Description
The project addresses the need to monitor the sessions of the Municipal Council in the city of Plovdiv, present to the public the decisions and implications and involve citizens/NGOs in local decision-making. The project aims at raising public awareness by monitoring the sessions and disseminating information in a user-friendly way. First, the applicant’s observer will monitor 20 sessions of the Housing Policy Committee with the Municipal Council and collect detailed data. Second, the expert team (lawyer/economist/city planning and impact assessment experts) will analyze the lawfulness, cost effectiveness and impact of the decisions and disseminate information to the stakeholders in a report. Finally, meetings with NGOs, the media, informal groups will be held and a large-scale awareness raising campaign will be carried out. The project will benefit the NGOs, informal groups, citizens and decision-makers. The partner will transfer experience, good practices and risk roadmaps.
Summary of project results
The sessions of the standing committees of the Municipal Council of the City of Plovdiv have enjoyed low popularity and only the date and time of the sessions have been announced. The decisions have been presented to the public in most cases without any detailed analysis and rationale for their adoption. The project aimed at promoting and supporting active participation of citizens and NGOs and their inclusion in the discussion and making of decisions with regard to the territorial development of the city of Plovdiv as well as contributing to greater transparency in the work of the Territorial Structure and Housing Policy Committee with the Municipal Council of Plovdiv. In the course of the project, we gradually included Municipal Property and Economic Activity Standing Committee and Culture, Tourism, European Integration and International Relations Committee as well as the sessions of the Municipal Council of Plovdiv. The monitoring carried out under the project (20 sessions) of the three committees above and the Municipal Council of Plovdiv as well as the follow-up reports enabled the representatives of the media, NGOs, civil formations and citizens to receive up-to-date and timely information about the work of the committees and the Municipal Council. A mailing list was made of parties interested to receive the reports and up-to-date information about the proposals discussed. After a letter was submitted to the Chairperson of the Municipal Council of Plovdiv with established procedural violations, steps were taken and thus the Rules on the Work of the Municipal Council are strictly complied with at present.
Summary of bilateral results