In Niš, on July 2, 2019, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Belgrade Open School (BOS) organized a Discussion Forum on challenges and opportunities for greater citizen participation in decision-making processes.

More than thirty representatives of civil society had the opportunity to discuss with representatives of civil society and institutions the next steps that should ensure more effective participation in decision-making and public policy development in practice, as well as the implementation of regulations in practice.

The participants first spoke with the representative of the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society, Danilo Rodić, and the representative of the Public Policy Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia, Ivan Vukašinović, about their expectations of the implementation of new regulations that significantly improve the opportunity for civic participation in decision-making and problem-solving processes, especially at the local level.

The Forum continued to discuss the experiences of civil society organizations and citizens involved in drafting public policy documents, working with public authorities and building partnerships in this process. The interlocutors were Bojana Selaković from Civic Initiatives, Milena Radomirović from the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities and Danijel Dašić from the National Coalition for Decentralization.

The attendees agreed that while on the one hand, we have laws enabling greater citizen participation in the decision-making process, on the other, the practice of narrowing the space for CSOs to act is evident. The narrowed space is reflected, first of all, in the bad practices of public authorities that rarely involve CSOs in these processes and which have so far avoided the implementation of existing procedures and instruments for involving CSOs and citizens.

The project "Active Citizens - Better Society: Advocacy for Cooperation and Democratic Development" is a three-year initiative launched to advance advocacy practices in civil society, practices that represent the interests of local communities and actively involve citizens in their work. The project is implemented by Belgrade Open School in partnership with the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence (BFPE) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN Serbia), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).