Abstract:

Citizen engagement is a process and refers to an active form of involvement in the public domain in which citizens are to a greater or lesser degree involved in tasks and services of the government. Through community engagement local people can articulate the knowledge of what and where local community issues are, and possibly the knowledge of how local community issues could be addressed, drawing on their lived experiences (Mbah, 2019). Public engagement also builds trust between community members and the local government, facilitates more effective plans when action relies on behavior change by individuals and households, and may result in cost savings if high engagement mobilizes volunteer efforts during plan implementation (Hahn et al., 2020). It is generally held that citizen engagement enhances the quality of democracy and is valuable for generating input and support, and finding solutions for governmental challenges (Siebers et al., 2019).

This study aims at investigating the needs of Joniskis district residents in terms of active participation. The survey included questions about variables both motivating and demotivating their engagement. 213 adult respondents living in the municipality of Joniškis district participated. Joniškis District is a region of northern Lithuania, located on the Latvian border. At the beginning of January 2024, there were 21 317 people, of whom 18 356 were aged 18 or over. The representative authority of the municipality of Joniškis District is the Joniškis District Municipal Council and the executive authority is the Joniškis District Municipal Administration. There are 4 towns, 274 villages, and a total of 45 communities have been recorded in the district.

Encouragement to examine citizens‘ needs in order to find ways strengthening the engagement was given by the project “Higher Education Institutions as Innovative Triggers of Sustainable Development in European Cities in Post Covid-19 Era” (KA220-HED-96EB51E1). The project is intended to influence urban policy and practice towards improvement the quality of collaboration between decision-makers and citizens. Thus, the a key objective is sharing of decision-making power via better information, communication and dialogue.

Data revealed the issues such as lack of trust (84 percent of respondents), and lack of knowledge in terms of engagement ways (21 percent of respondents) are the main engagement obstacles in the district. Respondents also blamed the formal communication of municipality administration indicating its problematic aspects (time, forms, topics). It was found that in order to promote citizen engagement improving the quality of information and communication provided by local government is important. Citizens would like to receive more structured information at meetings about the issues that are addressed. They would also like to receive the exact date, time, place and expected duration of the meetings organized. Engagement would benefit from education to help citizens understand the ways in which they can participate in public decision-making processes.

Keywords:

Community, community engagement, municipality, Lithuania.