Dec. 14th, 2018, PhD student Aušra Šukvietienė defended her dissertation, "The Modelling of Empowerment of Non-Governmental Organisations to Participate in Decision-making in Municipalities of Lithuania."

The dissertation analysed the concept of NGO's in the context of public governance modernization, emphasizing different roles of NGOs (public service provision or lobbying).

The aim of the dissertation was to combine these two different approaches and analyze the factors influencing participation of NGOs in decision-making and to propose the model determining the empowerment of NGOs to participate in decision-making in municipalities of Lithuania.

The research analysed the changes of the public governance structure and civil society. It declares the need to delegate to NGOs rights of decision-making and (or) direct work with the society, changes in the role of NGOs and what factors and how they influence empowerment of NGOs to participate in decision-making in municipalities.

The concept of empowerment of NGOs to participate in decision-making in municipalities in the dissertation is defined as their participation as equal partners in decision-making and the implementation process with a high sectoral interaction in the areas of co-production, coordination and co-governance.