Consortium between Local Goverment and Civil Society Organisations

➡️ In the framework of the 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, for sustainable volunteering in Albania, PVN Albania (MOTIV-our new name) and Kongresi Rinor Kombëtar, in collaboration with Lobi Euro Atlantik Shqiptar – Norvegji and Batteriet Sør organized a ✈️ 👥Study Visit in 📍Kristiansand, Norway 🇳🇴 from 🗓️ 01 to 04 of May 2022.

🎯 The aim of the visit was to get familiar, understand and reflect on how Albania can adapt some of the policies, models, practices and methodologies for establishing sustainable volunteering. In addition the visit was organized in the week of Democracy where all stakeholders of the #Kristiansand gathered to discuss how a city can be more democratic and accessible.

👉 In the visit were present representatives of the both organizations of the consortium: PVN/MOTIV and National Youth Congress; and Mayors/Deputy Mayors and/or Directors of the Sectors of 8 Municipalities part of the consortium: Bashkia Tiranë, Bashkia Elbasan, Bashkia Korçë, Bashkia Pogradec (Faqe Zyrtare), “Bashkia Lushnje” Bashkia Berat, Bashkia Shkodër and Bashkia Tropojë.

✅ It was an enriching visit where we had chances to see how does volunteering function at all levels in the country by meeting the key stakeholders:
🔸 Representatives from 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 (6 of the leaders of the political parties in Norway); who make priorities and make the decision, shared with us their experiences;
🔸 The Vice President of the Parliament- 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹, who shared how they support volunteering and how much committed they are to build collaboration with Albania, facilitate the process and give the necessary support.
🔸 Representatives from 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲/𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 institutions who shared practical steps on the process of planning strategically volunteering, how do they collaborate among institutions and civil society organizations;
🔸 The Mayor of Kristiansand- 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 who warmly welcomed us, agreed for future collaboration, and gave us space to open the Week of Democracy in Kristiansand by the speech of Mayor of Elbasan Mr. Gledjan Llatja.

This visit was a good experience to see how municipalities implement volunteering activities, how they make priorities and support civil society.

The visit was followed by the meetings with the civil society organizations from Norway, and those from Albania, local and regional once.

🟢 One of the main reasons mentioned on how Norway has the best practices was the importance of volunteering as a mindset, because the people feel volunteering in their heart and blood. In addition they had well defined and developed infrastructure based on structured dialogue and collaboration among all stakeholders; well planned strategies, methodologies and actions. Volunteering is considered as an act for a better society, a tool for democracy and well being, connections between communities and institutions.

❓ Are we far from the implementation of these practices? 🤔 Yes we are, but we are on the right track with this initiative. We have established an initiative (1) based on dialogue and collaboration with municipalities, civil society and local stakeholders, (2) a volunteer coordinator is established in the municipalities part of the consortium, (3) the municipalities have are developing local action plans and planning a lot more steps for the near and long term future towards sustainable local volunteering.

We are enlarging this volunteering journey at local, national and international levels, because there is space to learn and to share, till we make volunteering structured and a mindset.

🙏 We are deeply thankful to our wonderful hosts and partners Lobi Euro Atlantik Shqiptar – Norvegji and Batteriet Sør who made a very enriched, professional and diverse agenda by meeting all the stakeholders in the city.

Many more to come 💫
Stay Tuned 🌟

Supported by
National Youth Congress / Kongresi Rinor Kombetar/ Bashkia e Tiranës / Tirana European Youth Capital

#weekofdemocracy #norway #democracy #volunteering #municipality #collaboration #studyvisit

Source