Sustainable development is driven by local governments that are responsive to the needs of their citizens and willing to involve them in their decision-making processes. Next to that, citizens need to be empowered to make their voices heard and cooperate effectively with the authorities.
This course discusses strategies and approaches to promote citizen participation in local governance, analysing their benefits and limitations. We will examine different communication tools and consider the importance of managing the expectations of citizens, community organisations and other stakeholders. Special attention is given to ensuring all voices are heard, including women, youth and people with disabilities. Furthermore, we will explore how citizens can be empowered to voice their concerns and hold their governments accountable.
In this course, I truly understood the concept of participatory governance from a local government perspective. My previous semester-long course on citizen participation never addressed real-life situations the way this course did.
This course is aimed at professionals working on participation and accountability processes. Participants come from national, regional and local government, NGOs and donor and development organisations.
After this course, you will receive a professional certificate of completion from The Hague Academy for Local Governance.
This course will help you:
Experts that are involved in this course:
In this course, you will visit the ecological residential area EVA-Lanxmeer, where public spaces were redesigned together with residents. You will also meet the Ombudsman of the city of The Hague, and learn about restoring and improving the relationship between citizens and the local government. In addition, you will visit local NGOs to learn about their role in enabling civic engagement.
Find the practical information for the course here.
After submitting your completed application, you will receive a confirmation of receipt. Once we have assessed your application and admitted you to the course, we will send you an invoice with payment details.
Payments can be made by bank transfer or by PayPal request. We also offer the option of paying in one or two instalments. An advance payment of 50% secures the reservation of a seat at the training until the payment deadline. However, your participation in the course is guaranteed only after receipt of full payment.
Please note that The Hague Academy accepts registrations on a first-paid, first-served policy.
Some countries require a visa to enter the Netherlands. Please check with The Netherlands or the embassy for the visa requirements related to your country. Because of the length of time needed for the visa procedure, we advise you to start this process as soon as possible. Once we have received your payment for the course, The Hague Academy will send you an acceptance letter which will assist you in arranging your visa to The Netherlands.
Under certain circumstances, participants may need to cancel their participation in the course. For cancellations before the payment deadline, we will reimburse the paid amounts minus an administration fee of €150.
To prevent late cancellation, we strongly encourage you to start with your visa application procedure at least six weeks before the start of the training programme.
We will charge a cancellation fee of 50% of the course fee for participants cancelling between four and two weeks prior to the start of the training. If you cancel your participation within the two-week period before the start of the course, then you have to pay 80% of the course fee.
It is always possible to nominate a suitably qualified candidate to replace you without extra charge, in the event that you cannot attend the course.
The Hague Academy for Local Governance reserves the right to cancel a course if the number of participants is insufficient or due to any other unforeseen circumstances. In this case, your payment will be 100% reimbursed. Other costs such as transportation or hotel cannot be reimbursed.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers scholarships for training courses in the Netherlands. The Orange Knowledge Programme and the MENA Scholarship Programme seek to develop and strengthen the skills, instincts, and abilities of professionals to enable their organisations and communities to succeed in an ever-changing world. To learn if this course is open for scholarship applications, please visit our Scholarships page. Please note that scholarships have a separate application process.
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