Heads of non-governmental organizations and agencies, educators, local government representatives, lawyers and experts from various professional fields participated in the seminar “Digital Transparency and Participation as Tools for Civic Inclusion,” which took place on July 4 and 5 at Hotel Lyon in Borovets. During the two-day seminar, the participants discussed current topics related to the impact of digital technologies on democratic processes. Among the highlights were the questions: “How can artificial intelligence make democracy weaker or stronger?”, “Why are critical thinking, media, and digital literacy prerequisites for active civic participation?” and “Transparency and participation as tools for civic inclusion.” The speakers at the forum were Pavel Ivanov, Executive Director of the Institute of Public Administration, Dr. Maria Yurukova and Ralitsa Stoycheva from the Department of European Studies of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. They presented the contemporary challenges facing democratic processes in the digital environment, as well as good practices and possible solutions for increasing civic engagement and transparency.
The practical part of the training set the participants two challenges – to distinguish facts from opinions in the digital environment and to develop a digital solution for the more active inclusion of young people in the decision-making process at the municipal level. Working in teams, the twenty participants put what they learned into practice by developing specific ideas and proposals.
The seminar is part of the project “Capacity Building – New Opportunities for Participation and Engagement”, funded under the Technical Assistance Programme (TAP), co-financed by the European Union.
