Citizen Participation Advisory Board

As part of the implementation of the City of Jena's guidelines for citizen participation, the City Council decided to establish an advisory board for citizen participation at its meeting on 15.03.2017. The foundation was prepared by the support group, which had already been established during the development of the guidelines.

Procedure for founding the advisory board

On October 18, 2017, the City Council adopted the participatory statutes for the Advisory Board for Citizen Participation (Citizen Participation Advisory Board). These statutes define the tasks, composition and working methods of the advisory board. The selection of the representatives of the citizens was carried out in a complex process. A personal letter was sent to 2,000 residents selected according to statistical criteria in order to solicit their participation in the advisory board. A total of 186 people were interested in the five available seats on the advisory board, so a draw was held at an event for all interested parties on December 15, 2017.

An initial reshuffle was necessary in 2020, as the term of office of the representatives of the political groups is linked to the term of office of the City Council. As the term of office of the representatives from the citizenry ends after four years in accordance with the statutes, the new members with voting rights and their deputies were drawn from 144 interested parties on 15.09.2022.

Tasks of the advisory board

According to its statutes, the Citizens' Participation Advisory Board has the following tasks

• Advising the city council, the city administration and citizens on planned participation procedures, in particular with regard to the choice of method, topic and implementation;
• Continuation of the participatory budget;
• Supporting the city administration in publicizing opportunities for citizen participation;
• Monitoring the updating and further development of the guidelines;
• Selection of an external partner for the regular evaluation of the guidelines.

Furthermore, the Advisory Board can make proposals, suggestions and statements or expert opinions on its own initiative, which must be dealt with in the relevant committees upon request.

Composition

The Advisory Board consists of 17 voting members and eight advisory members.

Information on the meetings of the Advisory Board and all relevant documents can be found in the City of Jena's council information system.

Publicity

The meetings of the Advisory Board are always open to the public and can be attended by all interested parties.