The Council of Europe invites practitioners from local authorities and civil society from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine, those countries where the Division of Elections and Participatory Democracy carries out cooperation activities, and who wish to broaden their knowledge of participatory democracy concepts and tools at local level to attend the first Winter School on Participatory Democracy Tools.
The Winter School is organised by the Division of Elections and Participatory Democracy of the Council of Europe. Standards and instruments of the Council of Europe on participatory democracy will be presented by international experts with broad experience in the field, and an interactive learning environment will provide opportunities to learn about best practice examples, to share experiences and to interact with experts and other practitioners on how to effectively engage citizens in political decision-making.
The Winter School comprises an online preparation and introduction meeting and the Winter School itself in Tbilisi.
The Preparation and Introduction Meeting will introduce the participants to concepts and values underlying civil participation in political decision-making and share Council of Europe standards and guidelines on civil participation. It will address some of the most prevalent challenges that the participants face in increasing citizen engagement and introduce the agenda for the Tbilisi Winter School.
At the Winter School in Tbilisi, participants will meet for an event that will combine presentations, case studies, tools, and models for inclusive citizen engagement with interactive group exercises and roundtable discussions. The sessions will cover a variety of approaches to citizens engagement at the local level, strategies for maximising inclusion, exercises for designing public consultations plans, and include toolkits and case studies on a range of themes pertinent to participatory policymaking at the local level, including public space planning, urban planning, and participatory budgeting.
Six complementary online follow-up sessions will be offered after the Winter School to deepen knowledge of specific tools, and a final experience-sharing event will provide space to finalise the learning process.
Who can participate?
Public officials (including elected officials) from local authorities and civil society representatives in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The participants are required to have working knowledge of English, as the training will be held in English. Participants from the side of government and civil society should be already working or planning to work on shaping or implementing policy decisions where citizens engagement is an important driver of informed, effective, and sustainable policymaking.
