Innovative practices in Bulgaria
Sharing innovations for improving local self-government
Community Forums - forms of public debate in six municipalities of the Stara Planina region - Tryavna, Gabrovo, Sevlievo, Apriltsi, Troyan and Teteven
Community Forum<br>Project of the Swiss Government
Background
Since the beginning of 2000 the Swiss Government Program of cooperation with municipalities from the Central Balkans has entered a new phase, using an improved method which aims to stimulate direct citizen participation in the discussion of priority problems for the municipalities and developing and implementation of projects focused on community development. The Swiss Government provides funding only to the proposals which have been fine-tuned and agreed in a broad public discussion.
Since the beginning of 2000 the Swiss Government Program of cooperation with municipalities from the Central Balkans has entered a new phase, using an improved method which aims to stimulate direct citizen participation in the discussion of priority problems for the municipalities and developing and implementation of projects focused on community development. The Swiss Government provides funding only to the proposals which have been fine-tuned and agreed in a broad public discussion.
Practice
The Community Forums are conducted in a logistic framework, developed with the expert assistance of Swiss and Bulgarian consultants, which was tested in Switzerland and Germany. It aims to achieve optimum balance and equal dialogue between the broad community on the one hand and the local authorities on the other hand:
- All citizens wishing to participate in the Forum can do that;
- Participants are grouped according to the various professional and interest groups they belong to (entrepreneurs, citizens, NGOs, local government, regional administration etc.)
- Topics to be discussed at each session are chosen by participants at the very beginning;
- Discussions are open to the public;
- External and totally neutral moderators are used;
- Each participant should be present through all the Forum sessions as a member of a specific work table. Membership is individual and no substitution is allowed.
- People who wish to observe the Forum are invited and allowed to take part in the discussion at a certain moment;
- People expressing different political positions or other views (for example the Mayor of the Municipality), who are not part of any work table, are invited to participate;
- Media are invited also as observers their contribution for the accurate and regular coverage of the process is strongly relied on.
- Participants adopt a community Moral Code including regulations and procedures ensuring the smooth operation of the work sessions;
- Discussion is facilitated by expert information, if necessary;
- The Forum addresses recommendations for specific action to people responsible for their implementation;
- The Forum sessions take place monthly for several hours in the course of one year;
- Funding for them is provided by the Swiss Government;
- The parallel support of the projects selected by the Forum is ensured by the Swiss embassy in Bulgaria through a specially set up Project Committee;
- The Project Committee implements the steps needed to develop applicable projects within the framework of the Swiss Program in the Central Balkans region. Members of the Committee are approved by the Swiss Program with the aim of combining the knowledge and skills of Bulgarian and Swiss experts on the formulation and planning of the projects. Some of the applicable local projects can start immediately. The bigger ones will be funded after the conclusion of the Forums at local and regional level.
The Community Forums are conducted in a logistic framework, developed with the expert assistance of Swiss and Bulgarian consultants, which was tested in Switzerland and Germany. It aims to achieve optimum balance and equal dialogue between the broad community on the one hand and the local authorities on the other hand:
- All citizens wishing to participate in the Forum can do that;
- Participants are grouped according to the various professional and interest groups they belong to (entrepreneurs, citizens, NGOs, local government, regional administration etc.)
- Topics to be discussed at each session are chosen by participants at the very beginning;
- Discussions are open to the public;
- External and totally neutral moderators are used;
- Each participant should be present through all the Forum sessions as a member of a specific work table. Membership is individual and no substitution is allowed.
- People who wish to observe the Forum are invited and allowed to take part in the discussion at a certain moment;
- People expressing different political positions or other views (for example the Mayor of the Municipality), who are not part of any work table, are invited to participate;
- Media are invited also as observers their contribution for the accurate and regular coverage of the process is strongly relied on.
- Participants adopt a community Moral Code including regulations and procedures ensuring the smooth operation of the work sessions;
- Discussion is facilitated by expert information, if necessary;
- The Forum addresses recommendations for specific action to people responsible for their implementation;
- The Forum sessions take place monthly for several hours in the course of one year;
- Funding for them is provided by the Swiss Government;
- The parallel support of the projects selected by the Forum is ensured by the Swiss embassy in Bulgaria through a specially set up Project Committee;
- The Project Committee implements the steps needed to develop applicable projects within the framework of the Swiss Program in the Central Balkans region. Members of the Committee are approved by the Swiss Program with the aim of combining the knowledge and skills of Bulgarian and Swiss experts on the formulation and planning of the projects. Some of the applicable local projects can start immediately. The bigger ones will be funded after the conclusion of the Forums at local and regional level.
Results
At this stage of development the Community Forum has proved that it can enable the attainment of goals which are vitally important for our society equal dialogue, negotiating the interests of all social groups, openness and transparency in decision-making, defining community priorities by citizens, not only by local authorities, reaching common positions and uniting around them.
At this stage of development the Community Forum has proved that it can enable the attainment of goals which are vitally important for our society equal dialogue, negotiating the interests of all social groups, openness and transparency in decision-making, defining community priorities by citizens, not only by local authorities, reaching common positions and uniting around them.
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