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Description
In Slovakia, for most people, the closest contact with the public sphere is the self-government. Its representatives decide on the construction, condition of roads, schools, greenery and culture, but also on local taxes or investments. The growing importance of town halls is also visible during the pandemic. The project aims to strengthen active citizenship in self-government through access to quality and objective information on the activities of councils and elected representatives and through the active involvement of people in decision-making processes. The activities will be implemented mainly during the election year in the bodies of cities, municipalities and regions. The project will create the conditions for better informed voter decision-making, as well as pressure on local politicians to introduce measures in favor of public control and civic participation. In 2022, municipal and county elections will be held at the same time. The election day will be preceded by months of campaigns for tens of thousands of candidates with hundreds of thousands of promises and reservations. Thanks to the activities of Transparency International Slovakia, citizens will understand more the current situation around the election and candidates. In cooperation with the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, three exchange meetings will be organized to share experiences with participatory budgeting. It will include a multi-day seminar for representatives of local governments, active citizens and local journalists in Central Slovakia. During the project, the partner - Reykjavik´s Human Rights and Democracy Office (City of Reykjavík) - will take part in activities leading to the sharing of experience in the field of involving people in local government decision-making, mainly through an innovative participatory budgeting tool with which it already has many years of experience and implements it with a large budget.
Summary of project results
For most people, the closest form of contact with public administration is local government. Through the activities of the project, the involvement of citizens in decision-making at the local government level was strengthened by creating tools and opportunities for citizen participation. As part of the project, an assessment of the objectivity of town hall newspapers, an assessment of the transparency of the 100 largest municipalities and monitoring of the financing of joint election campaigns was compiled. 5 public debates were organized in the regions, a weekend seminar for activists, representatives of municipalities and journalists in the High Tatras, as well as an expert seminar on participation and local democracy with an Icelandic partner and Slovak officials in Bratislava. An article comparing the participatory budgets of Icelandic and Slovak cities was also published as part of the project. Within the framework of the legal consultancy, 63 expert consultations were provided to citizens, municipalities and the media.
The involvement of citizens and their involvement in decision-making is a necessary prerequisite for responsible and high-quality administration of cities and municipalities. We therefore perceive the provision of available public control tools as a long-term sustainable strategy for improving the situation in Slovak municipalities. The repeated evaluations of the transparency of cities, town hall newspapers and election campaigns that we implement also motivate mayors, mayors, deputies and officials to adopt and implement fairer, more ethical and more transparent procedures.
Summary of bilateral results
During two events implemented with the participation of a partner in Slovakia, participants had the opportunity to learn about successful participatory projects of the city of Reykjavík, especially the participatory budgeting initiative My District, the author of which is the project partner. On the contrary, the partner obtained information about the state and mechanisms of civic participation in Slovakia and the functioning of Slovak municipalities from experts in the field of law, participation and self-government, but also from active citizens present at our summer workshop. Drawing knowledge from the partner was also of immense benefit to the employees of Transparency International Slovakia involved in the project in the form of newly acquired expertise in the topic of civic participation. The main results of the cooperation are: - lecture by a partner at a summer workshop for more than 40 activists and representatives of local governments - jointly organized professional seminar on participation attended by Slovak officials - a blog comparing participatory budgeting schemes in Slovakia and Iceland