COVID-19: We’re here to help
Local governments are at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. Public administrations, local health services and first responders are being put under incredible strain and their efforts are an essential part in...
Engaging young residents in local policy-making process: 5 key learnings
Declining levels of youth political participation pose a challenge to many democracies. Young people seem to have lower levels of political engagement when it comes to participating in traditional political...
Monthly Civic Tech Must-Reads #12
What’s new in the realm of Civic Tech and digital democracy? Every month, we curate a list of must-read articles and thought-pieces that help us make sense of current times. November wasn’t only...
3 best practices for data-informed policy-making
“Data-informed policy-making” can be a daunting, complex phrase for local governments. However, behind these words lies a much simpler truth. Here are some best practices from the CitizenLab team to help local...
Now’s the time for citizen engagement.
The past year has changed the way we work, we travel, we communicate, and even the way we vote. Amidst all of these changes, one thing has become clear: in a time of crisis, community engagement is not a nice to...
Direct ballots in the US election: what’s changed for citizen engagement
While most of the focus of this past US election was on the race for the White House, citizens in 32 states also voted on 120 statewide ballot measures. These measures directly impacted local policies ranging from...
5 things we’ve learned about democratic innovation
What’s the relationship between tech and democracy? What online spaces can deliberation take place in? What does open democratic innovation look like? On November 20th, we co-hosted an event with Dreamocracy to try...
How to nurture a culture of innovation in government | 5 key learnings
Creative Bureaucracy is a thing now. It’s so much of a thing, in fact, that it has its own festival, where thousands of civil servants and policy-makers connect over talks and workshops. We tuned it to the...
Maintaining community engagement during lockdown
Who said that community engagement initiatives had to stop during lockdown? Community consultation is now more essential than ever to help councils coordinate solidarity efforts, identify the needs of their...
Meet the newest members of our team!
The last few months have fundamentally reshaped the way we live and work together. While Civic Tech was already on the rise, it has now become nearly impossible to imagine our world without it. As more councils...
Could 2020 be the year where youth participation finally takes off?
Every United States’ election cycle brings back the same question: will the youth vote? In recent American history, only two elections succeeded in obtaining a youth (18-29 years old) turnout higher than 50%: Bill...
5 factors for impactful participation: the CLEAR model
There are many ways for local governments to engage their citizens in decision-making processes. Those different methods tend to have varying purposes and work their magic in specific contexts. Participatory...
Monthly Civic Tech Must-Reads #12
Whether we like it or not, COVID-19 has rocked the boat for all of us. And many of the changes brought about by the pandemic seem to be here to stay. Luckily, not all of these changes are as negative as the...
Citizens’ assemblies on a local scale: 4 key learnings
Citizens’ assemblies come all the way from Ancient Greece. Their original purpose was to give all citizens a say in the decision-making process and to reach consensus through deliberation. The rules may have...
5 Ways Crowdsourcing Serves Our Governments
Friedrich Hayek wrote in 1945: “The knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form.” Today’s networks enable institutions to gain access...
Trends for youth civic engagement: online, inclusive, and local
By the time you finish reading this sentence, around 30,000 tweets have been posted and 200,000 searches have been made on Google. Technologically speaking, the world is moving faster than ever before. Advances in...
What is the Difference between Citizen Engagement and Participation?
Over the last few years, there’s been a shift from top-down governance to more horizontally organised types of government. This new political current includes all the stakeholders of public policy projects,...
24,450 citizens take part in Peñalolén’s participatory budget
Peñalolén (241,599 inhabitants), a Chilean commune in the province of Santiago, organised a participatory budget to co-create its community. In each neighbourhood, citizens could voice their opinions and vote on...
Citizens Assemble: Your Planet Needs You! | Editorial
This article is a contribution from People’s Plan, a community organisation working to get citizens involved in shaping climate policies. Living in a democracy means we have the power to choose our governing...
Monthly Civic Tech Must-reads #11
What’s new in the realm of Civic Tech and digital democracy? Every month, we curate a list of must-read articles and thought-pieces that help us make sense of current times. This month, we’re still...
One tool, multiple possibilities: three examples of participatory budgeting
Recently, participatory budgeting has been the talk of the town(s). It would be a mistake to disregard them as a fad as they are, in fact, powerful tools used to make local governance more accessible and...