RESEARCH ON CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN THE FORMULATION OF PUBLIC POLICIES IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF PRESEVO, BUJANOVAC AND MEDVEDJA

22. July 2016.

Presevo, Bujanovac, Medvedja – Researchers of the Center for Balanced Regional Development conducted a field study on the participation of citizens, especially young people and women, in the preparation, monitoring and implementation of public policies in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. The target group consisted of representatives of the local self- governments (municipal assemblies, the Youth Council, the Commission for Gender Equality, the Youth Office, heads of municipal administrations), civil society organizations and the media, with which 33 in-depth talks were done. Also, the official documents, publications and other materials, whose contents would be analyzed, were collected.

The research topics include the openness of the local self-governments for consultations and the involvement of citizens in the formulation of public policies and in the adoption of local regulations; the existence of legal and structural assumptions for civic participation; assessment of citizens' (non) interest in participation, especially among youth and women, as well as the key reasons for that; identification of good practices of the citizens’ involvement and the most common forms of inclusion, with a special emphasis on the cases of involvement of youth and women in decision-making and advocacy; familiarity with the Guidelines for the inclusion of civil society in the process of adopting the regulations, which the Government adopted in 2014, and so on.

By the end of July, a qualitative analysis will be published and the recommendations made, or specific measures will be proposed to the targeted local self-governments about what is necessary to be done in order to raise the level of involvement of citizens and civil society organizations in the formulation and implementation of public policies in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

The research is conducted as part of the project "Support to Democratization in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja", which is implemented by the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy - CeSID with partner organizations.

Source: Center for Balanced Regional Development and Coordination Body