The above mentioned solutions were proposed by the State Chancellery in collaboration with the team of experts. The team consisted of people with a various background. Some came from the public sector, some from the private sector, and some from local or international NGOs. This different perspective helped in designing an interactive solution.
In order to ensure the implementation of the solution, the management and leadership was provided by the civil servants from the Policies, Strategic Planning and Foreign Aid General Department (State Chancellery).
A series of public events and workshops were organized in order to gather feedback and learn new ideas that improved the overall solution. For example, local NGOs, responsible for monitoring Government’s transparency, contributed a lot to the design of the “participation module”. They were very interested in creating a one-stop solution, instead of having to visit 24 different websites to find out what are Government’s next steps in terms of public policies.
The solution also came as a result of constant pressure on behalf of civil society. Instead of answering to specific questions addressed by specific civil organizations, the Government thought that it would be better to become more transparent and offer a possibility to everyone to be a part of the decision making process.
As a public authority, the civil servants from the State Chancellery realized that only by informing, consulting and engaging citizen’s participation, the Government can improve the quality, credibility and legitimacy of the policy decisions. The idea of transparency in decision-making and participation in governance is crucial, both for government and for citizens. The proposed solutions are lucrative and well institutionalized. The ultimate goal of these initiatives - transparency of the decision – is not the process itself, but a participatory democracy lived and practiced by every citizen, every day, and whenever there is a decision that it affects in particular or the community as a whole.
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