The education of the citizens about the forms and ways of participation in the decision making process at the local level was one of the main recommendations on the debate “Citizen Participation in Decision Making Processes” held in Vrapciste on October 24, within the Mobile Resource Center.
There were 15 participants in the discussion, who gave their recommendations for popularization of the forms of consultations in the process of passing local policies.
One of the key challenges is the education of youth and women about the benefits of their participation in the decision making process. Citizens most often recognize the local elections as a form of their participation, however, they do not use the Council sessions at all. Informing the population is mainly hampered due to the rural character of the municipality with dispersed settlement.
The recommendations referred to popularisation of the forms of consultation for passing local policies such as workshops, forums or a local newsletter; appointing a person in the municipality for cooperation with CSOs; as well as changes to the website using the languages that are spoken in the municipality.
In addition to the debate, the Civic Society Resource Center team met with the Mayor of Vrapciste, Isen Shabani. He noted that so far several forms of participation in decision-making have been practiced in Vrapciste, such as community forums, workshops for developing local programs and plans, as well as this year’s forum on the budget. The mayor added that the rural character of the municipality is a challenge in organising such events where the participation of the population is expected.
The Civil Society Resource Centre is an EU-funded project, implemented by Macedonian Center for International Cooperation in partnership with Association for Democratic Initiatives (ADI), Gostivar and Media Plus, Shtip.
