Description
The project addresses the need for greater citizen participation in local policy-making in municipalities, communities or smaller areas, awareness raising and training in active citizenship. The project aims at fostering more sustainable forms of citizen participation in policy-making. First, the existing policy-making experience will be evaluated to identify the needs, best practices and shortcomings and present them in a report. Second, training methodology will be developed on the legal framework of citizen participation, the use of web resources and social networks, mediation, advocacy and lobbying. The training will be in 5 modules for 3 days each. Next, 30 target group members will be trained and certified. Finally, the training results will be analyzed and recommendations will be made. The project will benefit local communities and civil society groups, young people and minority members.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the lack of sustainability in the planning and implementation of policies for civil participation. The latter also affects the lack of will and practices among local public structures for partnership with the civil society. The need for education and training in active citizenship and identifying mediators of the communication between the stakeholders is undisputed. Thus the project implementation resulted in a structured, strategic partnership, stimulated by the acquired knowledge, skills and tools for civil influence in cases of violations of democratic values and human rights in particular. An informal network was set up with representatives of the local authorities, the central government and the civil society in Sofia District. A key project output was the training programme developed on civil education, accredited as full-time and distance training with the Centre for Continuing Education at New Bulgarian University (NBU). The programme includes five training courses of 30 academic hours, or a total of 150 academic hours, and it provides knowledge and skills for efficient civil participation in the development and implementation of efficient policies. For more information, see:
http://csp-sofia.org/sac/
Summary of bilateral results