NEWSLETTER No. 10

KUCEVO

Theme: Civic forums

Active civic participation in the process of making and implementing decisions is one of the main tasks in the process of building a civil society. At the same time, that is one of the most important processes in turning from totalitarian and undemocratic regimes to democratic societies.

Participation of citizens in all aspects of social life is not at all easy or simple, and societies in transition encounter a series of impediments related both to institutions and individuals’ mind set. Namely, the citizens who lived for a long time within the regimes that did not consider them a decision-making factor find it difficult to adapt to the new role of active participant in social affairs.

Years of passivity and inability to influence the decisions of the government to a larger extent have led to the position that it does not matter what they do, and sometimes even what they think and that the decisions that concern them will be made by someone else, i.e., the government. This frustrating as well as cosy way of thinking has been retained after the democratic changes in a lot of societies in transition and in ours, too.

Fortunately, there are always individuals and groups who are more willing than others to change themselves and their surroundings and put their capacities at the service of the community. The concept of an active citizen who thinks, makes proposals and analyzes problems and solutions is slowly becoming a reality in our country as well. The legal frame is not yet finished but there are mechanisms of controlling the government and ways for an individual to state his/her position and initiate changes. To what extent the opinion of an ordinary citizen will be acknowledged largely depends on himself/herself.

Civic forums are one of the forms of association of active citizens, whose goal is to improve  communication with local authorities and enable the citizens to present their ideas and solutions to the local self-government in an organized way, and thus assist it as well as control it.

The concept of civic forums is familiar to western democracies and there it has proved successful because it fulfills the basic task of direct democracy, and that is participation of as many citizens as possible in the decision-making process regarding concrete issues in the local community. Naturally, if this concept is applied in a larger number of municipalities, it has a multiplying effect and provides influence over higher levels of government.

Civic forums are made up of representatives of all civic organizations, such as NGOs, trade unions, youth organizations, local self-government, political parties, religious organizations, occupational associations, etc.

Participation in the work of the forum strengthens the citizens’ feeling of belonging to the local community as well as personal initiative and increases the capacities of individuals and groups, which ultimately results in a more homogenous community, greater solidarity and a better, more functional local government. By working together on solving concrete problems, citizens become active in the public life sphere and encourage responsibility for all the processes developing within the community. An active citizen moves from a narrow sphere of personal affairs and starts analyzing other people’s problems, which is also characteristic of a civil society.

There are about fifty civic forums in Serbia for now and they are working more or less successfully, and those who are more successful establish concrete cooperation with the local management in developing projects and applying for funding with donors. Thus, a lot of forums have managed to provide financial support for solving infrastructure, utility and other problems of their local communities.

Good results are always encouraging so the number of municipalities in which the citizens have formed forums is getting bigger. The experiences of forums that have been working successfully are precious to the now-founded forums and they cooperate and exchange information.

Judging by the current situation, civic forums as a form of associating and acting in the local community, have found fertile ground in the municipalities of Serbia and have a good chance of becoming much more influential than they have been so far.

Awareness meeting addressing the foundation and work of civic forums