Esolutions for citizen participation

1
E-solutions for citizen participation

• Workgroup 1
• Yevgen Bezvushko
• Olena Homenyuk
• Ave Poom
• Kalmer Gross
• Eilika Mölder
• 13 August 2004
• CBC Summer School, Värska, Estonia

2
Problem statement

• Low citizen participation results in decreased
  quality of social and economic laws and
  regulatory acts.
• Citizen involvement in decision-making process at
  national and local levels is low in Estonia and
  Ukraine.

3
Background

• Internet is currently one of the main sources for
  conducting business and personal transactions.
• It is believed that Internet as a tool to
  facilitate citizen participation is merely used
  by public servants with such goals.

4
Objective

• General objective of this initiative is to
  increase the use of e-solutions to promote
  citizen participation at the local level in both
  Ukraine and Estonia.

5
Objectives

• Increase knowledge and skills in the use of
  e-solutions to promote citizen participation
• Increase the capacity of municipalities in the
  use of e-solutions
• Institutionalize knowledge and skills required to
  use e-solutions to promote public participation
• Increase the importance of internet as a
  democratic tool to promote public participation
• Increase the number and improve the quality of
  contacts between Estonian and Ukrainian public
  servants

6
Proposed intervention

• Systematic approach by local authorities to
  active use of internet for citizen involvement
  should be established

7
Project overview

• A group of professors from E-governance Academy
  (Estonia) and the Ukrainian Academy of Public
  Administration will develop a joint training
  course in e-solutions application for citizen
  participation.
• The course will be taught to groups of
  municipality and local government
  representatives.

8
Project overview (cont.)

• The course will be introduced as a standard one,
  conducted by the E-governance Academy (Estonia)
  and the Ukrainian Academy of Public
  Administration.
• The trained officials will receive assistance in
  implementing the acquired knowledge of
  e-solutions application.

9
Actions to be taken

• Conduct a business trip of Ukrainian professors
  to Estonia to develop the training course.
• Develop a model internet-based application that
  provides on-line tools for citizen participation
  in Estonia and Ukraine.

10
Actions to be taken (cont.)

• Select a group of Estonian and Ukrainian public
  servants to take part in the educational program
  to be held in Estonia.
• Conduct a practical training course for Estonian
  and Ukrainian public servants in Estonia.
• Provide assistance to public servants in
  implementing e-solutions to increase public
  participation.
• Evaluate and disseminate project results.

11
Thank you!

• Questions