Kosovo Municipality Seeks to Increase Citizen Participation
Implementing simple changes in how public meetings are run has yielded positive results for Podujevë/o Municipality. Recommendations from the USAID Local Government Initiative resident municipal advisor helped administrators find new ways to engage public interest and participation.
Changes were evident at a recent public workshop to identify action steps, roles for community members and municipal leaders in meeting the Standards for Kosovo. The goal of the meeting was to help local officials improve public outreach and communications. Rather than following the traditional format in which scheduled speakers address the crowd, the workshop was conducted in a manner that encouraged the participation of all attendees.
The new design yielded far more concrete, constructive suggestions on how to deal with key issues than previous meetings had. Citizens called for increased transparency of government activities within all ethnic communities, equal access to quality education, and the establishment of educational programs that promote tolerance and awareness.
The most sizable challenge? Achieving consensus for setting priorities. Among those receiving the most broad-based support was a request that future meetings be moved from the municipal building. Citizens agreed that community-based gatherings would greatly enhance civic participation.
Participants identified their primary task, as villagers, to be ensuring the security for all citizens through active community involvement.
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