To promote good governance and citizen participation at the local level in the whole Europe and beyond, ALDA leads a wide range of actions supporting local, national and international stakeholders in achieving their goals in the fields of European integration, decentralisation, human rights, social inclusion, sustainable development, civic initiatives and much more.

It works with a multistakeholder approach looking at a broad spectrum of the potential resources in the local communities. ALDA represents a wide network of citizens and local authorities fully committed and engaged to support local democracy and the empowerment of local communities through citizens participation, in Europe and beyond.

Since 2020, ALDA has been bringing its experience in local democracy beyond the European borders and the neighbourhood, reaching out to other regions of the world in need of assistance and support in our field of expertise (ALDA going global)

In 20 years of activities, with its members and partners, supported by European institutions and various other donors, ALDA has had an impact on over 25 million citizens of the Enlarged Europe, and further.

Conducting a myriad of projects in the field of good governance and citizen participation at the local level in Europe and beyond, with its members, its partners and the Local Democracy Agencies

Coordinating and supporting the 15 Local Democracy Agencies and 3 Operational Partners

Managing and supporting its wide network of members, made of over 350 stakeholders including local authorities, associations of local authorities, provinces, counties, civil society organisations, and academic institution

Collaborating with European and worldwide networks on campaigns, statements and joint initiatives to let citizens be heard and contribute to the decision-making process of their communities. It cooperates as official partners of the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and it is a long-term partner of the programme Europe for Citizens and other key policies and programmes of the European Commission.

Supporting local stakeholders’ initiatives by providing ALDA’s unique expertise gained during its over 20 years of activity in the European Union and its Neighbourhood through the establishment of partnerships and the identification of relevant stakeholders to cooperate with, scouting funding opportunities to implement project ideas, and assuring dissemination and visibility of their initiatives

Leading advocacy and lobbying activities, raising the voice of its members and partners in order to orient local, national and European policies in our field of activities to make a stronger and more cohesive Europe, based on the principle of equality, democracy and human rights.

Mission and Values

The ALDA model for partnership building: a state of art for good local governance and citizen participation

As its core element, ALDA supports citizens and groups of citizens in their initiatives aimed at improving their local context, building bridges with local authorities in order to make the change real.

Every day, we develop projects with our members and partners to support their activities for the good of the whole community.

Thus, we are experts in identifying all possible means to make our work – and our members’ work possible, such as funding sources, partnerships establishment,…

In this framework, we work through a participatory approach and the method of multilateral decentralised cooperation, always focusing on strong partnerships between local authorities and civil society organisations.