Our welfare society is changing – and this is being felt in municipalities across the country. We are getting older, and more children and young people need support. At the same time, expectations for the quality of municipal welfare services are growing. However, finances can struggle to keep up and the challenges only look set to increase in the future.
In April, 36 of Dragør’s citizens began the work of finding balances and priorities for the future welfare of the municipality. They have now met twice and will share their preliminary work with the rest of Dragør at the third meeting on Tuesday, May 13.
While Dragør Municipality is the initiator of the project, We Do Democracy is the secretariat and responsible for the process, which will result in a number of concrete recommendations from citizens to politicians.
The 36 participants of the Citizens’ Assembly were selected by drawing lots among 240 of Dragør’s total of 11,752 citizens over the age of 15. To ensure that the Citizens’ Assembly best reflects the population of the municipality, the draw was based on a number of representative criteria such as age, gender, education and place of residence.
During the session, citizens work closely together – both with each other and with experts and speakers. They share experiences, ask questions and develop knowledge together. All with one common goal: to formulate concrete recommendations on how Dragør Municipality can best solve future welfare tasks – from the citizens’ perspective.
The Citizens’ Assembly focuses on the entire municipal welfare area – from elderly care and primary schools to employment and health. In Denmark, we have a high degree of decentralization, which is why municipalities play a crucial role in ensuring welfare close to citizens’ everyday lives.
Dragør’s citizens’ assembly is a unique opportunity to involve citizens’ own experiences, values and priorities in the development of future welfare. When the citizens’ assembly concludes, the citizens’ recommendations will form the basis for further political work in Dragør Municipality – with the citizens’ voices as inspiration and guidelines for the coming years’ welfare development.