End of Commitment Report – Increase citizens participation

Name of Evaluator

Calin Rus and Corina Tursie

Email

[email protected], [email protected]

Member Name

Timișoara, Romania

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Timișoara, Romania, 2022 – 2024

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Increase citizens participation

Title

Increase citizens participation

Action

Overall objective: Increasing the degree of trust of the citizens in the local public administration. Actions:

• A1.1 Strategy for civic involvement (includes inclusive communication with different citizens’ profiles)
• A1.2.1 Hands-on educational program dedicated to civil servants on citizens’ involvement
  • A1.2.2 Hands-on educational program dedicated to citizens (focus on youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More) on citizen involvement
• A1.3 Work groups on specific urban areas (e.g., Governance, EducationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ..., Digitalization, Mobility)
• A1.4 One-stop shop (portal) for co-created urban processes (includes working groups, public debates etc.)
• A1.5 Portal dedicated to citizens for reporting city problems/issues
• A1.6 Digital mapping of city resources
• A1.7 Funding OGP-relevant city projects through The Projects Center

Problem

A low degree of involvement with consequences results in low confidence of the citizen in the LPA. Citizens’ participation in the act of governing generates resilience, trust, additional resources, and better results for the citizen. Open government is a smart way to do urban development with the support of citizens.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

substantial

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Five out of seven commitment actions were implemented as planned. Two were partially implemented, as the strategy for streamlining public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... was not yet formally approved by the Local Council, and another action that was partially implemented is the digital mapping of city resources.

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

One major factor that impacted this commitment implementation is the availability of non-refundable funds for public administration reform. In 2022, Timisoara Municipality attracted funding of 770.000 euros to implement a project on simplifying the participatory and decision-making process in relation to citizens through integrated digitalization and streamlining public administration. More details here.
Another key factor that had a positive impact on this commitment implementation was the engagement of volunteers in creating and testing two online platforms: Decidem and  Sesizari.
And third, a good collaboration between the municipality and the Center for Projects, a public institution under the Local Council, led to the design and implementation of a funding call supporting up to 47 OGP relevant city projects, totaling around 3,4 mil lei (around 687.000 euros).

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

Most of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Five out of seven committed actions were implemented as planned, while the remaining two were only partially carried out.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The online platform for public consultations has created the premises for an increased level of transparency regarding large investment projects earlier in the process and in a more friendly format than formal legal obligations for public consultations that previously occurred later on, when the projects were more advanced, and the opportunities for integrating feedback were lower. For example, urban regeneration projects like the one for Traian Area or Moccioni Area.
At the same time, the new online platform for petitions offered new features compared to the previous application, increasing transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More through public access to all petitions that are visible on the city’s map, together with their status.

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The actions implemented through this commitment have created new channels for collecting feedback from citizens and civil society in a more transparent way available to the larger audience, both in terms of consultations and complaints.
In the first two years, there were around 10.000 citizens using the new complaint platform, sending on average 4 complaints. The complaint platform and its improved back office system provide the administration with a more easy-to-process data processing, improving its capacity to analyze large data from complaints, identify recurring issues, and adapt public service to real needs and current realities, in areas such as garbage dumps and infrastructure maintenance, but also others.
Moreover, the system offers a better tracking of complaints, leading to an annual reduction in response time of around 30%.
Decidem has created a new channel for citizens to participate in consultations and influence decisions, and also be aware of other citizens’ recommendations and needs, as it also offers a comments space where citizens can share, support, or provide counterarguments for each other’s opinions. This contributes to a more deliberative public participation.

At the same time, the internal capacity-building training on public participation and direct interaction with citizens and civil society led to an increased capacity in designing and managing participation processes across the administration, as the participants came from various technical departments.
The strategic effort to streamline public participation, informed by both internal and external analyses undertaken in 2023, resulted in organizational reforms adopted in December 2023. However, the public participation strategy is still under review and has to be made public and formally adopted by the local council.

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The new platform for complaints is doubled by an improved internal platform that increases transparency, tracking, and internal collaboration, allowing civil servants to differentiate between answer and resolution to a complaint, allocate tasks to colleagues, and follow the whole process in one place instead of sending addresses in physical format to various other departments. This allows the administration to monitor response time, public servants’ overload, and include quantitative indicators in the annual performance review. One positive result was that the response time has decreased by 30% each year.

2.1.4 Other Results

Yes

Degree of result:

Outstanding

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

At the 2023 POCA Gala “Performance in Romanian Public Administration”, organized by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, the Timișoara Municipality was honored with the Excellence Award for the results obtained in the implementation of projects financed from PODCA and POCA.
The Municipality was rewarded for its proactive approach in the strategy of streamlining public participation, creating a unique portal for interaction with citizens, and starting a long process of digitizing the entire institution, by creating a digital archive and by improving the digital skills and knowledge of employees.

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment aimed to improve public participation both in quantity but also in quality in order to generate resilience, trust, additional resources, and better results for the citizens. A key indicator confirming the achievement of this goal is the annual survey on citizens’ perceptions of quality of life in Timișoara. According to the data, the percentage of residents who believe the city is heading in a positive direction rose from 67.2% in 2022 to 71.1% in 2024.

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

One key lesson from the implementation of this commitment is the importance of establishing a continuous feedback loop for online platforms, both internally and externally, to ensure these platforms remain responsive to evolving challenges.
A notable barrier encountered was the reliance on volunteer-based efforts. While volunteers are invaluable for piloting new platforms and ideas, they often lack the long-term sustainability needed for systemic change. Transitioning toward more stable, institutionalized mechanisms has been challenging, and it is a work in progress.
The internal and external analysis have shown various improvement areas in terms of open governance practice that can be taken to the next action plan like for example:

• Strengthen youth participation mechanisms by developing inclusive tools, outreach strategies, and opportunities tailored to young people’s engagement in civic processes.
• Improve internal procedures related to transparency, participation, and access to public information, ensuring alignment with legal obligations and responsiveness to citizen needs.
• Follow up and improve communication of next steps and results to citizens and stakeholders engaged in participatory processes.
• Establish an integrated reporting framework for public participation that combines data from digital platforms (Decidem, complaint portal) with mandatory annual reports under Laws 52/2003 and 544/2001, and other participatory channels.
• Include trust measurement in public administration through dedicated questions in the annual citizen perception survey on quality of life in Timișoara.
• Monitor and enhance key indicators of transparency and participation—such as response times, communication accessibility, diversity of engagement, and citizen satisfaction—to guide continuous improvement.