Delegation of the Republic of Lithuania in the study visit in Croatia

The members of the delegation of the Republic of Lithuania visited Croatia last week as part of the project "Electronic democracy - prerequisite for effective dialogue between local authorities and citizens of Pagėgiai and Sovetsk".

The project is co-financed by the Interreg programme and implemented by the Lithuanian municipality Pagėgiai and the Russian municipality Sovietsk.

During their study visit in Zagreb, the Lithuanian delegation members held a meeting with the representatives of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs on 23^rd September 2021 in the premises of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Zagreb.

The representatives of the Sovietsk Municipality, the project partner, joined the meeting virtually, and along with the 20 representatives of the Pagėgiai Municipality, expressed their interest in the experience of the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs in the implementation of democratic principles and possibilities for citizens’ participation in policy-making process on the national, regional and local levels. The representatives of the Office presented the scope of the work of the Office, mainly in the area of drafting, systematic monitoring and analysis of the implementation of strategic programs for the creation of an enabling environment for civil society development and inclusion of associations and other civil society organizations, as well as citizens, in the public policy-making processes.

The special focus was put on the Council for Civil Society Development, as the consultative body of the Croatian Government, acting towards developing a cooperation between the Government with the civil society organisations in Croatia in the implementation of strategic documents for creating an enabling environment for civil society development, as well as for the development of philanthropy, social capital, partnership relations and cross sector cooperation in the Republic of Croatia.

The members of the Lithuanian delegation were also presented with the online web portal “e-Consulations” which enables the interested public to take an active part in open public consultations referring to the law-making procedures. The administrative support to this web portal was provided by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs till July 2019.

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