1 From Citizen Information to Citizen Participation, from Local
to European NACABs Approach to Citizen Participation at EU level
NACAB Romania: www.robcc.ro [email protected] www.robcc.ro Slide 2 2
Citizen Information NACABs raison detre Since 2004- information
campaigns on EU Affairs Citizen Participationthe Power of the Local
Campia Turziia local success story Objective met in Bucharest
neighbourhood EU Level Citizen Participation the Way Ahead EPIC-The
First Attempt Slide 3 3 www.robcc.ro National Association of
Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB): nongovernmental, non profit
organization, founded to support and direct the activities of the
Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) federative structure: NACAB is made
up of 38 NGOs that founded CABs service provider for the member
organizations: Representation in relation with public authorities
Promotion of their activities Coordination of the CAB activities
and training for the CAB personnel Citizen information at the heart
of NACABs activities: Through the CABs, NACAB ensures equal access
of citizens to information and advice services so that they are
able to acknowledge their rights and duties Our mission: to
consolidate the Romanian society by offering services of
information/advice and by promoting the interests of all citizens
in the decision making process. Citizen Information. NACABs raison
detre Slide 4 4 www.robcc.ro Since 2004, NACAB has been developing
information campaigns on EU Affairs: 2004-2005, The Citizen and
Europe project aiming at developing citizens capacity in order to
access, understand and use the European information in their daily
life. 2007, the Workers in the EU Informing the Romanian Migrants
about Their Rights and Responsibilities on the EU Labor Market
initiative 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 the European
citizenship series of fora on civic rights in the EU (voting and
standing as a candidate for the EP elections, the ECI, engaging
with the EU institutions, participating and volunteering in the
EU). Results: Citizens in over 23 urban and local milieus acquired
knowledge on how the European Union works, but they also had the
opportunity to interact both with each other and with elected
representatives of the public institutions in their communities..
Citizen Information in EU Affairs Slide 5 5 www.robcc.ro Exercising
democracy in Campia Turzii, Romania Citizen Participation the Power
of the Local Slide 6 6 www.robcc.ro Exercising democracy:
evidence-based and participatory local policy making Period: June
2011 March 2012 Goal: To organize two local advocacy campaigns for
including participatory policy proposals in local decisions in two
small urban communities in Romania: Campia Turzii (Cluj County) and
Jimbolia (Timis County). Financing authority: Balkan Trust for
Democracy The German Marshall Fund of the United States. Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local Slide 7 7 www.robcc.ro Campia
Turzii The Sarat neighbourhood case Problem description (1): In
Campia Turzii, the 5000 residents of Sarat neighborhood, mostly
pensioners, are isolated from the rest of the city by the railway
tracks, thus, being deprived of a wide range of public services.
Their only possibility to reach the center of the town, where the
schools, hospitals or any other place of interest are, is by car on
an overland route. The citizens should make a 3 km detour in order
to reach a street with a barrier (but which has no sidewalk). The
time spent at the barrier is long and this poses a big problem for
the ambulance and the firemen. Citizen Participation the Power of
the Local Slide 8 8 www.robcc.ro Extreme sports in Sarat Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local Slide 9 9 www.robcc.ro Campia
Turzii The Sarat neighbourhood case Problem description (2): In the
past, there was a footbridge, but it was demolished due to the
electrification of the railway. Because not all the citizens of the
neighbourhood can afford to travel by car, they just cross the
railway tracks by foot, risking their lives everyday. At one point,
the police even started to give fines to the persons who, in order
to get to work, drug store (there is no drug store in the
neighbourhood), city hall, etc., had to cross the railway tracks.
Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Slide 10 10
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Slide 11
11 www.robcc.ro Campia Turzii The Sarat neighbourhood case Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local Meeting the citizens: In
september 2011 we organised the first meeting with 30 citizens from
the Sarat neighbourhood. We told them about the project, about what
we were trying to do and then asked them what did they want, why
and from whom. This represented a positive exercise and the
citizens were encouraged to speak up, to find solutions and to take
action in order to change the status-quo. Slide 12 12 www.robcc.ro
Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Slide 13 13
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Slide 14
14 www.robcc.ro Campia Turzii The Sarat neighbourhood case Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local What did the citizens want? A
subway. (A footbridge would be too difficult for the elder persons
and the children to climb the stairs.) Who could build it? "The
National Railway Company" CFR the sole entity who could access at
the time, through the Sectorial Operational Programme for
Transport, grants for railway safety projects. Slide 15 15
www.robcc.ro What did we do? (1) Citizen Participation the Power of
the Local We identified volunteers who gathered signatures in the
Sarat neighbourhood for the construction of the subway. We posted
messages throughout the neighbourhood for raising awareness so that
the citizens could call the authorities and demand answers
regarding the problem they faced. We collected letters from the
citizens and sent them to CFR and the Ministry of Transport. We
wrote to a famous Romanian singer, born in Campia Turzii, trying to
obtain her support in our campaign. Slide 16 16 www.robcc.ro
Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Slide 17 17
www.robcc.ro What did we do? (2) Citizen Participation the Power of
the Local With the support of Campia Turzii City hall we sent open
letters to: Cluj Regional Railway Company, the National Railway
Company "CFR", the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the
Government, the Ministry of European Affairs. Both the "CFR" and
the Ministry of Transport rejected the proposal and placed the
responsibility for resolving the problem on Campia Turzii City
hall. We obtained a meeting with the representatives of the
Ministry of Transport in order to find a solution to the problem,
but they still refused the initiative. Slide 18 18 www.robcc.ro
What did we do? (3) Citizen Participation the Power of the Local In
2012 we organised a Candidates Forum in order to bring together the
citizens of the Sarat neighbourhood and the candidates for the
local elections. Some mayoral candidates promised to resolve the
problem of the Sarat neighborhood, but unfortunately they were not
elected in the end. Slide 19 19 www.robcc.ro Hopes for the future
Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Although our project
ended in 2012, we havent stop monitoring the situation of the Sarat
neighbourhood. We are waiting for the 2014 - 2020 structural funds
to be available in Romania and we hope that either the local
authorities from Campia Turzii or the National Railway Company
"CFR" and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure will be
willing to access them. Even though the problem hasnt been yet
solved, the citizens still learned how to make their voice heard
and the authorities were reminded to about their responsibilities.
Slide 20 20 www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the
Local Fetch the Councillor, Here's the Citizen! Slide 21 21
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local
Exercising democracy: a successful story on the Sunrise street in
one of Bucharests neighborhoods Period: December 2009 November 2010
Goal: To strengthen the capacity of the NGOs to monitor the
activity of the Local Councils (LCs) and to mobilize the community
with regards to capacitating the LCs in order to represent the
interests of citizens. Financing authority: Financial Mechanism of
the European Economic Area (EEA), NGO Fund, Romania Slide 22 22
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local What we
wanted Check on what Local Councils (LCs) did so far for the
citizens (and especially what they didnt): monitoring their
activities and relation with the citizens Identify a mistreated
local problem and a community that can adopt it and work towards
finding solutions for it Engage the citizens and the authorities so
that the problem can be solved Slide 23 23 www.robcc.ro Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local Slide 24 24 www.robcc.ro
Citizen Participation the Power of the Local What we did (1)
Decided to work with the local councilors from the Bucharest City
Halls LC (BLC) Based on Law No. 544/2001 (free access to public
interest information) weve asked for documents regarding their 2009
activity Slide 25 25 www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power
of the Local -Citizens suggestions, proposals and opinions sent to
the LC for their normative acts (no personal data); -Petitions and
heads up from the citizens that theyve received; -Individual
activity and commissions reports of the local councilors, as well
as those of the Mayor and of the Hall itself; -Local development
strategy; -Summaries from the public debates theyve organized with
the citizens; -LCs decisions; -Other ways of dialogue with the
community (local referendums, public forums etc). Slide 26 26
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Slide 27
27 www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local What
we did (2) Analyzed all the documentation received from the BLC and
the data from the mistermayor.ro website: biggest problem: streets
infrastructure Decided to pick one such street that is under BLCs
administration but that wasnt included in their local development
strategy Worked with our Bucharest Citizen Advice Bureaux (CAB) to
find the street and a community for it: Sunrise Street, 6 th
District and 2 active families that had some attempts to solve it
until this point Slide 28 28 www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the
Power of the Local Action Plan Have the BLC acknowledge the street
is really under its administration and have it repaired, even
though it wasnt included in their Modernization Plan (that was due
until 2012) Mobilize as many citizens from the community and have
them support our initiative: raising awareness campaign (flyers
distributed in their post office boxes), gathering signatures for
the petition and sending to the LC postcards with pictures of the
street and special messages (photo voice method) Slide 29 29
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Gathering
signatures Slide 30 30 www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power
of the Local Special postcards send to BLC Street of the lost
hopesand of the lost wheels! Slide 31 31 www.robcc.ro Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local Special postcards send to BLC
A pitfall that will make history and become a crater! Slide 32 32
www.robcc.ro Citizen Participation the Power of the Local Results
More than 100 citizens have sent to the BLC their special postcards
An official petition has been signed and advanced to the BLC
Sunrise Street has been included in the Modernization Plan and was
repaired one year later Slide 33 33 www.robcc.ro Citizen
Participation the Power of the Local Slide 34 34 www.robcc.ro EPIC:
European Participation Initiatives for Citizens Aim: enhancing
citizens ownership and usage of their rights as European citizens
by promoting and increasing knowledge on four EU level
participation tools: European elections, petitioning to the
European Parliament, complaining to the European Ombudsman the
European Citizens Initiative. Partners from Romania (NACAB),
Hungary (CCF), Belgium (ECAS) Co-Funded by the European Commission,
Europe for Citizens Programme EU Level Citizen Participationthe Way
Ahead EPIC-The First Attempt Slide 35 35 www.robcc.ro Maria Antica
Andreea Barbulescu Alina Iosifescu Thank you for your
attention!
