Piloting the Questionnaire for healthy settlements in the Municipality of Karposh
The INHERIT research project, part of the HORIZON 2020 EU Research and Innovation Program, aims to stimulate effective policies, practices and innovations at all levels that will address key environmental agents to promote health equity and well-being of the population .
A team of experts from the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Macedonia, as part of the Consortium in this research project on 7.3.2018, had a meeting with the Mayor of the Municipality of Karposh, Mr. Stefan Bogoev, and the heads of the key sectors of the Municipality. The purpose of the visit was to deepen the initiated cooperation with the Municipality of Karpos and to present activities that will follow, having in mind the expressed willingness of the Municipality to pilot the Questionnaire for a Healthy Settlement, a tool that enables and encourages discussions at the local level between the citizens and the municipal administration.
Chief researcher and coordinator of INHERIT project, prof. Dr. Dragan Gjorgjev, at the meeting pointed out the advantages and future benefits for the Municipality and the citizens from the implementation of this research. Through participation in the survey, the citizens of the Municipality, the formal and informal associations will be able to express their views on the elements and qualities that a modern municipality has to possess, which will emphasize the values and qualities of the settlement, but will also identify areas where it could be improved. The survey will include different population groups of citizens by age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, economic status, etc.
Topics covered by the survey whose model has been initially established and implemented in some cities in Scotland and the Netherlands cover current affairs related to public transport, streets, green spaces in the municipality, housing, as well as the social aspects of the settlement, social inclusion, the sense of security, belonging and others. In this way, citizens become active participants in the decision-making process at the local level not only in identifying and pointing out the challenges, but also being active as participants in proposing ideas and solutions for achieving the same goal they have with the municipal administration – a healthy neighborhood .
By being asked, citizens will know that the Municipality values their position, and their specific ideas will be translated into appropriate solutions or projects of the municipality of Karposh, thus completing the process of joint creation of local policies.
In order to achieve the set common goals, the Institute and the Municipality signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and formed a joint project team and the future activities will be detailed in the Operational Plan for the implementation of the Project.
More information on the INHERIT project, as well as the objectives and the applied methodology of the project that will be implemented in the Municipality of Karpos, are available on the following links:
https://www.inherit.eu/
https://placestandard.scot/
The public announcement of the meeting is available on the following link:
