With the aim to contribute to raising awareness and capacity development in civil participation standards and tools of the Council of Europe, academy on participatory democracy was organised for local authorities and civil society representatives of Kvemo Kartli Region in Kachreti, Georgia. The Regional Academy was led by Council of Europe international and local experts, and was held as part of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Human Rights at Local Level in Georgia”.
The information on innovative tools for citizens ‘engagement introduced by experts, invited guest speakers and the participants and insights from case studies and exercises raised awareness of participants about Council of Europe standards and guidelines on participatory democracy and civil engagement in political decision-making at the local level, as well as fostered understanding of political decision-making processes and entry-points for citizen engagement.
The participants learned about various participatory tools developed by the Council of Europe such as “Civil Participation in Decision-Making Toolkit”, “CivicLab”, “Uchange”, which support municipalities to involve citizens effectively in participatory processes and to build dialogue platforms around pertinent policy issues. Moreover, the participants were introduced to the deliberative participation mechanism, Citizens’ Assemblies, which proposes a methodology for organising city assemblies, which allows citizens to be better engaged in decision-making, learn about the topic of consultation from the field experts, and exchange the views of local stakeholders.
The participants also exchanged ideas on civil participation, strategic priorities, good practices, and challenges existing in the field of civil participation in decision-making practices at the local level.
The event gathered total 20 participants from civil society organisations, city halls, city councils and administration of state representative in Kvemo Kartli region, who at the end of the event, in the assessment questionnaire reported that the event contributed to strengthening mutual understanding between civil society actors and government officials.
Council of Europe already implemented 4 regional academies in Tbilisi, Imereti, Guria and Kakheti.
The event was organised in the framework of the Project “Strengthening Participatory Democracy and Human Rights at Local Level in Georgia”, implemented by the Directorate General of Democracy, Division Elections and Participatory Democracy and Congress of Local and Regional Authorities within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2020-2023 with the financial contribution of Austrian Development Cooperation.
