News archive
                   

CESID: RESIDENTS OF MEDVEDJA PARTICIPATE LESS IN DECISION-MAKING IN RELATION TO OTHER MUNICIPALITIES

22. February 2017.

Medvedja – The research conducted by CESID, with the support of the European Union, shows that the level of citizen participation in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja is much lower than the average in the Republic of Serbia.

Emilija Brkic from CESID said that the survey included 30 in-depth interviews with the local self-governments, the media and civil society, and that it showed that the degree of citizen participation in these municipalities was significantly lower than the average in the Republic of Serbia.

“That means that citizens do not participate sufficiently in the decision-making process, which is recognized as one of the main problems, which is why we conduct this project, which is funded by the European Union, "she said.

CESID provided several recommendations based on the research.

"Those are, among others, the improvement of local mechanisms, which currently do not exist or do operate well enough, depending on the municipality, as well as Youth Councils, Youth Offices, persons who would deal exclusively with cooperation with civil society organizations, or jobs for people who would deal with gender equality, "Ms. Brkic said. 

The research included all forms of citizen participation prescribed by the Law on Local Self-Government and municipal statutes.

“On the one hand, the local self- governments are not doing enough to resolve the issues, and on the other, we have citizens who are quite passive, uninterested and do not have enough information to be able to better and more actively participate in the work of local self-government, "Ms. Brkic said.

She said that the problems in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja were "very similar". 

When it comes to Medvedja, where the report was presented, it was stated that the municipality of Medvedja had the additional problem of its territorial spreading, which limited the participation of citizens, especially those from rural areas.

Nebojsa Arsic, the Mayor of Medvedja, said that that local self-government was willing to listen and accept the suggestions of citizens, as it did in the case of drafting the budget for the current year.

 Source: “This is Serbia” TV Program, Jugpress and Coordination Body