Guide to participatory democracy in Bulgaria and Romania (2006)
ISBN 978-92-871-5985-4

The participation of citizens in local public life is an essential element of effective and democratic local government. It reinforces accountability and underpins the legitemacy of local government. It gives a real say to the citizens in the management of their communities and helps deliver better services at a lower cost.

In recent years, a wide array of mechanisms of citizen participation has been developed by many European local authorities. However, the distance between the citizens and the government is still growing. The erosion of democratic interest has not stopped yet.

How can one respond to this challenge? How can citizen participation be effectively strengthened? How can a local authority learn from its own experience and that of its peers? These are but a few questions which are addressed in the present guide.

Starting from concrete examples of three pilot projects implemented with the assistance of the Council of Europe and the financial support of the Irish and Norwegian Governments, the authors of the present guide make an attempt to identify the critical success factors of a working project strengthening citizen participation and formulate recommendations for central government officials, local leadership, national local authority associations and researchers about starting a mutual learning process for municipalities engaged in innovation and experimentation.

Guide to participatory democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia and Montenegro (2005)
ISBN 978-92-871-5718-8

One of the most worrying phenomena of the current European scene is the growing disenchantment of many ordinary citizens with politics. Political problems are increasingly complex and technical in nature, and the democratic process is perceived as making little difference to their solution, The mass media contribute to this development by superficial reporting which encourages the public to regard politics as a kind of "spectator sport", It has become urgent to find remedies to this erosion of democratic interest,
The most effective remedy must be to involve citizens themselves in policy development and decision making on issues which they understand. Such issues are easiest to identify at local level and involvement can most readily be organised within the local community.
This guide was designed as an awareness-raising and training tool for local politicians and staff; NGO activists and ordinary citizens, national associations of local authorities and training providers.
It explains how democratic systems/institutions can be opened up to promote greater citizen participation in political and administrative processes.