NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR A MEANINGFUL CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION
People to participate in a structured and meaningful way need to have guaranteed some conditions:
Citizens’ Participation implies
essentially means that citizens’ views, recommendations and conclusions should have a real impact on decisions that are made. This is also a way to valorise the involvement of citizens.
1. Rights* – to have an implicit right to participate. There should be legislation protecting and promoting citizens’ participation. It is a fundamental right that all citizens have and should demand. 2. Information – Access to clear, updated and complete information by the citizens. Here it is also about having the support to understand some of the existing legislation on the mechanisms for citizens’ participation 3. Action – Citizens drawing on this information to take action, communicate and or provide feedback to governments 4. Responsiveness – The existence of transparent and effective mechanisms by governments for responding to citizens’ voice. This
• Knowledge of Citizen Participation Methods & Mechanisms
• Involvement of different stakeholders
• Rights
• Valorasition of their involvement
• Means
• Responsiveness
• Space
• Transparency
• Support
• Accountability
5. Means* – Authorities should work to ensure that basic needs of citizens are met decreasing the difficulties that citizens face to participative. These include sufficient social security, education, housing, health care, transportation, know-how and access to technology 6. Space* – Citizens need physical space to meet, to discuss ideas, to spend time to organise their own activities and to reflect about their communities and their role. But space can be also seen as space to participate within the institutional framework of policy making.
7. Support* – This includes, for example, financial, moral and institutional support at a number of different levels – personal, organisational or at local community level. Ideally, local authorities should provide adequate financial support to cover expenses and structural costs of citizens participation 8. Accountability – is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, decisions, and policies and to explain and be answerable for resulting consequences. Accountability is a constitutional duty 9. Involvement of different stakeholders – All social actors should be implied in promoting citizens’ participation and should share and find space to discuss priorities, concerns and actions.
* Adaptation from the Manual “Have Your Say! MANUAL on the Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life” of the Council of Europe
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