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Description
The Project for the municipality of Zdiby, the Koridor D8 association and the Norwegian partner, the town of Voss, is focused to increase the quality, openness and transparency of public administration, and involvement of the public in the planning and decision-making processes. Particularly, in the Czech Republic, it concerns the area of 14 municipalities around highway D8 north of the capital, the city of Prague, and in the area of Voss the experience with changes in the town industrial zone, highway bypass and railways.
Growing investment constructions, such as logistic hubs, mining or chemical industry, line road and railway construction and airports, are significant sources of irreversible changes in the landscape, transport increase, changes in noise and emission conditions, changes of climate, landscape water regime and other negative influences. Municipalities and towns are forced to face these intents, engage in complex dealings, explain to the public the intended effects on the environment and municipality life, and at the same time all to be communicated to the public and provide not only proper and complex awareness, but also support or active involvement of the citizens to the individual decision-making processes. The Project responds to the need for cooperation strengthening between the local governments and the public.
The Project increases public administration qualification to be a competent intermediary of communication between the public, entrepreneur subjects, non-profit organizations, and citizens in the interest of the sustainable development of a particular place.
The Project shall initiate at least 13 participation dealings in small municipalities around Prague, where an active building of line constructions takes place constantly, for example high-speed track.
Summary of project results
The project was needed to "improve the responsiveness of public administration to the needs of its citizens through public participation in local decision-making processes, including ensuring the development of professional competencies of local government staff in the area of civic participation". The project faced changes at the beginning of the project: a reduction of the planned budget by almost half and a change of the Norwegian partner "Municipality of Voss to Municipality of Vaksdal."
The main objective was "to increase the quality, openness, and transparency of public administration and involve the public in planning and decision-making processes, specifically in the area adjoining the D8 motorway north of the capital of Prague. The project also aimed to improve public administration''s ability to respond to residents'' needs, communicate properly with all groups of its inhabitants, and communicate correctly with all population groups in the long term." This objective was met.
The project included the following activities:
- 20 seminars for public administration
- 10 seminars for the public and NGOs
- 7 educational programs in schools
- 8 meetings with seniors
- 1 intergenerational video on the future of the landscape
- 8 media campaigns
- 1 experience sharing trip to Norway
- 2 meetings with Organisations for people with specific needs
- 5x group around the landscape plan
- 13 participatory meetings for the 25 municipalities involved,1 participatory negotiation in Norway.
- Open Goverment (for the project), D8 Corridor (partner), and Zdiby municipality websites with
information about the project (KP) were created.
- 5 press releases were published
- Facebook posts were published
- A roll-up used at all events was created
- Invitations and graphics were created for future use
- The participation methodology manual was created and distributed to all participating municipalities for further use.
The project significantly supported the activities of the D8 Corridor Association of Municipalities, which gained 14 new members in 2 years. Thanks to the project, the staff of 27 towns and municipalities gained new skills. Norway''s experience significantly improved the municipalities'' negotiations on linear constructions on their territory with the state of the CR. All municipalities received a participation methodology, which they can use in their future activities.
Summary of bilateral results
The project drew on a wealth of experience from Norway, which contributed significantly to its success and implementation.Key aspects included:Sharing know-how: The experience from Norway was shared through two trips - the Czech delegation to Norway and a visit of Norwegian experts to the Czech Republic. The main theme was public participation in Public participation in decision-making processes.Model participatory meeting: a model participatory meeting was held to demonstrate practical public participation in Norway.Municipalities training: Norwegian experts conducted an entire seminar in the Czech Republic on public participation, designed for Czech municipal staff. This has contributed to the transfer of best practices to Czech context.Building relationships and international cooperation: through online communication and face-to-face meetings in both countries, a solid foundation for a long-term relationship between the Municipality of Zdiby, the Norwegian City of Voss and the Municipality of Vaksdal. These links open up opportunities for further joint projects and sharing of experiences.