The mid-term international seminar of the project DECIDE has successfully been completed on 13 June 2014.
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A three day event brought together representatives of the 25 partners from 15 countries as well as local participants to exchange and discuss about tested measures promoting citizen participation at local and regional level across wider Europe.
More than 30 successful initiatives were analysed within clusters such as youth participation and civic education, environment and public spaces, participation of elderly people, support of civil society associations and citizens’ projects, public resources, e-participation and cross-cutting tools. Split into working groups, participants identified the quality elements of the initiatives and discussed about their impact.
As concrete steps for the launching of the second phase of the project at the local level, two key sessions were held on the second day. Firstly, based on the exchanges and debates of the previous day, each national delegation identified one-two measures to implement in their own territory so as to increase the rates of citizen participation. An action plan on how to put the measures into place was then drafted and shared among the partners.
The afternoon’s session was dedicated to the testing stage in order to share common indicators for evaluating the success of the implemented measures. The delegations reunited around common measures and agreed on an assessment process based on two steps: evaluating the perception of participation in public life on a given topic before and after the implementation and the running of the measure adopted.
In order to reach a further involvement of local participants, the partners organised an exhibition event aimed at giving visibility to all successful projects promoting citizen participation. It reunited international and local representatives of local authorities and civil society associations and was a unique opportunity to network and exchange on funding opportunities for future initiatives. As many of the projects showcased were adopted within the Europe for Citizens programme, the event was also an occasion to promote the programme and enquire about potential partnership under the new programming period 2014-2020.
The three day event was completed by the in-field visit to the Museum of Nesebar, whose construction was a good practice of participatory process in the planning of public spaces. It was also an opportunity to have an insight of the historical path that led the city centre of Nesebar being recognised as a UNESCO heritage site.
The mid-term international seminar of the project DECIDE has successfully been completed on 13 June 2014.
***
A three day event brought together representatives of the 25 partners from 15 countries as well as local participants to exchange and discuss about tested measures promoting citizen participation at local and regional level across wider Europe.
More than 30 successful initiatives were analysed within clusters such as youth participation and civic education, environment and public spaces, participation of elderly people, support of civil society associations and citizens’ projects, public resources, e-participation and cross-cutting tools. Split into working groups, participants identified the quality elements of the initiatives and discussed about their impact.
As concrete steps for the launching of the second phase of the project at the local level, two key sessions were held on the second day. Firstly, based on the exchanges and debates of the previous day, each national delegation identified one-two measures to implement in their own territory so as to increase the rates of citizen participation. An action plan on how to put the measures into place was then drafted and shared among the partners.
The afternoon’s session was dedicated to the testing stage in order to share common indicators for evaluating the success of the implemented measures. The delegations reunited around common measures and agreed on an assessment process based on two steps: evaluating the perception of participation in public life on a given topic before and after the implementation and the running of the measure adopted.
In order to reach a further involvement of local participants, the partners organised an exhibition event aimed at giving visibility to all successful projects promoting citizen participation. It reunited international and local representatives of local authorities and civil society associations and was a unique opportunity to network and exchange on funding opportunities for future initiatives. As many of the projects showcased were adopted within the Europe for Citizens programme, the event was also an occasion to promote the programme and enquire about potential partnership under the new programming period 2014-2020.
The three day event was completed by the in-field visit to the Museum of Nesebar, whose construction was a good practice of participatory process in the planning of public spaces. It was also an opportunity to have an insight of the historical path that led the city centre of Nesebar being recognised as a UNESCO heritage site.