Increasing Citizen Participation in Community Life Through Media
Center for Civic Cooperation
- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Strengthening Civic Space
- Grant Amount $60,000
- Grant Period January 1, 2014–December 31, 2015
- Location Livno, Bosnia And Herzegovina
- Geographic Focus Bosnia and Herzegovina
About this grant
The overall project goal is to promote vibrant local democracy by increasing people’s participation in local decisionmaking in Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the next two years, the Center for Civic Cooperation will strengthen local town councils as mechanisms for active public participation in decisionmaking processes in 19 municipalities, including nine in which the grantee has not yet worked, in southwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina. Through training, networking, documentation and sharing of best practices, outreach through radio and other media, publishing, and active monitoring, the targeted local town councils will foster communication between citizens and local officials and directly impact issues of local concern. A key component of the project will be to strengthen the existing 157 town councils and help to establish and strengthen 154 additional councils. During the past two years, the number of active town councils increased significantly as has the role of these councils in promoting local-level civic engagement in decisionmaking. The grantee provided financial and technical support to town councils and raised public awareness about the town councils through radio call-in programs and printed materials. The grantee is based in Livno, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and has been working on local democracy development since 1996.