With Active Citizenship for a Better Self-government

In Slovakia, for most people, the closest contact with the public sphere is the self-government. Its representatives decide on the construction, condition of roads, schools, greenery and culture, but also on local taxes or investments. The growing importance of town halls is also visible during the pandemic. The project aims to strengthen active citizenship in self-government through access to quality and objective information on the activities of councils and elected representatives and through the active involvement of people in decision-making processes. The activities will be implemented mainly during the election year in the bodies of cities, municipalities and regions. The project will create the conditions for better informed voter decision-making, as well as pressure on local politicians to introduce measures in favor of public control and civic participation. In 2022, municipal and county elections will be held at the same time. The election day will be preceded by months of campaigns for tens of thousands of candidates with hundreds of thousands of promises and reservations. Thanks to the activities of Transparency International Slovakia, citizens will understand more the current situation around the election and candidates. In cooperation with the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, three exchange meetings will be organized to share experiences with participatory budgeting. It will include a multi-day seminar for representatives of local governments, active citizens and local journalists in Central Slovakia. During the project, the partner - Reykjavik´s Human Rights and Democracy Office (City of Reykjavík) -   will take part in activities leading to the sharing of experience in the field of involving people in local government decision-making, mainly through an innovative participatory budgeting tool with which it already has many years of experience and implements it with a large budget.