modified Monday, 28 June 2010

Local Council in the Spotlight

What we aim at:

The project “Local Council in the Spotlight” tackles the problem of lack of responsibility on the part of the local administration and particularly the local councils towards the citizens’ interests. Together with its partners, CeRe aims at improving the representation of the citizen interests and the transparency of the decision making process by enhancing the local organizations’ capacity to monitor the activity of the local councils and to mobilize the community.

Who we work with:

The project “Local Council in the Spotlight” is run in five towns: Merisani and Stefanesti (Arges County), Sighisoara (Mures County), Nadlac (Arad County) and Nehoiu (Buzau County). CeRe has a local partner in each of these towns: the Partner for You Association (APT), the Education and Culture for People Association (AECO), the Center for Social Development (CEDES), the Nadlac Association for Training and Guidance (AFC) and the Nehoiu Association for Community Development (ADCN).

Another association that supports us throughout our project is the Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania – the Helsinki Committee (APADOR CH).

What we do:

For 6 months, each local organization, assisted by CeRe, monitors the (in)activity of local councillors and informs the community about the way they represent its interests. Concurrently, CeRe and its partners will stimulate citizen participation in decision making by turning the local council’s meeting room in a genuine debate area.

The project entails:

• participation in council meetings and requests for information of public interest, in order to gather data on the local councillors’ activity – such as draft decisions they propose, attendance to meetings, the way they vote on various draft decisions, consultations they hold, etc;

• drawing up reports on the local councillors’ activity and distributing them to the residents;

• informing the citizens on local council meetings and urging them to take part in these meetings, depending upon the topics under discussion;

• conducting public debates on topics of local interest and meetings between the citizens and the local councillors;

Current stage

At present, CeRe and its partners are concluding the second round of monitoring reports on the activity of local councillors. The reports will be delivered to the 5 towns immediately upon completion.

The first round of reports:

·     Merisani

·     Nadlac

·     Catina

·     Stefanesti

·     Sighisoara

The project has already produced results. Just to mention a few:

• The local councillors in Nadlac and Catina drew up activity reports only because they were asked to;
• At Merisani and Stefanesti, people started to take part in local council meetings;
• As a result of citizen participation, the local councillors in Merisani became more active during debates and council meetings grew in length from 20 minutes to more than two hours. One of the local councillors even proposed two draft decisions – one of them on improving communication with the residents.
• Again at Merisani, after the Partner for You Association monitored the local bulletin board for months and months and repeatedly issued notifications regarding the non-observance of law 52/2003, information started to be posted on the bulletin board, such as proceedings of council meetings and decisions made by the local council.
• As a result of the public debate held at Stefanesti, waste management was improved.

Unfortunately, the project also stirred reactions that made us mad. For details, click here and here.

The project “Local Council in the Spotlight” is financed through the Phare program  2006/018-147.01.02/02 – Increasing the role of civil society in Romania’s integration process. The content of this presentations does not necessarily represent the official position of the European Commission. The entire responsibility for the correctness and coherence of the   information presented here belongs to the initiators of this material.

For further information and notifications regarding the Phare projects, please contact cfcu.PHARE@mfinante.ro

Public participation from story to reality

What we aim at

This project stems from the conclusions of the study "Public Participation between Legislation and Efficiency", edited by CeRe in 2008, and aims at helping 6 town halls improve citizen participation in public decision making.

Partners

In order to turn public participation from story to reality, CeRe is working together with the town halls of Boldesti Scaieni (Prahova County), Mioveni and Corbi (Arges County), Contesti (Dambovita County), Andrasesti and Cazanesti (Ialomita County).

Assessing the way citizens are involved in decision making for the community

Activities

Recommendations to improve communication between administration and residents, based on the assessment mentioned above.

Conducting a lecture for administration officials in 6 towns, on the topic of “Citizen participation in public decision making”.

Conducting events in each of the 6 towns, that allow citizens to express their opinions on the decisions to be taken by the town hall.

Conducting a “lessons learned” seminar for exchange of experience.

Publishing case studies on 3 of the towns involved.

Conducting classes in each town for the citizens who want to keep track of the administration’s activity and to fight for the interests of the community.

Current stage

So far, CeRe visited twice each of the 6 towns in order to assess the level of citizen involvement in public decision making. For assessment purposes, the CeRe representatives had talks with the administration officials as well as with the citizens.

After hearing the opinions of “both sides”, CeRe developed for each town hall a set of recommendations for improving citizen participation in decision making.

Subsequently, two or three officials from four of the six administrations involved participated in a training session on the topic of “Communication with citizens and new methods of public consultation”.

CeRe is currently assisting the administrations involved in conducting the consultation processes they have planned and has started public seminars where citizens can learn more about their rights in relation to the local administration.

This project is financed by the Balkan Trust for Democracy with  $25,000.