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Description
The goal of the project: to increase the demand for meaningful, inclusive public consultations in public administration of Latvia (both at the state and municipal level) within the timeframe of two years.
The project will be implemented by the Centre for public policy PROVIDUS - a Latvia-based think-tank which has 18 years of experience in organising public engagement activities. In 3 of the 12 project activities, PROVIDUS will partner with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Affairs to improve opportunities for public involvement at the municipal level.
The project will consist of the following main activities:
1) Public opinion survey and two studies on participation opportunities (both good and bad examples);
2) Seminars and master classes for local governments, as well as for national level public administration employees on modern face-to-face and digital engagement methods;
3) Informative materials (educational cartoons, posters), which will educate both decision-makers and the broader public about the effective and ineffective methods of organising consultations with the public;
4) International high-level conference on successful examples of public engagement;
5) A deliberative event on a topical political topic, where Latvians (including representatives of vulnerable groups) would be randomly selected to discuss problems and offer solutions to decision-makers.
The project will lay a solid foundation for increasing the awareness of local and national decision-makers about the importance of organising quality consultations. The project will also strengthen and improve the image of civil society organisations as constructive partners for state and local governmental institutions.
Summary of project results
Challenges identified by the project promoter:
1) Weak capacity of the Saeima to take quality decisions and the defects in decision-making at other levels of government (ministries, institutions, municipalities);
2) Weak political parties and citizen participation (in parties and other formats);
3) Latvia''s insufficient capacity/willingness to define and defend its national interests at EU level;
4) Problematic sectoral policies in the following areas - anti-corruption, rule of law, migration, construction, social policy - both in Latvia and at EU level;
5) Populism and threats to open society values.
*Public opinion survey on involvement in decision-making;
*Study on good examples of public participation at national level;
*A review of prominent decisions where public involvement was lacking; cartoons on how not to organize consultations in public administration and posters for ministries, municipalities with tips for better public involvement;
*Seminars in municipalities on citizen involvement and openness;
*Promotion of deliberative methods of participation;
*Campaign to promote civic participation for public officials;
*New standards for more open and accessible municipalities;
*Advocacy for clearer national guidelines for public participation.
1) Disseminated and promoted standards and guidelines on how to better involve the public at three different levels: in local government (by developing the Local Government Openness Standards and a good practice poster for local governments), in the Cabinet of Ministers (a good practice poster for ministries, as well as assistance in developing a new framework for citizen participation in development planning) and in the Saeima (a good practice poster for members of the Saeima);
2) Demonstrated to the public administration that deliberative actions are a meaningful way to involve citizens in decision-making by piloting the method with the Ministry of Health and subsequently promoting it. Deliberative methods are now included as a format for use in public administration in the Open Government Partnership Action Plan approved by the Latvian Government.
3) Helped to improve the "friendliness" of the legislation portal functionality for citizens who want to influence the content of new regulations through it.
4) Worked in depth with four institutions - the Internal Security Bureau, Ropazi Municipality, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Affairs, the State Chancellery - to support and improve their efforts to engage the public in a more meaningful and qualitative way in their work.