On November 26, 2021 Centre for Public Policy supported by the Federal Republic of Germany Foreign Office and Riga City Council is organizing an online conference on citizen involvement in decision making processes in Riga.
During the conference, a new research by the Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS “Opportunities for Citizens to Participate in the Decision-Making processes of Riga” (latviešu – “Iedzīvotāju iespējas iesaistīties lēmumu pieņemšanā Rīgā”) will be presented. For the third year in a row, PROVIDUS has been analyzing the processes of public participation in Latvian municipalities. The 2019 study “Overview of Examples of Citizen Involvement in Latvian Municipalities” (latviešu – “Iedzīvotāju iesaistes piemēri Latvijas pašvaldībās”) was devoted to identifying successful and innovative examples of public participation, while the 2020 study “Public Participation in the Development of Local Government Development Planning Documents: Evaluation of Latvian Municipal Practice” (latviešu – “Sabiedrības līdzdalība pašvaldību attīstības plānošanas dokumentu izstrādē: Latvijas pašvaldību prakses izvērtējums”) analyzed local government experience in development planning documents, assessing to what extent and how municipal residents and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are involved in this process.
In 2021, the main attention was paid to the municipality of the capital – Riga, which due to its scale has remained outside the circle of the studied municipalities in previous research papers. The aim of the latest research is to identify the institutionalized mechanisms of public participation in Riga City Municipality and to evaluate them, as well as to promote the opportunities of the participation in the future.
You can register for the conference here.
Provisional conference’s program can be found here:
| 09:00- 09:15 | Opening of the conference |
| 09:00-09:05 | H.E. Mr. Christian Heldt, German Ambassador in Latvia |
| 09:05-09:10 | Iveta Kažoka, Director and Senior Policy Analyst of Providus |
| 09:10 – 09:15 | Information about the conference provided by Līga Stafecka, Senior Policy Analyst of Providus |
| 09:15 – 10:00 | I part of the conference: Presentation of the research paper “Opportunities for Citizens to Participate in the Decision-Making processes of Riga” (latviešu – “Iedzīvotāju iespējas iesaistīties lēmumu pieņemšanā Rīgā”) |
| 09:15 – 09:45 | Presentation of the paper & main conclusions:
Līga Stafecka, Agnese Frīdenberga — Senior Policy Analysts of Providus |
| 09:45 – 10:00 | Q&A part |
| 10:00 – 12:00 | II part of the conference: Paneldiscussion: “How can we integrate citizen participation in municipal decision making process? Experience & future ambition of Rīga, Daugavpils & Liepāja” |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | How can citizens of Riga influence municipal decisions? Status quo and the future goals of the municipality
Mārtiņš Staķis, Riga City Mayor |
| 10:15 – 10:25 | How can citizens of Liepāja influence municipal decisions? Status quo and the future goals of the municipality
Gunārs Ansiņš, Liepāja City Mayor |
| 10:25 – 10:35 | How can citizens of Daugavpils influence municipal decisions? Status quo and the future goals of the municipality
Andrejs Elksniņš, Daugavpils City Mayor |
| 10:35 – 10:45 | New Bill On Local Governments – to what extent will it change citizen involvement opportunities?
Ilze Oša, State Secretary on Environmental Protection of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia Deputy |
| 10: 45 – 10: 55 | To what extent can citizens of Riga influence municipal processes?
Māris Jansons, Head of the Rīga’s Neighborhood Alliance |
| 10:55 – 12:00 | Panel Discussion
Moderated by Agnese Frīdenberga, Senior Policy Analyst of Providus |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Lunch break |
| 13:00 – 14:40 | III part of the conference: Paneldiscussion: “How can we effectivelt notice needs of regular citizens? Best case examples from Latvia and other countries”
Panel-discussion in English language with translation to Latvian language |
| 13:00 – 13:10 | Neighborhoods coordination centers for citizens & their aims at Riga City
Ilona Stalidzāne, Head Of Division at Riga City Council |
| 13:10 – 13: 20 | Work with citizens in Helsinki neighborhoods
Pauli Saloranta, Helsinki Municipality Borough Liaison (Southeastern District and Vuosaari). |
| 13:20 – 13:30 | Work with citizens in Vilnius neighborhoods
Daiva Mikulskiene, Vilnius Municipality Senior Advisor to the Municipal Administration. Neringa Simson, Vilnius Municipality Senior Advisor to the Municipal Administration. |
| 13:30 – 13:40 | Work with citizens in Tallinn neighborhoods
Mihhail Jevdokimov, Tallinn Municipality City Centre District Administration. |
| 13:40 – 14:40 | Panel-discussion
Moderated by Sintija Tarasova, Policy Analyst of Providus |
| 14:40 – 15:00 | Conclusion of the conference |
| Līga Stafecka, Senior Policy Analyst of Providus, Conference’s moderator |
The conference is organized as a part of the project “Engaging municipalities Part 3: Engaging Riga (esaistošas pašvaldības III: veicinot labākās iedzīvotāju iesaistes prakses Rīgā)”, which is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany Foreign Office. The technical support for the conference is provided by the Riga City Council.
