Accountability

In 2020, only 38% of the municipalities reported to the citizens on the undertaken and implemented activities of the municipalities for 2019. This indicates the low awareness of the municipalities for their accountability for the work done in the past period.
The municipalities issued a report with implemented projects and financial information about them to the citizens, most often by issuing a Document – Report (Отчет) in hard copy and / or electronic copy. Smaller municipalities practice reporting by gathering citizens and presenting projects or informing through local media, which is also a good channel for communicating with the public.
Good examples for reporting to the citizens are the municipalities of Vardar region (67% of the municipalities), East region (64% of the municipalities) and Pelagonia region (56% of the municipalities).

Citizen’s participation and involvement

The openness of the municipalities for involving the citizens in creating local policies is closely related to the transparency, which adds additional value and perception that the municipalities listen the voice of the citizens.
In the fiscal year 2019-2020, only 35% of the municipalities conducted a forum in which the citizens were involved. The municipalities usually conduct forums for defining priorities in the budgets for the next year, i.e they conduct budget forums for the citizens.
On the other hand, a small number of municipalities have a practice in addition to budget forums to conduct forums for local economic development (LED), where citizens have the opportunity to express ideas and views related to the economy at the local level. Most of the municipalities that conduct forums for citizen involvement are from the Northeast region (50%) and the Pelagonia region (44%).
The municipalities of Bitola, Ilinden and Novo Selo are good examples of citizen’s participation and involvement in forums for local economic development.