Flagship events of the European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) 2020 edition, coordinated by the Congress, are being organised in the week of 12 - 18 October. This year, the theme of the ELDW is “Local democracy: building trust”, focused on co-designing local democracy together with citizens and practicing open government.
The ELDW aims to foster dialogue between local authorities and citizens aimed at strengthening people’s confidence in local elected representatives and institutions of governance, which is especially important in the current situation of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed had a serious impact on local and regional authorities and administrations which had to respond to the crisis while adapting themselves to assure the continuity of their services, the participation of the citizens and the functioning of the local democracy.
In the framework of the ELDW, more than 150 activities have already been organised this by 56 participating municipalities and associations from Council of Europe member states across Europe. The examples of these initiatives are shared among local authorities through the ELDW website, which is a tool to exchange good practices in sustaining citizen participation and local democracy during these difficult times.
