Guidebook guidance
Government officials, burdened by many responsibilities and severe time constraints, often lack the tools or training to sift through documents and details on how to ensure access to information and public participation.
Manuals, guides, handbooks and guidelines for government authorities (to inform them of their responsibilities) and individual citizens (to inform them of their rights) are excellent methods to enhance environmental leadership. Another recommendation of the DRP project is that NGOs should play an active role in producing such materials.
All too often, however, the high turnover rate of government personnel, changes in the rules and other normal change means that such publications end up collecting dust on a shelf or quickly become obsolete. Care should be taken that these guides are designed and written in such a manner to be of optimum use for the longest possible period of time. The most effective revisions draw from user feedback, and thus help to ensure that the guides provide maximum assistance to their target audiences.
Two manuals for officials on access to information and public participation in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive (among the four published within the project) benefited from obtaining government endorsement and are or will be made available on the ministry's website. One was from Serbia, the other from Romania.
