A problem of establishing of good relationships with public is well-known for many city councils. How can officials listen to residents and become more transparent to them?

There are three tips to help you solve your public relations problem:

Consultation.

Without this, the authorities are unlikely to understand the needs of the residents. During joint discussions, you can not only learn about the problems of the locals, but also unite to solve them.

Informing the public.

Citizens will not trust authorities if they are not informed about city council activities, and if the importance of the decisions made is not explained. In addition, there may be various speculations and distortion of facts. That is why all available methods should be used: communication with journalists, active pages on social media, user-friendly city council website and organization of open meetings with residents.

Citizen engagement.

Citizen involvement is important in resolution of city problems. After all, they are more interested in positive change than anyone else. Creation of public and supervisory boards and the improvement of such tools as public budget and e-petitions will allow residents to be involved in decision-making and to understand more about different city processes.

But the most important thing is that the authorities must be honest, transparent, ready for dialogue and changes. When that’s done, nothing can stop the progress!

To find out more specifics exactly about effective cooperation of the authorities with the community, we recommend you to take an online course at Prometheus: //bit.ly/38ry5Ao

The publication was prepared as part of implementation of the UNDP project “Civil Society for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine,” funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

All opinions, conclusions, or recommendations are the sole responsibility of the authors or editors of the publication and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Development Program or other UN agencies.