• Project management

The goal of the Project Management activity is to ensure the implementation of the project according to the approved project documentation and to ensure the correct and timely administration of the project. The project team is composed of management and administration staff (project and financial manager) and staff who manage and implement the professional and material activities of the project (PR manager, Public Involvement Methodology, Coordinator of activities for target groups and Expert guarantor).

• Publicity of the project

The aim of the activity is to effectively and clearly inform the involved entities and the public about the implementation of the project (its goals, outputs, activities, etc.), about the EEA Funds and the cooperation with the partner from Norway. This goal will be fulfilled in accordance with the communication strategy of the project, which will elaborate the goal in detail into individual steps, describe tools, means, responsible persons. As part of the activity, the project website will be created in Czech and English versions. In addition, there will be at least 3 press releases about the project, which will be published on the website of the city of Otrokovice and in Otrokovické noviny (min. 2 reports), on the websites of all partner municipalities, min. 2 press releases. At the end of the project, a two-day conference dedicated to the project’s outputs will take place.

• Gaining experience from a foreign partner

The goal of the activity is to obtain information from the foreign partner (the Norwegian city of Fredrikstad) about the preparation and implementation of participation with the public. By fulfilling the goal, we will contribute to the education of public administration workers and elected representatives in civic participation. The activity will be implemented in several ways:

1) study trip to the partner city of Fredrikstad for 24 representatives of the developer and partner cities/municipalities/organizations. Composition of trip participants: min. 1 representative of each Czech partner (i.e. 12 in total), the implementer will be an elected representative of the city (mayor, deputy mayor), people from the project team, people interested in communication processes with citizens in the city of Otrokovice and people dealing with topics that are important to discuss with the public (mobility, transport and city development). Duration of the study trip: 4 working days, during which the Norwegian partner will provide a study trip program aimed at sharing good practice in the field of citizen participation in decision-making and planning processes in the city.

2) consultation with 2 representatives of the foreign partner who will participate in the educational workshop (in May 2023) and the final conference (in February 2024). It will be a one-day consultation of 2 Norwegian experts from the city of Fredrikstad with representatives of the implementation team and people interested in the issue of public involvement in the city of Otrokovice (approx. 10 people). The consultation will always take place the day before or the day after the workshop/conference. The goal will be an expert assessment of the progress of participation activities taking place in Otrokovice and partner municipalities (consultation in May 2023) and an evaluation of the implemented activities, their progress and outputs with proposals for the further development of citizen participation (consultation in February 2024). Representatives of all Czech partners will be able to participate in the consultations and evaluation of the participation activities.

• Education

The aim of the activity is to educate public administration workers and elected representatives of local self-government (city management) on the subject of civic participation. A total of 6 educational workshops will be implemented, which will be organized as three two-day workshops. Both representatives of the city of Otrokovice and representatives of all partner municipalities/organizations will participate in the workshops. One two-day block will be attended by two representatives of a foreign partner as lecturers (in May 2023). In the remaining two blocks of workshops, the foreign partner’s experts will have an online input, which will be consecutively interpreted.

• Public involvement activities in Otrokovice

The goal of the activity is to develop formal and informal public involvement activities incl. the young generation, women, seniors, people with disabilities and socially weaker citizens in decision-making. The basic topic on which we will work together with people from the target groups in Otrokovice is the update of the Action Plan for sustainable urban mobility in Otrokovice. We chose this topic because it concerns all target groups of the project and target groups of participation. However, we want to approach the involvement of individual target groups differently. Document reminders will serve two purposes. The first will be the prioritization of existing yet unrealized goals from the current action plan, the second goal will be the proposal of new goals that should be added to the action plan.

1) Polling the public via a web application.

2) Discussions with the target group Seniors. We will organize 3 discussions lasting 1.5 hours, which will take place as part of the meeting of all three senior citizens’ clubs that we have in Otrokovice.

3) Discussion with the target group of persons with disabilities and their families. We will organize a discussion with this target group in cooperation with the organization Naděje, which runs 6 social services in Otrokovice.

4) Discussion with the target group of socially weaker citizens. We will organize a discussion lasting 1.5 hours at cooperation with Charita Otrokovice.

5) Conversation with the target group of women. We will organize a discussion in cooperation with Otrokovice Kindergarten lasting 1.5 hours.

6) Workshop for students and pupils. For the target group of children and youth, we want to prepare an activity that will draw their attention to the topic of sustainable transport. Pupils (aged 13-17) will work on a project on the topic of Transport in Otrokovice in 2050. Pupils from secondary and primary schools in Otrokovice will be involved in the implementation of the activity.

7) Public hearing. After the evaluation and incorporation of the proposed goals into the document, the public will be invited to comment via an electronic comment form. After settling the comments, a public meeting will be held to discuss the current version of the document Update of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Action Plan. The final version of the document will be submitted to the city authorities for approval.

8) Creation of the document Instruction Involving the public in planning and decision-making. Thanks to the Instruction, communication with the public will be incorporated into decision-making processes in the city of Otrokovice.

• Public involvement activities in partner municipalities

The aim of the activity is to develop formal and informal public involvement activities in partner municipalities. The topic of involvement was chosen by each partner municipality according to its needs. Some municipalities, like the city of Otrokovice, will deal with the issue of transport, other municipalities are interested in the modification of public space or the entire housing estate. This will make involvement activities more varied and it will be more useful to share experiences from the public involvement process within the activities intended for this purpose.

We plan that participation activities with citizens will take place in each participating municipality and in all municipalities of the participating microregion.

1) An information campaign or event will take place in each municipality in relation to the topic under discussion (at least 2 press releases about the implementation of the project, invitations to events, publication of outputs will be published).

2) The public will be polled in electronic or printed form in each participating municipality.

3) In each municipality, a public discussion of the proposed solution or the draft of the strategic document will take place.