Moscow International Conference, Citizen Participation in the Local Public Service Provision and Quality Improvement Edita Stumbraitė-Vilkišienė PhD student Mykolas Romeris University Lithuania

Moscow International Conference,  Citizen participation is defined as a part of democratic public service delivery and primarily means incorporation of those, who are affected by the performance of the service organization.  This paper argues that democratization of public services is necessary and appropriate in order to improve institutional performance in the delivery of public services and to increase citizen satisfaction about public service quality

Moscow International Conference, Questions:  What are the main reasons for citizen participation in the public services?  What are the key factors that make citizen participation effective at local public services?  Why citizen participation can be used as public service quality improvement instrument?  What can be learned from Lithuanian case?

Moscow International Conference, Reasons for citizen participation in the public services  The shift from the management or government age to a system of governance.  Polycentric decision-making model: the principle of interdependence, decentralization, horizontal cooperation forms.  Shortcomings of representative democracy: legal possibilities and bureaucratization.  Expectations of citizens and efforts for better quality services.

Moscow International Conference, The key factors for effective citizen participation at local level  Urban structure  Types of participants  Participation instruments (measures)  Participation process

Moscow International Conference, The key factors for effective citizen participation at local level Group of factors/variable Description of effective participation specification Structure of the city Size Legal norms Larger cities often support the idea of promoting the participation The legal basis for citizens' involvement Participants Invitation Selection Motivation The government of the city encourages citizens to participate by inviting Targeted selection of the criteria for representativeness and creation of possibilities to all Civil responsibility and initiative, not only discontent Measures Opportunities Time Scope Multiple, interactive and institutionalized From the very beginning of the process, not once, but not long-term commitment The overall urban problems, rather than just one issue or location Process Aim Form Needs Clearly indicated, educative The material presented in non-specialist language (tables, diagrams, comparisons) Selected priorities Eligible Results Decision makers use the information for the specified purposes Bilateral communication and feedback usage Satisfaction of participants and significant impact on

Moscow International Conference, Citizen participation as public service quality improvement tool  The main challenge for public administration of the 21th century- how to realize the expectations of its citizens.  The model of cooperation as an alternative to the market model of public administration.  Consultation and participation procedures are fragmented.  Internal and external criteria for evaluation of public services quality

Moscow International Conference, What is done?  Investigations in many countries show that the citizens’ involvement in the process of public services leads to the better services, which comply with the needs of citizens, better informed decisions, more affordable, better quality and more efficient collaboration in using tax money for the services.

Moscow International Conference, What is missing?  The studies are necessary for the analysis of citizens’ attitudes towards participation and the impact of participation in the assessment of service quality.  It is relevant to analyze whether the citizens’ assessment of service quality varies according to the active or passive participation in services.  Moreover, it is relevant to determine the impact of the participation on the citizen’s satisfaction about service quality, whether the form of participation is important for assessing the quality of the service used.

Moscow International Conference, The case of Lithuania  Structure: legally defined possibilities of participation; the size of the territory has a direct impact on the people’s participation activity in the local governance.  Participants : low citizen participation in social and political processes; skeptical opinion of the elders; lack of invitation to participate; motivation based on local problems.

Moscow International Conference, The case of Lithuania  Measures: quality management system instruments; administrative-territorial units (elderships); the community residential delegates (lith. seniūnaičiai).  Process: the lack of information from the municipality side; passive forms of civic participation, shortage of active participation forms.

Moscow International Conference, Final remarks  The participation as a desirable activity is included in the documents and laws in many countries, however it often remains in the formal rather than real action.  Local governments find themselves in a contradictory situation:they increasingly lose autonomy and local authorities are obliged to be accountable to their citizens.

Moscow International Conference, Final remarks  The main problem is that the shift from local government to local governance calls for a redesign of democratic processes, especially in public service provision. However the institutional design of citizen participation is weakly developed at local level.  As a result, citizens and local authorities become disappointed if there is no agreement between both sides of democratization forms of public service provision and concrete procedures of the ways, by which citizens are able to participate in public service quality improvement process.

Moscow International Conference, Thank You for attention!