Meet Alliance in the Alps, in charge of the good practice handbook in the GOVQoL project!
Alliance in the Alps is a network of municipalities in the Alps who want to exchange innovative ideas and discuss how to improve the quality of life in their municipality. Quality of life has been part of the mission statement of Alliance in the Alps for more than 10 years already! Katharina Gasteiger and Maya Knevels are respectively director and project manager of the network.
What would be your personal definition of « Quality of life »?
Maya: For me, a good quality of life would be to easily have access to everything I need daily i.e. groceries, train station, green and quiet natural areas.
Katharina: I need a strong community network where I live, where people can meet and support each other whether it be in associations, clubs, … To add to that, my quality of life also depends on having access to childcare services and on living in an area where everything is reachable by bike or by foot. As for Maya, the natural environment is definitely a key factor in choosing where I would live and where I would have the best quality of life.
In your own words, what is your role in the GOVQoL project?
Alliance in the Alps is responsible for ensuring that project results will effectively target the local level. Indeed, the GOVQoL project means to follow-up upon the recommendations of the Report on the State of the Alps #10 focusing on Quality of life and to adapt them to local situations, local governance processes, and to local challenges facing policymakers.
In particular, Alliance in the Alps will be coordinating the handbook of good practices due to be published by the end of the year & the organisation of online seminars to bring together local policymakers to exchange and debate, be inspired and connect with other policymakers. The hope for the handbook is to serve as a catalyst in local municipalities for policymakers and civil servants to take interest in the governance of quality of life and to take a step towards more citizen involvement!
Why do you consider this level of governance important for quality of life?
“Because the local level is the only level where we can involve citizens”, Katharina Gasteiger
Quality of life is deeply connected to individual needs, and it is only at the local level that individual positions can be considered and taken into account. Moreover, Alpine municipalities form a very heterogeneous group in terms of territorial characteristics, depending on their location, their natural assets, their local economy, their transport connection to the rest of the Alps, … And working on the local level enables to discuss place-based situation in-depth and to work on tailor-made solutions for the municipality.
Thanks Katharina and Maya!
To know more about the work Alliance in the Alps does, please visit https://alpenallianz.org/en/about-us
