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Description
The aim of the project is to increase the awareness and knowledge of young people and adult residents of the City of Gdansk about public participation and the benefits it brings. According to the document ‘Strategy Barometer. Evaluation Study of the Gdańsk Strategy for Solving Social Problems by 2030’, the sense of influence of residents on what is happening in the city is relatively low. This is the opinion of 62.1% of those surveyed, and 51% suggest taking action to promote public participation as a way of solving this problem. This project increases the awareness and knowledge of young people and adults living in Gdansk about public participation and its benefits. It also promotes the participation in city offices, city institutions, NGOs and among socially active and engaged people. We undertake cross-sectoral cooperation in order to shape urban policies collaboratively, and we help develop the competences of those carrying out participatory activities. We collaborate with, among others, departments of the Municipal Office in Gdańsk, city units, District Councils, NGOs and academic institutions. Our partner is the Morena Association, which specialises in youth civic participation. As part of the project, we conduct internal and external advocacy, implement a social and advocacy campaign, and organise the Gdańsk Participation Forum. We run a participation pilot in a selected district of the city and develop a Good Practice Model. Together with experts, we create a Participatory Toolbox. In the course of project activities, we look for new solutions to involve residents in co-determining urban policies and shaping common space.
Summary of project results
In Gdańsk, as in other Polish cities, interest in participatory processes organized by the city is gradually decreasing from year to year, and at the same time, social awareness and expectations that our rulers will be more participatory are growing. Evidence of these sentiments is the decreasing participation of Gdańsk residents in subsequent editions of the Citizens'' Budget (currently it is approximately 10% of those entitled to vote: Official website of the City of Gdańsk (www.gdansk.pl)) and the low turnout of public consultations and the Strategy of the City of Gdańsk 2030+. The Tricity also sees an increase in support for grassroots initiatives and social movements, as evidenced by the election of Mrs. Aleksandra Kosiorek, a social activist, as the President of neighboring Gdynia. The aim of the project was to increase the awareness and knowledge of young people and adult residents of Gdańsk about the wide possibilities of civic participation and the benefits resulting from them. During the project, i.e. during 19 months of intense work, participatory processes taking place in the city of Gdańsk were promoted and new solutions were sought to involve residents in co-deciding on broadly understood urban space and policies. The goals were also to concern co-shaping urban policies and co-decision-making. And although these goals were ambitious and, as you can read in the final evaluation of the DecydujMY project, not realistic in all areas, the project is undoubtedly a success, which seems to be the greatest value in working on the inclusion of residents. This success is evidenced by a wide group of committed project partners from the social and "urban" side, who feel they are co-authors of the developed tools and solutions, which increases the likelihood of their further use.
Activities carried out: 1. Educational and awareness-raising activities about participation processes and tools: • SPOTkaj Cafe – open meetings with residents in the formula of civic cafes • Workshops on the Gdańsk Participation Toolkit • Meetings disseminating the Gdańsk Participation Toolkit 2. Internal advocacy - raising awareness of the impact on local policy and the benefits resulting from it - meetings with project allies 3. External advocacy - putting pressure on decision-making units in Gdańsk 4. Social and advocacy campaign regarding participation 5. Communication and information activities in the project 6. Gdańsk Participation Forum 7. Pilotage of Długie Ogrody Participation - Extension of the Royal Road 8. Evaluation Products: • Project website • 1 promotional video • SPOTkaj Café – 15 meetings • 8 workshops for young people • 5 workshops on developing the Toolkit • 3 documents published on the Internet • 1 printed publication • 1 social and advocacy campaign strategy • 3 promotional events for the project • 1 street demonstration in the form of a street poll • 20 meetings as part of internal and external advocacy • 3 networking and training meetings for Gdańsk councils • 18 hours of expert consultations (thematic and legal) • 1st Gdańsk Participation Forum as part of the Freedom and Civil Rights Day - 2 days of events, workshops and talks • 1 pilot participatory process • 1 mobile consultation point – participation trolley • 2 project partnerships • 1 DecydyjLet''s survey! (available in online and paper versions) examining residents'' knowledge of participatory processes and their participation - 150 people responded • 3 study visits from Poland and Europe • 2 study visits for project participants at the Participation Forums • 1 invitation from the project coordinator as an expert to interdepartmental student workshops at the Gdańsk University of Technology
The most important results of the project include the use of analyzes and conclusions from the Gdańsk Participation Toolkit in the city project "Agents of co-existence and open government" - creating new ways to foster civic participation" co-financed by the URBACT IV program, the aim of which is, among others, improving the competences of officials in the area of conducting and preparing participatory processes 70% - increase in civic activity among project participants measured by grassroots initiatives - thanks to the invitation of the Youth Council of the City of Gdańsk to the project and their active participation, we managed to support young people in grassroots activities aimed at developing youth policy in Gdańsk 50% - increase in knowledge and awareness of civic participation methods and the benefits resulting from them, as well as the sense of agency - although the increase in knowledge and awareness of the project participants increased significantly, as evidenced by conversations with them and the evaluation carried out, it should be admitted that the agency of the undertaken actions activities depends solely on the city side. It is hoped that after the project is completed, the initiatives undertaken in it will continue to develop, but the social side cannot do much more than initiate these processes. This is also supported by the conclusions from the final evaluation. Both values of 50% and 70% are the result of analysis and assessment based on the results of surveys conducted among project participants, conversations of the project coordinator with participants of individual events, a street survey and interviews and surveys conducted for the purposes of project evaluation. 2 project partnerships: the first with the Morena Association in activities aimed at young people in accordance with the application (cooperation agreement) and with the City of Gdańsk - partnership with the City Architect''s Office in the implementation of a participation pilot on Długie Ogrody.