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Citizens evaluating local services and facilities in Southern Italy


Peformance indicators


The project was followed by a final survey, aimed at both the citizens involved and the public managers of local authorities involved, to evaluate the experiences.

 

More specifically the survey aimed to assess

  • the local organisation of the project (in terms of the activities, local communication, and role of the civic associations involved);
  • the relationships between local citizens and public agencies; and 
  • the general effectiveness of the project (both for public agencies and for citizens).

 

Both citizens and local authorities considered the contribution of civic associations as helpful to the management of the local activities during the experimentation. The public managers appreciated the participation of citizens not only as an opportunity of learning new way of managing public services but, moreover, as a way of developing social capital and a feeling of civic belonging.

 

Citizens also viewed positively the involvement of local authorities, particularly their provision of data already at their disposal, as well as their help in resolving some critical problems during the experiment.


With regard to the general effectiveness of the initiative, the local authorities, although underlining the shortage of time and resources for managing such activities, declared their continued interest in the project and their willingness to give feedback to citizens and to implement concrete service improvements arising from the monitoring exercises.

 

Citizens, too, saw the need to move from the evaluation phase to the implementation of improvements. They expected feed-back once the local report had been presented to the local authority. They also recognised that the participation in this project had increased their “civic sense” and their awareness of being able to make a concrete contribution to the improvement of their urban space. They also suggested that the project had generated a general positive effect on other citizens who, even though they hadn’t directly taken part in it, had known about it. Their interest in and curiosity about the project, supported by local media, were seen as providing a good opportunity for the further development of the initiative and for helping more citizens to become “active citizens”.

About this case study
Main Contact

Laura Massoli
Department for

Public Administration

 

email:

 

l.massoli@funzionepubblica.it

Laura Massoli provided Governance International with this case study on 30 July 2010. It was updated on 17 February 2012.

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