The project was conceived in response to the need for fundamental changes in the forms and mechanisms of consultation between institutions, citizens and civil sector organisations in drafting and conducting public policy. The latter process is largely closed to the public and outside its control. Sporadic consultations (usually conducted under NGO projects) do not lead to effective and sustainable results and only emphasise the shortcomings in the current model. The link between this and the rampant corruption in the country is abundantly clear. Changes in the field of citizen participation must be arranged at the highest political level, accompanied by changes in the institutional environment and, last but not least, with the active involvement of citizens.
The project is also a response to the lack of uniform standards and of precise and synchronised legal regulation for conducting consultations between institutions and citizens in public policy making.
The main aim of the project was to contribute to the enhancement of the participation of citizens and stakeholders in decision making on public policies in Bulgaria through the creation of a favourable legal, institutional and public environment.
In order to achieve this, a number of mutually linked and specific objectives were implemented. Through these, a set of proposals for uniform common principles and standards for the conduct of consultations between institutions and citizens on public policy issues and documents was drafted and submitted to the responsible central and local authority institutions for adoption, along with proposals for changes in the relevant legislation in line with European standards and practices. This represented a considerable step forward in the creation of a package of mutually linked and complimentary mechanisms which have the potential to lead to major progress in the regulation and effectiveness of citizen participation issues if taken up and adopted by the responsible institutions.
Equally significant was a concept document produced under this project, setting up the strategic parameters of the required changes in participation policy: the Civil Sector Draft White Paper on Citizen Participation in Bulgaria. Having gained the support of over 320 civil sector organisations, many of which contributed their own proposals during the drafting process, this document presents a unified and coordinated civil sector vision on the urgent changes required in terms of participation on all levels: legal, institutional and social. This document provides a basis on which civil sector organisations can confidently continue their dialogue with institutions.
Another strength of this project is that it strikes a balance between proposals for considerable visionary and conceptual changes in terms of participation and purely practical products to assist public officials and civil servants to cope with the difficult practical tasks involved in conducting proper consultations with citizens. To this end, the project produced document templates and sample forms for the establishment of consultative bodies and for conducting consultations on the basis of the proposed uniform standards. A special practical handbook was published, setting out in clear detail the action and steps to be taken to conduct them. The project thus created the material conditions necessary to enhance the administrative capacity of institutions to work on these issues.
In the course of the project, attractive messages were disseminated among the broad public audience by means of a public campaign aptly named “Hear the Citizens”. Those who joined the campaign supported it and contributed to it with suggestions on the contents of the Civil Sector Draft White Paper on Citizen Participation in Bulgaria. The campaign and its messages gained public visibility by means of audio and video clips broadcast on national radio and television. This was the first time that the publicly owned media committed themselves en masse to broadcasting such messages over six whole weeks. There is broad and public support for the campaign and attracted sections of the public outside the NGO community such as actors, artists, scholars and academics, the business community, etc.
The fact that participants in the “Hear the Citizens” campaign have expressed a wish to continue until successful results are achieved has turned the campaign into an initiative which transcends the confines of a project and the individuals and civil sector organisations taking part in it have consolidated into a “Hear the Citizens” support network, which will continue to put civil pressure on the target institutions to achieve the required change after the end of this project.
The campaign materials were also a key factor in involving the media in promoting the aims of the project and the "Hear the Citizens" campaign.
Expert and information products for use by all target groups:
1. Civil Sector Draft White Paper on Citizen Participation in Bulgaria
2. Proposals for uniform minimum standards in relation to all forms of interaction between institutions and citizens
3. Draft law on amendments and supplements to the Law on Normative Acts, the Administrative Procedural Code, the Administration Act and the Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act.
4. Sample consultation council regulations
5. Template for an Order of the Chief Municipal Executive (Mayor) for the establishment of a consultation body
6. Template for a Municipal Council Decision to establish a consultation body
7. Guidelines for amendments and supplements to municipal council regulations
Proposals for amendments and supplements to the following:
- Structural Regulations of the Council of Ministers
- Regulations for the Organisation of Parliamentary Activities
- Municipal Council Regulations for Karlovo and Montana
8. Handbook entitled "The Voice of Citizens in Public Policies"
9. "Hear the Citizens" campaign brochure
10. Audio clip for the "Hear the Citizens" campaign
11. Video clips for the "Hear the Citizens" campaign
12. Research paper on consultation mechanisms, practices and expert resources in central and local institutions and in the civil sector
A general observation on the project results is that local government bodies showed considerably more involvement and commitment to regulating citizen participation in line with the standards put forward in the project and the proposals for legislative change (to the extent that their introduction falls within local authority jurisdiction) than the central executive and legislative authorities. The difference in the reactions of the Council of Ministers and Parliament on the one hand and target municipalities on the other is a clear illustration of this. The municipal authorities undertook to pilot the proposed standards and legal regulation in their everyday practice. There are strong indications that after the end of the project, this piloting process will extend to other municipalities, especially since a wealth of resource materials is now available as a result of this project.
This project has genuinely left in its wake a considerable amount of material in the form of the products described above. A very large number of central legislative and executive authority representatives (the latter in key positions up to the highest level of government) received in person a pack of the expertly drafted proposals and products handed to them on behalf of the “Hear the Citizens” network (including the Civil Sector Draft White Paper on Citizen Participation in Bulgaria, the proposals for uniform minimum standards and for amendments and supplements to the 4 key items of legislation affecting citizen participation listed above and proposals for amendments and supplements to the regulations governing the Council of Ministers and Parliament). Now there will be no longer any grounds for anyone to claim that the inadequate level of citizen consultation is the result of lack of information, but the lack of political will among the central government authorities in Bulgaria for a genuinely working citizen participation process will be clearly visible.
Contact information
Kalina Bozeva
Inter Ethnic Initiative for Human Rights Foundation
9A, Graf Ignatiev Str.,
1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
Tel.: ++359 2 9801716
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