Citizens' Summit

In 2008, the Real Society Foundation was involved in developing and implementing a methodology for public debates focused on increasing the degree of the citizens' involvement in the construction of a local lasting development strategy. In 2008, for the first time in Romania, Real Society Foundation organized two citizens' summits in the 1st district of Bucharest, meant to constitute a representative group of citizens that can act as a permanent consulting board regarding the local development policies.
The methodology
The Summit is a type of debate that is considered to be the most effective communication and social research tool at a European level. The research methodology used for this type of event, makes the Summit a type of debate that offers a large amount of information, an increased level of participation on behalf of the citizens in matters regarding the community and a higher degree of dissemination of the information related to the matters taken into consideration by the local authorities.
The advantage of a public debate is that it brings the local authorities closer to the citizens and the latter closer to the decision making process, increasing thus their involvement in the community. It is an event that catches the mass media's eye, that is easily disseminated and benefits from a modern methodology which offers the best ratio in terms of information, time and costs.
The concept of the event is that of an advisory meeting between the citizens. This concept brings together two elements: transparency in decision making and consulting the citizens when adopting major decisions. The citizens become partners of the local administration, they give solutions and are the main beneficiaries of the public policies that they helped adopt. An event such as this wishes to place matters of great importance on the public agenda, as subject of decision and local intervention.
The event involves the participation of a representative sample of the population concerned with the matters to be discussed, as well as guests (local authorities, celebrities, mass media, NGO representatives).
The citizens are selected according to a specific methodology designed for this type of event, which ensures the fact that the opinions expressed are representative for the entire population concerned and are relevant to the matter in question. The debate is organized in an appropriate setting, its duration being of approximately 5 hours.
The event is structured on work sessions which correspond to the main themes on the public agenda: finding solutions, prioritizing the solution on the main target groups and the selection of the best solutions. The participants are organized in groups which are moderated by sociologist. The debates are conceived in sequences, using the focus group methodology and are integrated by the simultaneous votes they receive at the end of each session.
This event raises the bar on public communication and opinion polls, as it represents a milestone of the way in which the authorities should communicate with the citizens on a European level.

"The main objective is that the decisions that are made be in accordance with the residents of the District, and the fact that they answered our invitation is important in itself as a civic act. The decisions that they take are very important to me as they validate my program, they improve it, enrich it, through a gesture of civic responsibility. I understood that one can not govern for four years on his own. On the contrary, on some important matters, one should ask for the citizens' opinion."
Mayor of the 1st District City Hall
Mr. Andrei Chiliman