#OurStories: Citizen as a Partner
Otrokovice energizes the topic of public participation not only locally but also in other municipalities.

Behind this modest project title lies a tremendous amount of work, plenty of inspiration, fresh ideas, and shared experiences. It is very likely the largest platform of municipalities ever created in the Czech Republic around this topic.

“We launched the project mainly because we were struggling to communicate with our citizens,” says Hana Večerková, Mayor of Otrokovice, at the beginning of our interview at the town hall. She firmly believes that city leadership must learn how to communicate with people.

^{Project: Public involvement in city development
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Why involve citizens?
“It’s very hard to break the ice and get the people of our town involved,” explains Hana Večerková. “Most people don’t express their opinions, don’t attend meetings, don’t show interest. But then they’re surprised when something actually happens.” She adds that only a small fraction of citizens truly know what’s going on in the city.

A representative from a nearby municipality shares a similar view: “Citizen participation is important because it provides feedback. Those who care for the residents should know what people want in the places where they live,” says Kateřina Kašpárková, a councillor from Žlutava.

“It’s about trust. When you build a relationship with the public—as an office or as a local authority—you have a better chance of preventing protests against plans you believe are good. If there’s trust, the process goes more smoothly, and people are more satisfied,” says Josef Zdražil, Head of the Project Management Department at the Otrokovice Municipal Office and the project’s public participation methodologist.

^{Otrokovice as a pioneer in public involvement in city development. The project team together with the Mayor of Otrokovice, Hana Večerková (second from the left).}

Otrokovice as a Pioneer in Public Engagement
Although citizen participation wasn’t a completely new concept in Otrokovice, the town wanted to learn from the experience of others. In the end, 26 municipalities joined the initiative —from Jeseník and Turnov to several villages in the Ivančicko microregion. Their representatives met regularly, exchanged ideas, and took part in expert workshops.

“The joint meetings with other towns were very inspiring,” says Mayor Večerková. “We wanted to learn how to involve the public more effectively and in more engaging ways.”

According to Josef Zdražil: “We built a database of case studies on how public engagement works—what is effective and what isn’t.”

The project addressed a broad range of topics—from collaboration with local associations to the creation of strategic documents at the regional level.

 

…and to Norway
The Norwegian partner in the project was the town of Fredrikstad. Czech municipal representatives visited the town to observe local practices, such as the sensitive integration of new buildings into historic centres, a strong focus on ecology, and the use of free boat transport. The town employs a public engagement coordinator and actively involves all citizen groups.

“We were really surprised to see how seriously they take the opinions of children,” says Mayor Večerková. Inspired by the Norwegian approach, Otrokovice began working more with school parliaments and introduced regular meetings with students to involve them in city life.

In Žlutava, the trip to Norway sparked new ideas as well. “I reached out to young mothers in the village and we formed a group. We started organizing events and even built a new playground through a community initiative,” says Kateřina Kašpárková.

^{Implemented or planned projects: municipal public address system in Halenkovice, a playground and bench in Otrokovice, plans for a community centre in Žlutava.}

How to Engage Citizens
Each municipality is different, and the possibilities for working with the public vary. In Otrokovice, one of the regularly used tools is the initiative “Move the City” (Pohni městem).

“It’s a participatory budget—each year we allocate CZK 2 million to projects proposed and voted on by our citizens,” explains Mayor Večerková.

Thanks to this initiative, Otrokovice has already built a workout park, a bike wash station for housing estate cyclists, a children’s obstacle course, and a dog park. The city also established local district commissions, which help address neighborhood-specific issues and consult city plans. Additionally, the municipality supports local events—such as kite festivals or Christmas gatherings.

Another key tool is holding regular public meetings in all parts of the city. In other municipalities, they opted for questionnaires. In Žlutava, they conducted a survey to map residents’ satisfaction and collected suggestions for improvement. In Halenkovice, after evaluating survey responses, they installed a new municipal public address system and are planning to install speed radar devices.

Community Planning of Social Services
One of the areas where Otrokovice shared its expertise with others was social services. The city has been engaged in community planning for 20 years and has consistently involved surrounding municipalities within the administrative district with extended powers (ORP).

They regularly discuss what services are needed, citizens participate in working groups, send in comments, and share ideas about what the social services network in the Otrokovice area should look like.

Both service providers and users are involved in the planning process.

“Otrokovice listens to the needs of seniors. We’ve always stayed in contact, even through the municipal office. Whenever I need advice, I can reach out. And it’s not just about retirees—it concerns families with disabled children or young kids too,” says Zdenka Jursíková, a long-standing member of one of the working groups for community planning of social services. “We’re truly grateful to Otrokovice. It rarely works this well elsewhere,” she adds.

^{Meeting with residents of the Otrokovice – Baťov district and a discussion on traffic in the Baťa housing area; Working group meeting on community planning of social services; Discussion on the Žlutava municipal council’s future plans}

The Public as Part of the Investment Process
But not everything is always smooth sailing. “Public engagement can be a thankless task if you choose the wrong topic,” notes Josef Zdražil, the citizen participation methodologist in Otrokovice.

There are some topics where involving the public simply doesn’t make sense. Sometimes people don’t want to participate because they don’t understand the issue—or, in worse cases, they’re not interested at all. In other cases, something is already working well, and people don’t want it to change.

In Otrokovice, the question of public involvement has recently become an integral part of project management. When approving a project plan, the city council now also decides how—and whether—the public will be involved in the project.

Was the Project Worth It?
Thanks to the project, approximately 4,800 citizens were engaged in one or more activities.

“Participation is something new for us, and we’re glad we were able to take part in this project,” says Jiří Sudolský from Halenkovice. “It was beneficial for our municipality—it taught us how to communicate with citizens and showed us that this is crucial for local development.”

The representative from Žlutava shares a similar view: “It gave us the opportunity to meet other people from towns and villages, to build great cooperation, and to attend three workshops. I’m really glad I could be part of it,” says Kateřina Kašpárková.

“It really opened my eyes—we mustn’t rest on our laurels. There’s always something to learn,” concludes Mayor Hana Večerková of Otrokovice with a smile.

^{Filming of interviews: Kateřina Kašpárková – Councillor of Žlutava; Hana Večerková – Mayor of Otrokovice; Jiří Sudolský – Deputy Mayor of Halenkovice; Josef Zdražil – Public participation methodologist, Otrokovice Municipal Office; Zdenka Jursíková – Member of a working group on community planning of social services}

Project website: https://zapojeniverejnosti.cz/
The project was funded by the EEA Grants 2014–2021 through the Good Governance programme.

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Name of the project:	Public involvement in city development
Project promoter:	Otrokovice City
Partners:	City of Jeseník, City of Kopřivnice, City of Kutná Hora, City of Říčany, City of Turnov, City of Uherský Brod, City of Valašské Meziříčí, Ivančicko Microregion, Municipality of Halenkovice, Municipality of Kurovice, Municipality of Nová Dědina, Municipality of Žlutava, City of Fredrikstad (Norway)
Programme:	Good Governance
Grant:	183 767 EUR
Goal of the project:	Improving the capacity of public administration to respond to the needs of its residents by involving specific target groups as well as the general public in local decision-making processes, including the development of professional competences of public administration employees and elected representatives in the field of civic participation.