Slovenia
Municipality of Ljubljana
Since 2006
11th.
The City of Ljubljana has three channels for relations between citizens and the municipality: Portal Service for Citizens’ Initiatives, Mayor’s Open Days and Info65+ This experience was a candidacy for the 11th IOPD Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
The main objective is to enable the residents to actively participate in shaping the decisions that affect life in Ljubljana, and enable them to quickly and effectively resolve their complaints, suggestions, practical solutions and other requirements. This creates a direct communication between the mayor, the city administration, public institutions and public enterprises on one side and citizens on the other; which, as a final result of this communication, brings actual solutions.
Numerous certificates and awards gained by the Municipality of Ljubljana in the last few years also represent the recognition in the field of openness, accessibility and participation of residents and various groups. Since 2009, the City has held the Access City Award for disabled-friendly cities and also since 2014.the title of LGBT-friendly and youth-friendly city.
Between the year 2006 and the year 2016 the Mayor personally met with around 24,000 citizens. The popularity of the Open Day has risen so much, that it usually takes place two days per month.
Service for Citizens’ Initiatives has recorded more than 16,900 initiatives in a period from 2008 to 2016.
The profile of participants is general. Anyone can participate, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religion, skin colour, any degree of disability, level of education, etc. Participation is not limited; the possibility of co-decision is given to all, underprivileged groups as well as others. Everyone has the right to participation and equal treatment irrespective of the viability of the proposal and its possible solutions.
Citizens’ Initiatives Service has already existed at the time of previous mayors. It was founded in 2003. Its main purpose was to offer support in communicating with citizens and listening to their complaints, which relate to the work area and the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Ljubljana.
Current mayor wanted to further stress the importance of two-way communication, be even more available to the citizens and be able to identify their specific challenges, and be, in this way, capable to faster respond to their proposals with a view to further increase the participation of citizens. The department has therefore been renamed the Office for Citizens' Initiative, which operates under the auspices of the mayor's Cabinet. Since 2006, it has been managing and organizing the Mayor’s Open Days, and in addition, a web Portal Service for Citizens’ Initiatives has been active since December 2008.
As a result of the efforts to increase access and facilitate direct communication with all segments of the population in Ljubljana, the Information Office Info65 + has been established, which is primarily intended for elderly residents and people with disabilities.
Mayor’s Open Days are held at least twice a month, mainly between 2pm and 8 pm, at the Town Hall. The mayor personally meets with citizens and listens to their suggestions, proposals, criticism, problems ... Due to a great interest and in favour of more efficient organization, the citizens need to make an appointment in advance. The schedule of meetings is managed and organized by the Office for Citizens' Initiative.
Citizens can book their appointments via phone, fax, e-mail, regular mail or in person.
When applying for appointment they are asked to describe the content of the desired conversation issue with the mayor in detail. All questions and suggestions are forwarded to the competent professional services in the Municipality of Ljubljana prior to the Open Day, so the expert opinion of the competent services is already available to the mayor during the meeting. Those kinds of conversations are therefore extremely effective.
The mayor does not have the maximum time provided for each interview, he always meets all the citizens who have made an appointment, regardless of time or the time required for the conversation. Some questions can be answered quickly; other issues may require more mayor’s time.
Different questions from various fields of operation of the city administration, public institutions and public enterprises are raised during the meetings between the mayor and the citizens, but mainly the issues in the field of transport, environmental protection, regulation of public spaces, culture, tourism, quality of life in the city, health and the environment are discussed.
While dealing with current themes, e.g. municipal spatial plans, a publication of an invitation to tender for the allocation of non-profit housing, an enrolment of children in kindergartens, many questions on those issues were raised.
Mayor also devotes a lot of time to those citizens, who turn to him because of personal and social distress. The problem of the lack of housing has been a constant issue, and also an increasing number of cases when people are unable to pay for the cost of renting and operating has been noticed. Due to its limited jurisdiction, the Municipality of Ljubljana cannot help directly in all cases, but many people find hope and see new opportunities just speaking to the mayor.
As mentioned above, Web Portal Service for Citizens’ Initiatives has been active since 2008 and has recorded until January 2017 more than 16,900 initiatives. The application is accessible via the official website of the City of Ljubljana (www.ljubljana.si).
It serves for receiving specific notifications of potential problems or errors. Therefore it is dominated by actual proposals and comments regarding traffic arrangements, parking, abandoned vehicles, damaged traffic signs, speed bumps, landscaping and protection of the environment (abandoned and unmanaged land, environmental pollution, overgrown shrubs), the problem of cycling in the city (random cycle paths, pedestrian zones, endangerment of pedestrians, ..) as well as issues regarding the planned projects of the Municipality of Ljubljana in the field of culture, sports, health, social issues, tourism.
In recent years the citizens have also used the social network Facebook for posting their initiatives. Resolving process is the same as when posting via the web portal.
The online entry of initiatives is user friendly, because the application does not require a registration. Despite the requirement to enter the personal data of initiator (name and surname), their full anonymity is ensured, because they can use a pseudonym. On the web portal, a citizen can choose a specific topic (roads, street lighting, stationary traffic, culture, child care ......). An online form allows them to further on describe the initiative in detail.
After the initiative has been received, the procedure of solving is as follows:
The Office for Citizens' Initiative forwards the initiative to the relevant department of the Municipality of Ljubljana. The citizens receive a reply no later than within 8 days, within 3 days on average. The answer of professional services is published under the original initiative and is visible to all users of the Citizens' Initiative Service.
Questions and suggestions are often complex, a preliminary view on the field is often required, particularly in the case of transport and inspection matters.
The Information Point for senior citizens 65+ and people with disabilities was established in 2016 as a direct indicator of the impact of citizens’ initiatives. The above mention groups are able to obtain basic information on services and activities available to them in the Municipality of Ljubljana.
The Office for Citizens' Initiative manages the whole procedure, from receiving the initiative to passing the answer to the citizen.
Citizens may file their comments, suggestions, complaints and compliments daily via telephone, fax, e-mail (pobude@ljubljana.si), regular mail or online application Citizens’ Initiatives Service, as well as by using the social network Facebook, and in person at the Office’s premises during the working hours.
It is the Office for Citizens' Initiative which obtains the answers from the professional services of the Municipality of Ljubljana, so it is therefore the responsibility of all who are engaged in the operation of the city to provide accurate, high-quality and useful information and answers to the citizens’ suggestions.
In the background of this process, all the people involved are introducing new practices on the basis of complaints and proposals received, which simplifies certain procedures in accordance with the applicable legislation or provides professional suggestions for regulatory change where citizens’ suggestions are professionally substantiated, but not viable under current regulations.
Mayor’s Open Days
The Office for Citizens’ Initiative tends to immediately clarify the question or suggestion that a citizen wants to ask the mayor; it then arranges the preparation of a response by competent services (see above) needed by the mayor when meeting the citizens.
Due to a large number of citizens (between 220 and 260) that visit the Mayor's Open Days, it is extremely important to have a good planning of time and schedule.
Mayor's opinion on the Open Day is actually forwarded to the competent department of the Municipality of Ljubljana, which gives a final assessment of the potential solution or realization of the citizen’s proposal on the basis of mayor’s opinion and the expert assessment of competent services.
Portal Service for Citizens’ Initiatives
The online entry of the initiative is user friendly, because the application does not require a registration. Despite the requirement to enter the personal data of initiator (name and surname), their full anonymity is ensured. On the web portal, a citizen can choose a specific topic (roads, street lighting, stationary traffic, culture, child care ......). An online form allows them to further on describe the initiative in detail.
After the initiative has been received, the procedure of solving is as follows:
The Office for Citizens' Initiative forwards the initiative to the competent department of the Municipality of Ljubljana. The citizens receive a reply no later than within 8 days, within 3 days on average. The answer of professional services of MOL is published under the original initiative and is visible to all users of the Citizens' Initiative Service
INFO65+
The Information Point for the people of the age of 65+ and persons with disabilities offers basic information on services and activities in the Municipality of Ljubljana for both groups. It should be noted that the premises of Info65+ are adapted for people with disabilities. The Information Point is located on the ground floor and the place is equipped with a ramp.
It is open three times a week, 4 hours per day.
There is a city administration assistant available to all people interested, who not only provides information but also accepts visitors’ proposals and suggestions, and forwards them to the competent services, which prepare the responses that are then sent back to initiators.
Citizens' Initiative Service set up costs were 30,000 EUR
Amendments costs (2012) were 6,200 EUR, re-design (2015) 4,575 EUR.
The portal runs on its own infrastructure.
The salaries of the three employees at the Office for Citizens' Initiative and of one employee at Info 65+ are included in the budget; the costs of each individual initiative are paid from the annual budget of the MOL.
The Office for Citizens' Initiative is a part of Mayor’s Office of the City Administration of the Municipality of Ljubljana and persons employed are public servants.
Funds for the operation of the web portal and INFO65 + are provided in the respective budget of the Municipality of Ljubljana.
Description of the information disseminated during the process
We are aware that the service will be effective if as many residents as possible know about it, and if it is designed to be accessible to different groups of people.
Information on all channels of communication with citizens (portal service citizens’ initiatives, Mayor’s Open Days, Information Office 65+, Facebook) are regularly published in the gazette of Ljubljana and other local media, on the website, via the social network Facebook and in a number of other meetings between the mayor and the residents of Ljubljana.
The entire archive of initiatives and responses of citizens, which have been made via web service Citizens’ Initiatives since the beginning of the operation of the service, is open to public.
When checking the site, it is possible to filter the initiatives received and the answers by:
Feed-back to the participants
The Office for Citizens' Initiative will ensure that all the suggestions received on the web portal are answered in the shortest time possible. Average response time is 3 days, maximum 8 days, but it may also be longer in the case of more complex initiatives.
Mayor’s Open Days are held at least twice a month. Citizens can apply for a meeting on an Open Day throughout the whole month. The citizen receives their first answer at the meeting with the mayor; a final written response is prepared by the competent department a few days after the meeting.
At Info65+ the answer is immediately available to the resident. If the answer cannot be provided, it is forwarded to the citizen by the assistant within 8 days the latest.
Evaluation and monitoring
The employees at the Office for Citizens' Initiative monitor and record the number of initiatives and responses, the number of meetings between the citizens and the Mayor, and the number of visitors at the office Info65 +.
Successfulness of the work done is immediate and direct; a citizen, who is not satisfied with information relating their initiative or with an activity that is taking place, usually re-contacts the Office for Citizens' Initiative in the form of a reply. In such cases, we pay particular attention to further clarification from the competent service that has prepared the original information.
The aim is, of course, to consider as many wishes and suggestions of citizens as possible. This is not always possible due to technical, financial or other reasonable restrictions. Our desire is to attract greater public involvement, to understand the needs of citizens in their environment, and to provide them with clear and precise information. We pay particular attention to the negative answers. Most people accept them with understanding, but not all of them.
The performance and activities of the Office for Citizens’ Initiatives is monitored by the Commission for Citizens’ Initiative at the City Council of the Municipality of Ljubljana, which meets four times a year. The most current and the most numerous questions and suggestions are reviewed at the meetings.
Highlights of the experience
The direct involvement of citizens in policy-making of the city via a web portal Citizens’ initiatives, Mayor’s Open Days and info 65+ offices.
One of the highlights of the citizens’ initiatives is the feeling of belonging to the city and consciousness by encouraging people’s participation in decision making on urban issues. The citizens are pleased with their municipality, because they have the opportunity to co-create their city, and more connected to the city administration, which is motivated by the fruits of its work that is appreciated and accepted with gratitude and enthusiasm.
We would like to stress the simplicity of the concept in regard to the citizens’ initiatives, which is, on the other hand, thoroughly developed and supported by expert opinion, and has been achieving very good results on a small budget, and encourages extremely high participation.
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