Current status

Submitted

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Contributor(s)

First contributor: Municipality of Gorizia

Summary

The RESILOC project (Resilient Europe and Societies by Innovating Local Communities) is a Horizon2020-funded projectthat ended in November 2022.

The RESILOC project aimed at studying and implementing a holistic framework of studies, methods and software instruments that combined the physical with the less tangible aspects associated with human behavior. The projectaimed at improving the level of resilience of local communities, through research activities and by piloting the developed solutions in 4 pilot sites (i.e., Gorizia and Catania in Italy, Tetovo in Bulgaria, West Achaia in Greece).

The Municipality of Gorizia, in close collaboration with the Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia (ISIG), has led a participatory process with the community of Gorizia for the creation of the Local Resilience Team (i.e.,LRT) and the assessment of the vulnerability of the community in 6 different dimensions. The LRT is a voluntary and informal group of citizens with tasks of awareness raising, dissemination and mapping of the local vulnerabilities on resilience, designed to function as the link between the citizens and authorities in charge of emergency response. The LRT represents the link between the local Civil Protection Service of the Municipality and the community, collecting needs and point of views from the citizens. Local Resilience Teams are active participation tools for local resilience and civil protection policymaking.

Throughout the project implementation, the LRT, , held more than 25 workshops to assess the vulnerability of the community and to co-produce a Local Resilience Strategy. The first draft of the Local Resilience Strategy was structured based on six dimensions (i.e., Governance, Social, Economic, Environment, Networks and Infrastructures, Disaster Risk Reduction) foreseeing one long- term objective and several sub-objectives for each section.

The Local Resilience Strategy was voted by a Citizens’ Jury on the 16^th of October 2022, being the closing moment of the participatory process activated by RESILOC in Gorizia. The Citizens’ Jury was held during a local Solidarity Award Ceremony, involving many representatives of CSOs. During the Citizens’ Jury, 108 people expressed their vote on each section of the Local Resilience Strategy on a scale from 1 (min) to 10 (max).

In that occasion, the Local Resilience Strategy was confirmed in its validity as a guiding line for the improvement of resilience of the Municipality of Gorizia. The Local Resilience Strategy was later approved by the City Council in November 2022.

Administrative level

Local - European

Year of implementation

2022

Policy area(s)

Civil protection
(Local) Development and Planning

Further details

The Local Resilience Strategy of the Municipality of Gorizia provides the guidelines for the development of relevant policies aimed at elaborating and implementing resilience-building actions. The strategy must be considered by all municipal services when deciding upon actions of their competence.

ISIG - Institute of International Sociology of Gorizia

Civil society organisation

Contact info

www.isig.it
kakovic@isig.it

Tipology of involvement in the initiative

Initiating (i.e., advocating for and starting the process)
Organising
Participating with a direct involvement

Level of Participation

Consultation

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By level of participation we refer to the type of involvement in the decision-making process. The levels are identified by the intensity of participation: going from “information” to “consultation” to ” dialogue” to “partnership”. Do you want to learn more - click here

Developed practice(s)

The Citizens’ Jury was organised for the validation of the Local Resilience Strategy.

Step(s) of the political decision-making process at which the practice was implemented

Agenda Setting of policy

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There are six different steps of the political decision-making process: agenda setting, drafting of policy, decision-making, implementation of policy, monitoring and reformulation of policy. Each step offer opportunities for CSOs and public authorities to interact. Do you want to learn more - click here

How the initiative was implemented

Situation

The Citizens’ Jury was the final step of the participatory process activated by RESILOC in Gorizia. The Jury served as a validation step for the approval of the objectives comprised in the Strategy to be submitted and adopted by the Municipal Council.

Activities performed

The Citizens’ Jury was performed during a local Solidarity Award Ceremony. Before the award, the aims, structure and tools developed by the RESILOC project was presented so to contextualise the Local Resilience Strategy.

Tools and mechanisms applied

The Citizens’ Jury was supported by a questionnaire where the respondents could express their vote on a scale from 1 to 10 to each objective of the strategy.

Goals of the civil participation initiative

At community level

Validating and sharing the Local Resilience Strategy with the community of Gorizia.

From Civil society organisation's perspective

Involving a wider public in the validation of the Local Resilience Strategy. Ensuring that “all voices are heard” in the decision- and policy-making process regarding community resilience.

From Public Authority's Perspective

Co-producing and co-validating the objectives and sub-objectives proposed in the Local Resilience Strategy with citizens.

Results expected prior to the implementation

The results expected were:

To confirm the LRT as a policy-making and policy-design tool for local resilience enhancement.
To validate the dimensions of analysis and the objectives of the Local Resilience Strategy.

Immediate results achieved after implementation

The adoption of the Local Resilience Strategy by the Municipal Council of Gorizia.

Long-term impact

The local development planning of the Municipality will adhere to the objective of the Local Resilience Strategy.

Practice lessons learnt (obstacles and solutions)

Agency (i.e., political conditions/power structures)	Obstacles	N/A
Agency (i.e., political conditions/power structures)	Solutions	N/A
Legislative	Obstacles	Local Resilience Strategies are not widespread/common practices in Italy.
Legislative	Solutions	The objectives and structure were inspired by other Resilience Strategies (i.e., European and international) and by the results elaborated from the LRT during the participatory process.
Administrative	Obstacles	N/A
Administrative	Solutions	N/A
Socio-cultural	Obstacles	Resilience-related topics are not considered yet as fundamental for the policy-making process and in the public feeling.
Socio-cultural	Solutions	The participatory approach provided the opportunity to start talking and understanding the topic of resilience.
Economic	Obstacles	N/A
Economic	Solutions	N/A
Human capital	Obstacles	N/A
Human capital	Solutions	N/A
Other	Obstacles	N/A
Other	Solutions	N/A

Further information

Self-assessment

The self-assessment presents the opinion of the contributor about on what extent the following principles for Civil Participation have been reflected in the implementation of the initiative/practice/case-study, ranging from 1 (min) to 4 (max) (N/A: not applicable, do not know)

Openness	4
Explanation	For the first time, the citizens of Gorizia had the opportunity to directly vote a document which would be part of the fundamental document guiding the future development of the city.
Trust	4
Explanation	The Local Resilience Strategy was the result of a transparent and fruitful interaction among the PA, the LRT and the Civil Protection Service and the community in general.
Independence	4
Explanation	The LRT worked independently, with the support of the PA.
Participation	4
Explanation	The LRT represented mostly NGOs and CSOs working on disability and inclusion. Until this moment, no project of the Municipality of Gorizia had an holistic approach towards disability and resilience.
Transparency	4
Explanation	The process and results are part of the results of RESILOC project.
Accessibility	4
Explanation	The Citizens’ Jury was open to all the citizens who wanted to attend to the Jury and to the Solidarity Award Ceremony which was well advertised in the community.
Non-discrimination	4
Explanation	No discrimination at the access to the Citizens’ Jury were applied. All citizens above 18 years old were able to participate.
Inclusiveness	4
Explanation	All citizens above 18 years old were able to participate.
Accountability	4
Explanation	The documentation of the survey administered is still at disposal.

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