Participative democracy, local authorities and civil society working together, is the core of ALDA’s work. We are working together with local partners to assess the potential of these actions, to train and empower local citizens, elected leaders and civil servants, in order to find together good ways to solve problems. Our project “Empowering local authorities and civil society to deliver solutions with Participative Democracy” is ongoing, with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In Comrat, the first step – assessing local governance – took place since the beginning of June with a broad inquiry addressing more than 120 local stakeholders. The results have already started appearing and they are showing the potential of joint cooperation between public institutions and citizens. For this, the 12 Principles of Good Governance and the European Label for Governance Excellence – EloGE, as defined by the Council of Europe, have been the substantial basis. From the 15th to the 19th of September, the Secretary General of ALDA, Antonella Valmorbida, the Eastern Partnership Coordinator, Alexandru Coica and the Delegate of the Local Democracy Agency Moldova in Cimislia, Nicolae Hristov, have visited Comrat, the capital city of the Gagauzia region. There, a series of contacts and seminars took place, hosted by the Municipality and its Mayor Serghei Anastasov. The city of Comrat is indeed working on participative democracy, providing a quite successful example and practice: thanks to the initiative of citizens (and with their first financial investments) the local authorities is matching resources (generally 30/40% citizens and 70/60% municipality) for the renovation of courtyards, walkways or other public infrastructures, such as roads and canalization. The process has proved itself to be rather successful and it is known as “Participation of citizens for the renovation of the yards”, and amost 30 projects have been realized following the same scheme. They created immediate welfare for citizens, with an impact on the short run, but with a constant involvement for maintenance, from the citizens’ side, with an impact on the long run.

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The project “Empowering local authorities and civil society to deliver solutions with Participative Democracy” is implemented in Moldova in Comrat and in Cimislia and in Ukraine, in Dnipro and in Mariupol. The trainings will be implemented in the second phase of the year with the implementation of a joint problem solving in all cities piloted.