In May, forums on governmental and NGO sectors‘  cooperation were organized in four Lithuanian districts: Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Jonava and Utena. Together with the experts of the Civil Society Institute, local government representatives and NGO leaders shared their experience on the subject and opinions on what could be done better. The experts of the Civil Society Institute presented results of their research on cooperation between the two sectors, various means of cooperation and NGO-advocacy mechanisms.

It was unitedly agreed that although there are a lot of available tools for cooperation, they are not being used effectively due to the human factor, distrust in one another and lack of communication.

The forums attracted not only NGO leaders but public sector representatives as well. The mayor of Kėdainiai Saulius Grinkevičius, who participated in one of the forums, said that such an event was necessary as the residents of Kėdainiai are not ready to work together.

“I wish that the municipality and local NGO’s could solve together some long-lasting issues of Kėdainiai. The more NGO’s there are, the better will be the result. I thank all of you who do this work out of passion, who want to do good for everyone and are not indifferent to local problems”,- said S. Grinkevičius.

The fifth and last forum will be held in Švenčionys municipality on the 19^th of June.