In this interview, Jasmien Wellens, the project leader of the Speak Up project for the city of Roeselare, shares her insight in the organization's motivations to join Speak Up. Roeselare is involved in the Smart City Communities project, where citizens and other stakeholders get the opportunity to discuss and have an influence on current themes. This project fits right in with Speak Up, a program which is all about getting citizens involved in decision-making.
Can you tell us something about yourself and your organisation?
Roeselare, home to approximately 65,000 residents, takes part in various EU projects covering a wide spectrum. One of these projects is Speak Up. The reason Roeselare joined the project is because we are enthusiastic about engaging citizens and like to learn more about it and test some new methodologies.
In the strategic unit of the City, I operate across departments, managing projects subsidized by the European Union. Within Speak Up, I collaborate with various colleagues who work with civic engagement. I emphasize the city's dedication to citizen engagement and collaboration with partners in order to work on meaningful dialogue.
What inspired your organisation to join the Speak Up project, and what do you want to achieve through your participation in this project?
Roeselare has a strong history of working with citizen participation. Speak Up offers us two valuable opportunities: first, it provides a platform for collaboration within the partnership, allowing us to learn from others and collaborate with research institutions to develop methodologies together. Second, it provides access to resources through the Interreg North Sea program, enabling us to expand our initiatives. For example, attracting a more diverse group of people within our Smart City community. Furthermore, we are working on elaborating on the dialogue model, which means facilitating meaningful dialogue between citizens, neighbourhood communities and the local government. Additionally, we are further developing our citizen panel regarding public services.
“Our ultimate goal is for citizens to feel more engaged with the local government.”
What are your expectations of participating in the Speak Up project?
In Speak Up, we expect to learn a lot from our partners and stakeholders within the Speak Up project. We hope to gain fresh perspectives and integrate them into our own practices in both the short and long term. Broadening participation beyond the citizens we usually reach is crucial for us in Speak Up since we would like to reach a more diverse audience. This way, we aim to create an environment where all residents feel empowered to contribute to their community. For example, as a pilot we would like to involve more women and people with a migration background in our Smart City community. For this we would like to learn how other cities in Europe reach that diverse audience. Maybe knowledge partners can help us based on scientific research regarding this topic.
In addition to Smart City, we also aim to focus on our dialogue model with neighborhoods, the citizen panel and capacity building for our civil servants regarding participation. Same as with the Smart City community, we want to exchange and learn from the other partners.
"Our Smart City community is really about engaging stakeholders, which is a key part of the Speak Up project."
What is a citizen engagement initiative that your organisation is proud of?
One recent initiative we are proud of is our citizen budgeting program. This initiative allowed residents to decide how municipal funds should be allocated. Within the citizen budgeting program, we have implemented a youth budget, specifically earmarking funds for projects benefiting children—a group often underrepresented in such processes. In doing so, we work to include hard to reach groups, such as youth, proactively. This resulted in various projects, such as a new skatepark and public water fountains. Roeselare's designation as a child and youth-friendly city, earned through an action plan focused on youth involvement in city planning, is another accomplishment we are proud of.
"Roeselare has the label of a child- and youth friendly city. This label is a proof that the City is engaged to involve children and youth in our policy process”
Could you share any upcoming initiatives or events related to Speak Up that your organisation is currently working on?
We have several upcoming initiatives related to Speak Up. In Roeselare we have the ongoing citizen panel discussions throughout the year. We organized two editions in the spring and an extra edition regarding the opening of our new city hall took place in the first week of July. This citizen panel serves as a platform to enhance service delivery for Roeselare’s residents.
Besides that, two activities with the Smart City community are planned this year. Here, stakeholders of the city (SMEs, knowledge institutes, local governmental organisations, engaged citizens) who are interested in smart urban development, are updated about the Speak Up project and learn more about the smart city policy of Roeselare. The focus of the next activity in the fall is Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, we are planning capacity-building activities to better engage our employees in participation efforts. These are scheduled for implementation after the elections, when our future plans for the upcoming years are clearer. 