Right to Know and Right to direct participation
(Handbook for human right activists and citizens)

The handbook intends to help to citizens to get good understanding on how to directly participate in matters of state and influence in its decision making process. The handbook answers on following questions:
-What is the right to know and right to direct participation?
-What is the citizens right to direct participation?
-What ways and forms citizen can participate in matters of state?
-What knowledge, capability and attitude are required for the citizen to participate in social life?
The handbook consists from following 9 sections:
-Do the citizens have right to direct participation in the matters of state?
-Form of participation
-What is the direct participation?
-Role of information in citizens active participation
-How media should work in democratic society?
-Means of communication
-Citizens and process of policy development
-Knowledge, capability and attitude of the citizen
-4 steps of citizens participation
Article 3 of the constitution of Mongolia, approved in 1992, stipulated that “State power shall be vested in the people of Mongolia. The people shall exercise state power through their direct participation in State affairs as well as through the representative bodies of state power elected by them”. How to exercise this power? And in this section the handbook discusses about this issue.
The following sections provide knowledge about the forms of participation that citizens should have in democratic society. It also explains the differences between direct and non-direct participation and the ways of the direct participation. Information plays key role for the participation, therefore media should work independently from the state and provide balanced and objective information for the public that citizens could participate in the matters of public interest. It is important that citizens should have understanding about importance of their participation in the process of development of the government policy. What ways they can participate? The handbook provides information on that question.
For the fulfillment of the direct participation, citizens should have certain knowledge, capability and attitude. It answers what knowledge and capability and attitude citizens should possess in order to participate in social life. It explains about citizens capabilities in more detailed form such us capacity to obtain and use of information; capacity to determine the scope of the discussed issues; ability to take decision and make conclusion and so on. There are four steps to organize citizens into participation. This is useful information for organizers of civil society organizations to work with people for their advocacy activities.

Right to Know and Right to direct participation (Handbook for human right activists and citizens Mongolian)