmes' users.

• Recruits volunteers and keeping data in the data base, provides their preparation if needed, organize education, supervision, monitoring and programme implementation evaluation and secure legal volunteers' engagement.

• Raise capacities of public institutions and non-governmental organizations in order to set up unique quality and effective volunteers' management.

• Promotes and develops volunteering as such, in cooperation with public institutions and non-governmental organizations and works on local volunteer' policy development together with local authorities.

“Sisak Volunteer’ Network, supported by Croatian Ministry of social policy and youth and co-funded by the Town of Sisak” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Sisak OTHER PARTNERS: Home for elderly and independence persons Sisak; Town of Sisak DONOR: Ministry of Social Policy and Youth of the Republic of Croatia TIMING: August 2014 – July 2015 PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The project is contributing to the development of volunteering and its impact to socio-economic development of Sisak by informing and providing opportunities for involvement into high quality community volunteer' programs to a wide range of citizens.

Specific objectives of the project are:

1) Development of CSOs, public institutions and government quality volunteer' management capacities through capacity strengthening, networking, partnership and knowledge sharing

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2) Promoting volunteering and its benefits to socio-economic development among citizens of Sisak and other relevant stakeholders

3) Supporting local volunteer' programs contributing socio-economic development planning and implementation

The project objectives will be achieved through implementation of the three main set of activities:

• Training on volunteer' management for CSOs and public institutions in Sisak • Public campaign for citizens awareness raising on volunteering' benefits • Development and implementation of volunteer' programs in Sisak area.

“STRONGER TOGETHER – Psycho-social strengthening of children and youth without adequate parents’ care beneficiaries of children homes” LEAD PARTNER: LDA Sisak OTHER PARTNERS: Children Home Vrbina Sisak; Rehabilitation centre for stress and trauma Zagreb DONOR: Department for Social Welfare of the Sisak-Moslavina County TIMING: July – December 2014 ACTIVITIES:

The project is offering useful and meaningful leisure time for children in the Children Home Vrbina in Sisak throughout following activities:

• Media literacy workshops (followed by computer donation) • Help with school homework • Creative workshops • Companionship of volunteers acting as positive identification model (strolls, excursions,

exhibitions, cinema, theatre, sport).

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SUCCESSFUL STORIES:

Results of the project are improvement of children beneficiaries of the Children Home Vrbina in Sisak leisure time; fostering volunteer work with children and youth in the Home and promotion of volunteering as positive social value in general.

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Local Democracy Agency – OP Verteneglio/Brtonigla

Umberto Ademollo

Established: in 1996 Delegate: Umberto Ademollo Partners: Municipality of Bellinzona, Switzerland (Lead partner); Municipality of Verteneglio/Brtonigla (Host city), Istria Region, Croatia; Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, Italy; Province of Florence, Italy; Municipality of Portogruaro, Italy; Municipality of Ravenna, Italy; Municipality of Greve in Chianti, Italy; Municipality of Russi, Italy; Municipality of Duino-Aurisina, Italy; Province of Florence, Italy; Association “Marevivo”, Italy; Association circle of Culture Istria, Italy; Association Causes Communes Switzerland Priorities:

• Supporting the development of local democracy • Supporting the European integration of the Region • Fostering cross-border cooperation • Raising awareness on human rights, minority rights and youth active participation

LDA Brtonigla is one of the three LDAs in Croatia. It was founded in 1996 in Istria due to the

specific ethnic and cultural structure of this part of Croatia. Its aim is to support and boost local democracy and improve the functioning of civil society in the Istrian Region. Therefore, the agency is involved in numerous projects working on the following: local democracy development ; civil society development; institutional building at local level; cross border cooperation; inter ethnic dialogue; intercultural learning; promoting human rights; promoting good governance; local economical development; promoting mobility and Erasmus + projects; helping raise young people's employability and skills.

In 2014 LDA leaded and took part in numerous projects. The ones where LDA results as a leading partner are the two EVS (European Voluntary Service) projects :

• V.I.S.A. - Volunteering in Small Area ( 1 July 2013 - 1 October 2014) • Y.E.S. - Young Europeans' Solidarity (1 July 2014 - 1 October 2015).

The projects are financed by the European Commission - Youth in Action programme, Action

2. Voluntary service. V.I.S.A. – Volunteering in Small Area

The V.I.S.A. project united four young people from different European countries (both EU members and non members) from Italy, England, Macedonia and Montenegro on an 11 months service in Istira. During the project they became an integral part of the local community by collaborating with LDA's local partner institutions such as the Italian and Croatian kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, the Municipality of Buje, The Open University in Buje etc. They organized workshops, language courses, creative laboratories and presentations, all with the scope of promoting Erasmus + programs, and mobility and informal learning in general. Additionally, by

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becoming part of the local life they were involved in an intercultural exchange that enabled them to learn a lot about the region, while also presenting and sharing their own culture to the locals. Moreover, working alongside the LDA staff made it possible for them to learn about the functioning of the EU institutions. In this project LDA was the leading partner responsible for the hosting, providing pocket money, accommodation, transport etc. for the volunteers, as well as introduce them in the local community, organize language courses for them in both Italian and Croatian and provide them with a mentor.

Y.E.S. – Young Europeans’ Solidarity

This year LDA is also the leading partner in the ongoing EVS project Y.E.S. Again, four young people from four different countries (Macedonia, France, Lithuania and Italy) are taking part in the project. This is the sixth EVS project run by the LDA. The volunteers have different tasks depending on their abilities and interests. In cooperation with LDA and its local partners they are given the opportunity to develop these abilities or discover, learn and strengthen new ones, thus improving their employability. Currently they cooperate with the Elementary School in Buje, The Open University, where they give language lessons, the Italian Community in Umag etc. They are also integrating in the local community by taking part in the organization of various events, and by learning the local languages. The main aim of this project is to promote European values and possibilities and enable the local Istrian youth to take part in similar projects and become active citizens. LDA is the leading partner in the project and is taking care of all the needs of the volunteers: accommodation, pocket money, transportation, mentor, language classes etc.

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CHARM – Creativity and Healthy Style: Advancing the Role of Music

Another project that LDA participated in, this time as a partner, was CHARM - Creativity and Healthy Style: Advancing the Role of Music. It was financed by the European Commission as part of the Youth in Action programme (Action 4.6. Partnership. The project lasts 18 months (March 2014 - September 2015) and the leading partner is Comune di Arzignano. In this project an accent on the importance of youth work is put. Young people are encouraged to learn through the medium of music, learn about new cultures, meet people from different countries etc. The objectives of the project are to encourage all the partners to get more involved in non formal education of youth, with a particular focus on music, analyze the role of music in education, organize events with all the project participants. The role of LDA in this project is to promote this project to the local youth with the scope of enabling them to take part in it and learn about European cultures, counties and finally, learn about learning. OTHER ACTIVITIES: 1. The Day of Europe

Each year LDA organizes events on the Day of Europe. Last year on this occasion the EVS volunteers promoted the EVS program in the Secondary schools in Buje and organized a lecture on the history of Europe for the students in the Italian Primary School in Buje. In the evening, in collaboration with the Open University the volunteers held creative workshops for children, on the topic of European values.

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2. The night of memories LDA in collaboration with The Comune in Duino Aurisina organized an evening dedicated to

the Italians that were forced to leave their homes in Istria after the Second World War, as well as, those that continued to live in this land, despite the difficulties. Two people, one that had to leave and one that chose to stay (Livio Dorigo and Armando Degrassi) shared their stories with intimate and touching confessions that inspired the present audience. 3. Promoting EVS volunteering

Each year LDA and its volunteers organize visits to the local secondary schools and universities with the scope of promoting EVS volunteering among young people. Traditionally, volunteers visit the fourth year students in the High School in Pula. Last year, for the first time, a visit to the University in Pula was also organized which noticeably sparked the interest in volunteering among the students. 4. Human Library - the rest is history

The event was organized by the association ExisT - Ex European Volunteers and used the method of a "living library" to create meeting opportunities between the protagonist and young people and talk to them about resistance, living next to the border, cohabitation etc. The president of LDA, Umberto Ademollo participated in this event as a protagonist who told his story about his arrival to Istria in the 90's and the reasons he chose to stay there. This event was directly linked with LDA's primary objectives, promoting democracy, cohabitation and peace. 5. Twinning encounters among the Police in Rome and the Police in Buje and Poreč

These encounters happen every year, and last year was no exception. Two encounters were held in June and September, thanks to the mediation of LDA and, particularly, the president Umberto Ademollo. These meetings have established and strengthened a fruitful cooperation, improving the capacities in both states, by sharing the best practices.

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