Participation. Strategy. Democracy

Goal
The project aims at stimulating participation and partnership at the local level by creating a democratic framework and a strategic development process. Organizations and initiative groups, together with local authorities from 10 communities, are encouraged and assisted to work together in order to facilitate and stimulate citizens' participation in the elaboration of a development strategy for their community.

Partners
This project is initiated and developed in partnership with the PACT Foundation.
 

Main Activities

• Selection of the 10 communities to take part in the project, out of 30 communities the PACT Foundation works with.
• Training seminar on "Stimulating citizens' participation in public decision making processes".
• Public participation exercise: representatives from city halls and NGOs will be assisted in developing activities to stimulate citizens' participation in decision making.
• Training seminar on "Participatory strategic planning" (knowledge transfer and abilities development for realizing - in a participatory way - a strategic planning process in the community, with the end result of having local development strategies).
• Application exercise for realizing the local development strategy. Authorities and NGOs involved will receive assistance for developing the local development strategies in a participatory way.
• Publishing the Public Participation Newsletter. The newsletter will have 3 editions and will be distributed to at least 70 other communities, presenting the public participation experiences from the project.
• Final event for the dissemination of the project's results - a World Café - on the topic "Citizens' Participation in Decision Making - Practices of Local Good Governance".
   

The Current Stage

• The 10 communities were selected to take part in the project: Calinesti, Barca, Dorobantu, Brosteni, Tismana, Pestisani, Arcani, Malu Mare, Giurgita, Merisani.
• At the beginning of March 2008, CeRe and PACT edited the first edition of the Public Participation Newsletter.
• Between 5 and 7 Marc 2008, the first training seminar took place on the topic "Stimulating citizens' participation in public decision making processes". 36 NGOs and authorities' representatives were present, coming from the 10 selected communities.
• From March to April 2008, the city halls and NGOs' representatives were assisted and consulted with CeRe and PACT in their respective communities, for developing decision making with the involvement of the community members.
• In July the second edition of the Public Participation Newsletter was issued; each community involved in the project was given space in the newsletter.
• Between 3 and 6 July 2008 the seminar on "Participatory strategic planning" took place.

[The project "Participation. Strategy. Democracy" is financed financed by the European Union through Phare, the programme "Consolidating Democracy in Romania".]