Citizen Participation Week: URI Tirana & Lezha, Albania

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In Albania, the Urban Research Institute (URI) carried out two Citizen Participation Week activities. Their focus was on public participation in the citizens’ registration process for the upcoming Population and Housing Census in Albania and on an environmental issue in the city of Lezha.

CENSUS registration of Albania’s Roma community

With the National Statistics Office of Albania (INSTAT) in the process of conducting the next Population and Housing Census 2011, URI organized an event aiming to raise awareness among Albania’s citizens about the significance of Census and the importance of participation in the process.

In order to contribute to the development of a communication strategy and action plan and to encourage the Roma community to participate in the Albanian Population and Housing Census 2011, URI organized a guidance session which provided information and guidance on the procedures and implementation of Census. The main objective of the session was to train a contingent from the Roma community who, with enumerators’ help, would assist Roma families in the process of completing the Census form.

City clean-up!

In addition, URI organized a community clean-up of public areas in the city of Lezha. In cooperation with theMunicipality of Lezha, the Department of Education and relevant departments from three college schools in the city, URI organized a three day long clean-up as part of an environmental awareness and education campaign. The activity aimed to make children and students promoters of environmental protection with the hope that they would influence the rest of society.

The main objectives of the campaign were to:

  • educate and raise awareness about the pollution created by recyclable waste on the environment and people’s health;
  • encourage citizens to keep clean and respect the place where they live;
  • transfer their experience and knowledge about recyclable waste to the rest of society;

 

Citizen Participation Week: SDA Kardzhali, Bulgaria

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In the small town of Kardzhali, Bulgaria, Citizen Participation Week was deemed very productive with a planned students’ campaign at full swing throughout the week. The CPW banners were hung in three schools in Kardzhali and the events carried out were all aimed at civil education for children and young people.

On 20th September, SDA held an event called Volunteers Day which was organized together with American volunteers from the Peace Corps. Students from all three schools participated in the demonstration which included speeches and a children’s entertainment programme. Later, community members and American volunteers gathered for a meeting where they discussed civil issues and solutions for improving the situation at local level.
On 21st September, SDA did a presentation about volunteering at “Kliment Ohridski” school. The presentation was followed by a lecture and a Q&A session. SDA established their first organization of young volunteers!
On 26th September a teleconference was held with participating students from Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Spain, Greece, and Portugal. The event was covered and filmed by the local media. It was supported by the Regional Forestry Directorate in Kardzhali, foreign partners, and SDA.

As a member of a national NGO network, SDA announced its CPW activities through various social media and networking sites in order to inform a wider audience about Citizen Participation Week, the Citizens Network and Bulgaria’s involvement with the organization.

Citizen Participation Week: CKO Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

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This year, the Centre for Community Organizing initiated an event in its home town, Banská Bystrica, as part of Citizen Participation Week. CKO’s team took to the streets in the Sásová neighborhood of Banská Bystrica in order to promote the new community centre there. The aim of this initiative was to inform residents about the opening of the centre and to gather their opinions and suggestions on the improvements and developments they wish to see in their neighborhood. Together with the centre’s staff, CKO’s team built a tent outside the community centre and invited passers-by to talk about the new establishment and the advice and activities that will soon become available there.
Community centres are not unpopular in Slovakia, but there certainly is a lack of awareness on the services they provide and the ways in which they can assist the community. In addition to leaflets about the centre itself, CKO also handed out a summary of the Code of Good Practices, a guide outlining the principles and guidelines for civil participation in decision-making processes that are to be implemented at local and national level in Council of Europe member States.
The event was deemed a success, with many locals stopping by and sharing their opinions and comments with us. Our hope is that the centre becomes ever more popular over the following months and that residents are aware of how they can benefit from it.

In addition to promoting the new community centre in the Sásová neighborhood, CKO also took on an initiative to raise awareness of citizen participation at theCatholic Grammar SchoolŠtefan Moyzes in Banská Bystrica. In front of a large group of about 50 penultimate and final year students, Chuck Hirt talked about citizen participation, CPW, and the successes CKO has managed to achieve at local level and beyond. He then proceeded to introduce a game called Ground Ball which is designed to give participants a first-hand experience of empowerment, participation and exclusion.

Twenty students participated in the game while the rest observed its development. At the end, the participating students from the winning and losing teams respectively were asked to share how they felt being the stronger or the weaker in the game. The aim of the game was to portray in an interactive manner what citizen exclusion in the decision-making process feels like.

CKO is looking forward to returning to the Štefan Moyzes Catholic Grammar School as we recognize the importance of youth involvement in citizen participation initiatives.