On 11 and 18 June 2021, Mostar local councillors engaged in a fruitful exchange with European peers within a two-part online workshop “Being a City Councillor in Mostar”. They shared their positive experience after six months of mandate, and discussed the role of the city councillors, the use of instruments of citizen engagement for improved policy-making at local level and ways to foster the credibility and integrity as conditions for improved citizens’ trust.

On this occasion, Congress members, Andrew Boff (United Kingdom, ECR), Heather Brannan McVey (United Kingdom, SOC/G/PD), Jimmy Moloney (Ireland, ILDG) and Vladimir Prebilic (Slovenia, SOC/G/PD) shared experiences from their own constituencies and discussed the good practices, challenges, and lessons learned with their Mostar peers. They valued the openness, proactiveness and high interest that Mostar City Councillors demonstrated.

This workshop is the first of a series of activities in various areas of responsibility of the City Council. It is complementary to the deliberative process which will lead to holding a Citizens’ Assembly in Mostar in July 2021.

This event is organised in the framework of the project “Building democratic participation in the City of Mostar” implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018-2021. The aim of the project is to create opportunities for citizens to engage in a deliberative process and increase their contribution to local decision-making. In turn, this process will foster dialogue at local level and contribute to the revitalisation of democratic processes in the City of Mostar.