AGORA: active citizens stand for responsible administrative actions

The quality of local public policies is directly dependent on 1) guaranteed transparency and 2) the involvement of all stakeholders in the process of prioritization, decision-making, monitoring and enforcement. The most powerful democratic instrument for transparency, publicity and civic inclusion is the mechanism for direct citizens 'participation in local self-government through a general assembly of the population, a referendum and a citizens' initiative. However, the successful implementation of these mechanisms requires a specific civic and political culture, collective memory, institutional environment. That is why in Bulgaria these democracy tools are very rarely used and with a very dubious outcomes. As a result, local self-government sometimes acquires a facade character and conceals abuses of power, redeployment, economic dependence, corruption. The AGORA project aims to contribute to a higher quality of local public policies through the development of an adequate model for direct citizen participation in governance. Therefore, the project includes 1) an in-depth study of the factors that favor or inhibit initiatives for direct citizens' participation in local self-government and the EU's experience in this field; 2) detailed monitoring of the actions of the administration in the implementation of the citizens' initiatives for direct participation; 3) workshops for exchange of experience between active civil structures, business, informal unions, etc., who initiated direct participation; 4) a broad advocacy, information and training campaign to promote the model of direct citizen participation in local self-government. The project will be implemented for 12 months in the territory of Pazardzhik District in cooperation with civil organizations, informal civil unions and Pazardjik Governer Administration.

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