On October 14, 2011 in Sofia in the framework of the project "Citizen Monitoring towards Effective Management of Public Resources" workshop was held to exchange experiences of representatives of the three pilot municipalities Kyustendil, Gotse Delchev and Knezha.

It was attended by a dozen people from each municipality - representatives of the municipal administration and municipal enterprises, community centers and local NGOs as well as the team FLGR.

At the meeting the participants were reminded of the selection process of public services to become subject to monitoring.

The applied approach to promote citizen monitoring in municipalities and attracting citizens as observers was presented.

The results of the quarterly citizen monitoring of the four public services at local level were presented, as follows:

• Waste collection / transportation - Municipality Gotse Delchev;
• Home social patronage - Municipality Knezha;
• Maintenance of municipal roads and street network - Municipality Knezha;
• Green areas maintenance - Kyustendil Municipality.

The actions taken by local authorities in response to the recommendations expressed by citizens were reprted.

Gotse Delchev municipality, where the cleanliness of the streets and public places and quality of waste collection / transportation in Gotse Delchev is monitored (on the territories of city of Gotse Delchev and the villages of Musomishte, Breznitsa and Borovo), reported benefits of monitoring as follows:

• better implementation of the commitments of the concessionaire companies that felt in the focus of public attention;
• replacement of old garbage bins with new ones at the request of citizens;
• change of the location of garbage bins at the request of citizens;
• maintaining cleanliness around garbage containers;
• good coordination between the teams of municipality team and FLGR.

It was reported that people also paid attention to the problems that can not be resolved within only three months of monitoring. An example of this id the problem of the separate collection of garbage, which apparently has not found a good solution and the municipal leadership will review the contract with the company. Civic monitor cards clearly show that residents of the municipality have an interest and desire to collect separately garbage, so in the future more attention will be paid to improving this element of the service.

In the municipality of Knezha two public services are monitored. One is Home social patronage (provision of hot food on daily basis for elderly, lonely and crippled. Local government, motivated by ongoing monitoring, which was participated by between 25 and 35 % of service users, and their recommendations, conducted its own poll - among all 124 users of the service, which confirmed the three main conclusions of the monitoring:

• Service users are willing to receive also dessert, even at an additional cost (50%);
• 70 % of service users would like to use the catering on Saturdays and Sundays and during holidays;
• The willingness of consumers the service to be expanded with opportunities of using assistance in social contact, paying bills and hygiene services.

As an obstacle for timely response to the recommendations of the service users was reported the annual contract sighed with the products supplier. It prevents timely change of the recipes according to шге consumers' demand. The municipality will seek a more flexible option for signing a contract for the supply of products.

The second monitored public service in the municipality is Knezha is the maintenance of municipal roads and street network. The main reason for the fact that the recommendations of the of the inhabitants of the municipality cannot be answered is the limited financial resources - 350 000 Bg levs for the 2011 year. Local authorities however do everything in their power to solve the problems. A machine for filling the street holes was purchased,  the appropriate sections were graveled.

Municipality of Kyustendil in response to the recommendations of the citizens has:

• planted 1900 conifers, 350 deciduous, 700 shrubs;
• placed new benches in the city center and old benches after repair will be located in the living quarters of the city where there are no benches;
• opened a new green spot;
• a project of bicycle lane along the river Banshtitsa is being elaborated;
• lead discussions with the directors of schools in the city to achieve a coordinated effort for the maintenance of school green areas with the volunteer commitment of the students themselves;
• in response to the fact of insufficient number of people employed in the unit "Landscaping" (Municipal enterprise “Chistota”) new 35 people will be employed under a state aid program.

The results of the monitoring were summarized at meeting as positive, and the project in three pilot municipalities - as a catalyst to the improvement of the services monitored.

This project is funded by the America for Bulgaria Foundation.

America for Bulgaria Foundation supports the development and growth of a vibrant private sector in favor of free and democratic Bulgaria. Founded in 2008, ABF is the successor of the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund, established by the U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development. The grants of he Foundation America for Bulgaria Foundation grant continue the relationship of goodwill and friendship between the people of USA and Bulgaria.