The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and NALAS launched a call for expression of interest to establish a Community of Practice to support 18 local authorities and their associations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, in order to build their capacity for developing, implementing, and following up on deliberative processes.
The Community of Practice, under the co-ordination of NALAS, will act as a platform for peer-to-peer exchanges on deliberative democracy and create a collaborative environment for local authorities to:
- increase knowledge and skills relevant to organisation of citizens’ assemblies;
- facilitate exchanges between the involved local authorities and with their counterparts from other European countries;
- develop initiatives for more inclusive procedures and innovative practices at local level;
- document and disseminate good practices and lessons learned among local authorities, their associations, and other key relevant stakeholders.
Costs related to the participation in the residential meetings of the Community of Practice (such as travel, accommodation and per diems) will be borne by the organisers.
The letter of motivation, together with the information sheet on the applicant local authority, must be submitted in electronic form (Word and/or PDF) in English.
The application form, selection criteria, and additional information on the call and on deliberative democracy can all be found here
Applications should be sent to the relevant contact point in the Project Team Sofija Lubarda: sofija.lubarda@coe.int with CC to: congress.cooperation@coe.int
Applications must be received Wednesday 11 September 2024 (17:00 CET). Applications received after the abovementioned date will not be considered.
The call is launched in the framework of the Council of Europe project “Promoting deliberative democracy and innovative approaches to citizen participation in South-East Europe”, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance (CEMG) at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, with the financial support of Germany.
*All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo