The draft decentralization strategy designed by the State Chancellery in concert with the central and local public authorities and national and foreign experts was proposed for public debates, Info-Prim Neo reports. Victoria Cujba, deputy head of the State Chancellery's Decentralization Policies Division, said that the public consultations on the draft decentralization strategy will continue until the strategy is finalized. Different groups of people, representatives of the local public authorities and local NGOs will be involved in the discussions. The stated opinions will be taken into account when finishing the decentralization strategy, which is to be submitted to the Government for examination and approval in the first quarter of next year. “To this first public consultation, we invited NGOs specialized in human rights and gender equality as it is very important that the decentralization policies observe the human rights. The four principles of such an approach – participation, non-discrimination, transparency and responsibility – allow the population to engage in key processes and decision making,” said Mihai Roscovan, coordinator of the Joint Integrated Local Development Program (JILDP). Viorel Soltan, the head of the Center for Health Policies and Analyses, stressed the involvement of the civil society organizations in the discussions on the draft decentralization strategy allows different groups of people that they represent to make their needs and problems public. Nina Orlov, national program coordinator at the Swedish Embassy (the Government of Sweden supports financially the implementation of the JILDP- e.n.), said the employment of the approach based on the human rights and gender equality is very important as the public policies cover all the citizens and they should not allow discrimination. “Such an approach is a norm, a principle for all the democratic societies,” Nina Orlov said. The Joint Integrated Local Development Program aims to strengthen legal and regulatory frameworks and streamline local administrative procedures and systems. There is an emphasis on developing and implementing a framework for the effective delegation of authority to the local public authorities, fiscal decentralization to deliver essential services, and the promotion of a greater role for women in decision-making bodies. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency made a substantial contribution to the program.