Experts from France to take part in Perm Public Forum

Photo by Yekaterina Gasper

Perm City Administration representatives hold a meeting with Daniel Mathieu, Counselor for social issues of French Embassy in Moscow; the issues discussed included the experience and forms of public participation in local government in Perm and France.

Perm has a long-term link with France as it was the French town of Amnéville that became the first  city twinned with Perm as far back as 1992. There is a non-governmental organisation “Alliance Française – Perm” which has been functioning as the French language center.  Perm school No 22 has been organising school exchange programmes in cooperation with French educational centers since 2009. 

Mr Daniel Mathieu had a meeting with Deputy Mayor Lidiya Korolyova.

“Raising the level of civic culture is one of our goals. Perm City has about 2,000 NGOs. To make an enquiry to local government bodies on any issue the residents can use the call-center, file an enquiry through “Managing together” Internet site or join the individual reception of residents held by the Mayor and heads of city district administrations.   Perm boasts a wide network of territorial public councils and community centers, which serve as a support to people’s initiative and self-organization. The 107 territorial public councils represent 71% of the city population. The city competition of social projects called “The City is Us” has been successfully held for over 20 years now, making it possible for NGOs to get city budge funding for their projects”, Lidiya Korolyova explained. 

In his turn, Daniel Mathieu stresses that 71% public participation is an amazingly high figure for France. 

“Such a high rate of public involvement is not accidental, but is a real result of your efficient work. Russia now is only at the start of creating a civic society, while France is at the stage of its exhaustion. In addition, we are looking for partners to implement new ideas, he noted. 

In November 2018 The Regional Public Forum was held in Perm where the Perm City Administration organized a special workshop on  public diplomacy and territorial pubic self-government. The 2019 Perm Public Forum will traditionally be held in November and will again focus on these issues. 

Lidia Korolyova suggested inviting experts from France to join the Forum, which was supported by Daniel Mathieu who assured that the representatives from France would take part in the Forum.