Description
The project addresses the issue of poor participation of civil society and citizens in the public policy making processes in Romania. The underlying causes of this problem combine a lack of transparency of public authorities, and the reduced capacity of CSOs and citizens to use the existing legal mechanisms of participation. In response, the project aims to increase the influence on public policies of the citizens from 5 small communities in Southern Romania, by developing their capacity to initiate innovative advocacy campaigns in order to address community problems. The project transfers knowledge and abilities to community leaders and motivates citizens to have a dialogue with local authorities so to negotiate the priorities on the public agenda, thus garnering the following results: 5 community groups actively involved in the development of public policies, 5 communities more active in public participation, and local elected officials more accountable towards the communities they represent. The project uses community development-specific processes to empower and build social capital.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to address the low participation of citizens in policymaking processes. The purpose of the project was to increase the level of influencing public policies among residents of five communities in small-medium communes from Southern Romania, by developing their ability to initiate advocacy campaigns for solving community problems and their causes. Five communities were identified and attracted in the project - Corbeni, Vranesti, Merişani (Arges County), Arcani and Bumbeşti Jiu (Gorj County). 29 community leaders (45% more than the indicator originally envisaged), members of associations or informal groups of citizens from the five communities were involved in two training events (6 days), acquiring the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for the initiation, planning and implementation of advocacy campaigns locally. In the second stage, the community leaders were accompanied in the field by community facilitators and advocacy experts, to support the implementation in real life situations (in the communities) of the gained knowledge and skills and to transfer these new skills to other community members. Each community initiative group identified an important issue for the community, the solution to which was in the power of public institutions and authorities. Around these problems, the community groups planned advocacy steps, mobilizing the support of other people through community meetings, written requests, participation in local council meetings, audiences at relevant institutions, public debates: 577 people participated in community meetings or workshops or signed petitions / requests to public authorities. They entered into direct dialogue with those responsible for solving the problems: 27 representatives of public institutions and authorities directly discussed community issues with citizens. By the end of the project, in the 5 local communities 6 local council decisions were made, in order to implement the proposals from the campaigns, make budgetary reallocations for solving issues raised or give positive settlement for punctual requests. In 3 out of the 5 communities, the advocacy campaigns initiated by community organizations achieved their purpose and resolved the targeted community problem. In two of these cases, the local government recognized the relevance of the issues raised, so they decided to expand the solution proposed by the community groups for one of their villages to the other villages of the commune.
Summary of bilateral results