The final conference of the project LADDER was held in Strasbourg on 21-22 November 2017, and constituted a key opportunity to create new bonds and strengthen existing partnerships for the localisation of SDGs in the next years.

The conference marked three years of joint work within an extremely ambitious project, co-funded by the European Union and led by ALDA, gathering 27 partners and 19 associates from 19 EU and 17 non EU-countries. The unanimous commitment to continue the great work done so far in the field of development education is a great satisfaction for all of us, as well as the sign of LADDER’s sustainability.

The event, hosted by the Council of Europe and by the Region Grand Est, was opened by the welcome speech of Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA, and Alina Tatarenko, Head of the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform of the Council of Europe.

The first expert panel focused on best practices in the field of development education and SDGs, with the participation of Elisabeth Dau from the Institute for Research and Debate for Governance, Othmane Khaoua, City councilor of the municipality of Sceaux (France), and Inta Rimsane from the municipality of Rezekne (Latvia). Speakers highlighted that not only can local authorities drive the implementation of effective policies for implementing SDGs, but they can also work to shape a common sense of ownership of SDGs in their citizens.

Following this, a panel on results and lessons learnt in the past 3 years was moderated by the project manager Sofia Caiolo, who showed LADDER's achievements through its 5 dimensions: Research, Capacity Building and Peer-to-peer Education, Advocacy, Supporting Grass-Root Actions and Citizens, Creative Component. One of the main features of LADDER has been its consortium, composed by 27 co-applicants and 19 associates of 36 countries; all these stakeholders have worked together for 3 years in order to reach a common goal: raise citizens awareness about global issues throughout the cooperation between CSOs and LAs. Anette Grunnet from Vejle Municipality (Denmark), co-applicant of LADDER, followed this first intervention speaking on behalf of the LAs of the consortium; finally, this second session was closed by Cristina Sossan from Equo Garantito (Italy) and Colin Campbell from Assist Social Capital (United Kingdom), who shared their experience in LADDER as beneficiaries of the Regranting Scheme Action, in which 73 projects at the local level were supported by LADDER.

A roundtable on the localisation of SDGs followed, moderated by Marjan Huc from SLOGA, with Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA, Natalia Shovkoplias from UTC Slovakia, and Board Member of ALDA, Laia Vinyes Merce from Platforma, and Mathieu Chaveneau, from association KuriOZ. All speakers stressed how local authorities are actually those who hold the power of agenda to push the national level to implement effective policies in line with SDGs.
Read more and take a look at the photo galleries of the event here!