The BePART Forum aims to promote the exchange of experiences between the member states of the Council of Europe and provide useful information on different forms and instruments of participation, strengthen democratic values and inspire the practice of those involved in participation processes.
A tool by practitioners for practitioners
The Forum aims to help those who want to develop participatory practices on many topics, from urban development to gender policy, from environmental protection to youth participation.
The BePART Forum aims to strengthen participation in policy-making processes by focusing on both civil society organizations and public authorities in the following ways:
- Capacity building and knowledge enhancement
- Promoting democratic values
- Being an inspiration for action
- Strengthening networks and processes
- Triggering change
BePART is a joint initiative of the Directorate General for Democracy (DGII)/Department for Elections and Participatory Democracy, the International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO Conference) and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
There is also an example from Turkey
There is also a decision-making project for young people from Turkey in the Forum. The aim of the project, entitled Youth Compact in the Balkans, is to "improve and develop participatory youth policies and local democracy in the municipalities of the Western Balkans by involving young people in the decision-making process and raising awareness of their necessity and importance for society."
How are the initiatives selected for implementation?
A Council of Europe working group will carry out the approval procedure for each initiative put into practice. This procedure will be carried out in accordance with the 9 principles of citizen participation set out in the Principles of Good Practice for Civil Society Participation in Decision-making adopted by both the INGO Conference and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on 30 October 2019.
How Can You Participate?
Step 1: Present your project
Proposals can be submitted to the BePART Forum either individually or as an organized citizen in an NGO. Representatives of public institutions can also participate in the forum. To do so, first click on https://bepartforum.org/submit-a-new-case/. After you have filled out the form here, an online questionnaire will be sent to you.
Step 2: Complete your information
After you submit your contribution, the BePART participant page and initiative page will be created on the platform. The contribution will be marked as "Submitted" and will appear in the BePART Forum.
However, the BePART Forum aims to gather experiences that represent the views of both civil society and institutions. Therefore, for each initiative, the aim is to collect information from at least one non-governmental organization and one public administration actor involved in the relevant process.
Your contribution will be sent by the BePART administrator to the "project partner" (i.e. if the contribution was submitted by a non-governmental organization, it will be sent to the public administration identified as a partner in the case aggregator and vice versa) and this partner will have the opportunity to submit information from its side.
Once the information is received from both parties, the project is marked as "under review" and goes through the verification process described above.
Step 3: Approval of initiatives
Your initiative will be approved twice a year by the BePART Working Group at the Council of Europe based on the principles outlined in the Revised Principles of Good Practice for Civic Participation in Decision Making.
Successful attempts will be marked as "Approved" in the BePART Forum.
To view the BePART Civic Participation Forum: https://bepartforum.org/