Description
The Citizens participate, community wins! Project wants to increase the number of persons involved in the process of elaborating local bills and normative rules, as well as in the decision making process, through promoting the Bill No. 52/2003 at the level of local public administration in the following cities and towns: Sighişoara, Târnăveni, Saschiz, Iaşi, Târgu Frumos, Miroslava, Caransebeş, Oţelu Roşu and Reşiţa. It will increase with 25% the number of recommendations formulated in the process of elaborating normative rules and decision making in Sighişoara, Iaşi and Caransebeş. Methods used: monitoring public institutions, making petitions, forming local initiative groups, classes for improving citizen involvement and presentations. Direct beneficiaries: 1,531 persons. Target groups: 18 local public authorities, 1,500 citizens, 13 employees/volunteers of the NGO’s. Expected results: 3 local initiative groups, 30 recommendations formulated, 165 citizens instructed, 6 public debates.
Summary of project results
The project was initiated considering the small number of citizens that get involved in the process of elaborating normative bills and, in general, in the decision making process, locally, in Romania. It aimed to monitor the adequate enforcement of some modifications brought to the Decisional Transparency Law (L52/2003), modifications which, as noticed, the public authorities were not applying accordingly. The project contributed to increasing the receptiveness and the accountability of the elected officials and public authorities in nine Romanian localities, in their relationship with the citizens and the NGOs. Eighteen local public authorities (two per each city) have been monitored on the implementation of L52/2003. Petitions regarding the deficiencies identified during monitoring have been sent, and three local initiative groups, in Sighisoara, Iasi, and Caransebes – the cities where the three project partners are located, have been formed. 158 citizens received participation awards for having successfully proven public involvement, and 2,000 agendas were distributed in order to empower more citizens to get involved: they contained the full package of information on how a person could engage in the process of decision making and assist in the local legislative process, as well as information on the services offered by the organisations implementing the project. During the project, a good degree of improvement regarding the way public authorities respected the provisions of the Decisional Transparency Law was registered, as well as an increased involvement of the citizens in the local decision making process, especially in what regards the local budget provisions. Prior the project’s intervention, in Sighișoara, Iași and Caransebeș combined, only 12 recommendations were received by the local authorities in the local legislative process. During the project, citizens sent out 31 recommendations regarding some normative bills at the level of Sighișoara Municipality, while the members of the local initiative groups sent 155 recommendations to the local public authorities in Sighișoara, Iași and Caransebeș, with the help of the organisations involved in the project. The citizens participating in the courses organised within the project also got involved in the sending of 44 petitions to the local authorities, on issues related to the following yearly local budgets. In comparison, for the 2015 local budget in Sighisoara, only 2 petitions had been sent out.
Summary of bilateral results