Civil Society Organizations in Municipal Development Strategies

Synonyms

Citizen Participation; Decision-making; Municipalities

Definitions

Civil Society Organizations (CSO) are formal groups of citizens, which by acting between citizens, economy, and state, advocate for specific civic agendas. Since CSOs mainly engage in local communities, their participation tend to enhance and complement local representative system and increase participatory decision-making.

Municipal development strategies refer to those ideas and practices that are formulated to promote and advance development of public administration structures, processes, and institutions at the local level according to the specific goals and values of stakeholders.

Introduction

The main purpose of citizen participation in government’s decision-making process is to strengthen democratic processes and, thus, provide substantial improvements to peoples’ lives. Participation of citizens and other social stakeholders in government affairs improves democratic capacity of the decision-making...