Almost There...

Steering Committee for the Advancement of the Health System in the Republic of Macedonia

The Public Phase

Based on: literature and the conclusions of the working groups in the ECDC workshop, August 26-27, 2009

Facts

1.     Lack of resources, both financial and in manpower

2.     Lack of media attention and interest

3.     Cynicism and skepticism regarding the entire process on all levels, including stakeholders, politicians, and the public.

Goals

It is crucial to demonstrate unequivocally that the process is:

1.     Not politicized, not some kind of cover for hidden political or commercial agendas of the participants or of its sponsors.

2.     Is an exercise in truly participatory democracy where citizens, consumers, patients, and stakeholders not only have a voice, but also really influence decision-making.

Warning

If we do not involve the public in a meaningful way, we are likely to be accused of having run a deceitful sham (“paravan”) in the first place.

The whole point of this drawn-out process was to listen to the people and demonstrate to the citizenry that it does have influence on decision-making and that its concerns are taken into account. 

Suggested new Workflow of the Steering committee:

-         Green Book (agenda; scenarios/solutions; process; legal)

-         Public Consultations (meetings comprising randomly selected samples of citizens with stakeholder members of the Committee) using deliberative polling (see explanation and analysis of pros and cons below).

Throughout the public phase, we need to operate a toll-free phone number for citizen input.

Deliberative polling consists of the following phases (paraphrased from the New-York Times, see the full text below).

1. Selecting a commercial polling company (in a public tender). The country will be divided to zones (same as the electoral units).

2. Organizing surveys to identify the range of attitudes and demographics in each and every zone.

3. Inviting a randomly selected, representative sample of constituents from each zone to attend a long, two-day meeting. Thus, the total number of meetings between the citizens selected and the stakeholder members of the Committee will be equal to the total number of zones.

4. To facilitate discussion in these meetings, participants are sent balanced briefing materials (the Green Book and the Green Paper) about the issues to be discussed in advance, ahead of time.

5. When they first arrive at the deliberative poll, attendees answer a confidential questionnaire assessing their positions.

6. Participants are then divided up for small-group discussions. Trained moderators make sure that every voice is heard and that the group carefully and thoughtfully narrows in on its most pertinent and pressing policy questions.

7. This is followed by meetings with the stakeholders.

8. At the end of each day, participants are polled again using confidential questionnaires. This is intended to verify whether there has been any shift in the initial positions of the participants.

-         Final Report of Public Consultations

-         Reconciliation of Green Book with Final Report  of Public Consultations

-         White Book (review of the process; overview of the sector; operational recommendations for reform; draft laws; draft regulations; sources and uses of financing).

-         Presentation to the Government for legislation.