Office of Communications: Improving the Effectiveness of Feedback and Involving Citizens in the City's Development Processes
Goal. Improving the effectiveness of communications with citizens and other stakeholders in order take into account their interests and involving them in the city sustainable development processes.
The social component of the UN SDG is related to the level and quality of life, employment, security, etc. The ADC links the effectiveness of activities in this direction with establishing long-term partnerships with city residents as the main consumers of the urban environment and services, as well as the primary source of information about the needs and wishes of the population.
The ADC will continue to develop the existing directions:
1) Information support of the activities of the Almaty Akimat;
2) Public Reception Open Almaty Project;
3) People's Participation Budget Project.
Objective 1. Information support of the activities of the Almaty Akimat and districts
One of the important areas of work with the population and establishing partnerships with the city residents is high-quality and timely information about the activities of local executive bodies of the city, as well as urban development issues in general.
The ADC will continue to participate in the activities of information and content support for the activities of the Akim and Akimat through preparation of information materials, monitoring, administration of websites and social networks of the Akimat, analysis and planning of outreach work.
Objective 2. Further development of the Public Reception Open Almaty
The functions of Open Almaty are to receive and process requests through the 1308 call center, front office, Web portal, Akimat accounts in social networks; quality control of responses from government agencies and organizations; providing feedback from Almaty residents, as well as implementing public participation projects (People's Participation Budget of the Almaty City).
Since the beginning of Open Almaty activity, more than 1 million requests have been received. About 90% of requests come from social networks and the call center.
The competence of Open Almaty staff allows us to provide on-site consultations, using a daily updated knowledge base, which in turn has a positive effect on the efficiency of interaction with citizens, as well as a decrease in the number of requests to government agencies (i.e. reducing the workload).
All requests are registered in the hardware and software complex (HSC), the functionality of which allows to conduct systematic control over the execution of each request. The quality and timeliness of responses provided by the responsible executors are controlled by Open Almaty inspectors. In addition, request statistics are announced weekly at staff meetings with the city leadership, which makes it possible to improve the performance discipline of all subordinate organizations of the Akimat.
More than 50 organizations of the Almaty Akimat are connected to the agro-industrial complex: district akimats, city departments, subordinate organizations (Almaty Su State Municipal Enterprise, Almaty Heating Networks LLP, Almaty Kala Zharyk State Utility Company, etc.).
Open Almaty receives requests mainly related to the life and infrastructure of Almaty (landscaping, transport infrastructure and housing and communal services, etc.); requests for reference information (contacts, addresses of organizations), as well as educational issues (schools, kindergartens).
The experience and competence of the Public Reception allow it to be involved in the implementation of various city and republican projects and events: republican referendum (2022); early presidential elections (2022); compensation for damage to business (2022); hotline for Almaty residents on Covid-19 (2020), etc.
Prompt feedback, weekly analysis of requests and feedback from Open Almaty provide a proactive response and inform citizens about the measures taken on topics of concern to them. High-quality feedback increases confidence in the work of executive bodies.
Based on the received requests, the Public Reception prepares detailed analytical reports on the most popular citywide requests of citizens: landscaping; water supply; public transport; lighting, etc.
Based on the results of the analysis of the array of citizens' requests, the most frequent, acute issues are identified as the most worrying for the population. Information about these issues is brought to the attention of the city administration to take preventive actions to solve the identified problematic issues. This approach allows the city administration to work proactively, monitoring tensions in society and responding to changes in the situation in a timely manner.
In general, further work of Open Almaty will be aimed at improving the work with citizens' requests to increase the level of satisfaction of the city's population with the local executive bodies’ performance.
Objective 3. Further development of the People’s Participation Budget project
In 2019 the Almaty Akimat together with the ADC introduced a pilot project People's Participation Budget, based on the principles of participatory budgeting. The goal of the project is development and improvement of the territories of Almaty districts using citizens’ initiatives and proposals.
In order to implement this project, revision of the HSC Open Almaty, development of a specialized Web portal on the open-almaty.kz domain with the functionality of accepting applications and voting were ensured. A roadmap, an algorithm, and draft rules have also been developed, and mechanisms for all stages of the process have been worked out, from submitting an application to summing up the voting results.
The number of project proposals submitted by citizens increased from 333 in 2019 to 1,251 in 2022. The annual growth of project proposals from residents and activity in voting for the best projects demonstrates an increase in the civic activity of citizens.
The amount of budget funds allocated for projects based on the citizens’ proposals has also increased.
Further development of the People’s Participation Budget project will be aimed at expanding the involvement of Almaty residents in participatory budgeting processes and increasing public awareness of the project.
The ADC will seek to involve the city residents in participatory budgeting processes within the framework of the People’s Participation Budget project through the creation of internal and external conditions.
In terms of external conditions, the ADC will strive to improve the awareness, knowledge and necessary competencies of the project participants. The ADC will hold consultations on a regular basis for employees of district akimats, as well as Almaty residents.
The ADC also intends to ensure understanding of the project essence as a tool for improving the efficiency of territory management through a constant dialogue between the residents of the city and various state bodies and organizations in the form of meetings, forums, discussions, exchange of experience with other regions, etc.
