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Description
The project is designed to generate sustainable changes in five selected communities through participatory processes, tailored and support and civic consolidation at local level, as well as by developing a good practice model for civic engagement in the decision making process of local public administrations. The project envisages the development and implementation of a pilot program that aims, as a first step, to activate and connect the community by establishing and educating/informing civic groups, as well as the organization of community consultations on investment decisions and the activity of the local public administration. Subsequently, we intend to carry out local campaigns (civic and legal actions, petitions, hearings, advocacy) to monitor the local public administration, to participate actively and constantly in all its activities (public meetings, organized debates, inquiries) and to change / promote investment decisions and public services which will benefit at least 10,000 citizens in each town. We expect that creating in each selected town / county a civic group made up of local leaders, young people, activists or entrepreneurs will initiate actions and organize consultations that will count 1250– 2500 locals. The civic groups will benefit from assistance, good practices, leadership training programs and technical workshops from top practitioners (local public administration experts, foreign investors, national activists). Relevant lessons and insights from past local campaigns will be promoted in mainstream media and social media. Advocacy initiatives at central level promoting government decisions in spending or investing public money with extended citizens’ consultations will be set up and intensively endorsed. At the end of this pilot program, we estimate to have established five civic groups at the local level that will have promoted five relevant changes in the selected communities to the benefit of at least 50,000 citizens.
Summary of project results
The project was designed to generate sustainable changes in five selected communities through participatory processes, tailored and support and civic consolidation at local level, as well as by developing a good practice model for civic engagement in the decision making process of local public administrations.
The structure of the project was divided into three stages, which ran as follows: The first stage was dedicated to the consultation of the selected communities (Bucharest Sector 1, Resita, Timisoara, Ramnicu Valcea, Buzau). 5 assessments and priority lists for each community were developed . 5 focus groups with community members (68 participants) to test our assumptions were organised . For each community, the partners devised a list of at least 10 priorities and launched public consultations (4,075 respondents), which helped them to identify development paths, as seen by the citizens themselves. The second stage was dedicated to organizing training and leadership programs within each community, finishing the civic activism guides, and presenting the 10 local success stories, as well as setting targets for the civic campaigns. The main themes of the workshops were established, individualized at the level of each community, the work agenda and invitations from the local level were defined and the call for participation was launched. The 5 programs, with a duration of 2 days each,
benefited from the presence of over 170 people and were structured on a minimum of 5 modules. The third stage was dedicated to civic campaigns and the evaluation of their impact. 5 civic advocacy and monitoring campaigns were launched, with very good results in each community.
In addition to the monitoring and advocacy actions, the major themes of the campaigns were: Bucharest, Sector 1 – Urban Mobility and Civic
Involvement, Timisoara – Civic Involvement, Resita – Environment and Civic Involvement, Ramnicu–Valcea – Civic Involvement and Environment, Buzau – Involvement civic and transparent. Each campaign included a constant dialogue with local administrations, interviews, public reports, petitions, participatory budgeting projects, civic action groups and support campaigns. A good practice guide for local administrations was launched.