Are the Citizens aware of the existence of legal and non-legal mechanisms for political participation at local, national and EU levels? What is their opinion regarding the existing mechanisms? Why aren’t they being used? What could be done in order to improve Citizens participation? Can we use social networks and e-platforms? How can authorities support Citizens’ participation? And what is the role of civil society organizations?
In order to answer to these and other questions, 5 European organizations came together and created this project, aiming to promote Citizens’ participation at local, national and European Union levels, by inspiring Citizens to participate active and effectively in public decision making processes and by encouraging local authorities to provide more effective opportunities for Citizen’s participation.
The main objectives of the project are to:
- Provide practical information about available mechanisms for Citizens participation;
- Gather information regarding the knowledge, opinions about and utilization levels of the existing mechanisms for Citizens participation on the partner’s municipalities;
- Recommend possible amendments to the existing participation mechanisms or the introduction of innovative mechanisms such as e-democracy tools, among others;
- Allow municipalities and active local level Civil Society Organizations, to share practices and develop innovative approaches to increase the active engagement of Citizens on the European debate.
The project was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme “Europe for Citizens” and coordinated by ECOS. The main aim of the project is to promote democratic participation, by inspiring Citizens to participate active and effectively in public decision-making processes and by encouraging local authorities to provide more effective opportunities for Citizens participation.
Until the end of 2015 the partners in this project – ECOS, CRIS, PINA, SOCIUS and ANNONA, will embark in this Round-Trip, inviting citizens and local public authorities of the 5 countries to:
- share information and experiences
- debate and make recommendations on possible improvements to the existing participation mechanisms or propose innovative approaches to democratic participation
- narrow the relationship between people and political representatives
- encourage more people to have a say in the political decision making.
