Innovation Tag Opengov: diversity

Innovative use of social media (Whatsapp) platform to increase participation and disseminate information for the creation of Paraguay's 4th National Action Open-Government Plan. These 14 online groups were created to allow citizens from the countryside, from marginalized and vulnerable groups, to be able to participate on an equal standing with other citizens from urban areas with access to policyholders. It is innovative because it was the first time we used this platform to involve citizens.

Mental health issues affect about 1 in 10 young people in the UK. MH:2K gives young people a leadership role in solving this most important of challenges. It empowers 14-25 years old to identify the mental health issues they see as most important, engage their peers in exploring these topics, and work with decision-makers to make recommendations for change.

The People’s Budget is an interactive, mobile-friendly website that demystifies local spending by asking residents to play "mayor for a day" by balancing their city budget. Users learn more about how government works and how it spends money before deciding for themselves how to divide discretionary funds. The answers to these questions are synthesized and reported back to the community and city leaders to help get limited tax dollars to the programs that need them the most.

Better Reykjavik is a co-creation project of the Citizens Foundation, Reykjavik City and its citizens that connects them and improves trust and policy. It’s a platform for crowdsourcing solutions to urban challenges and has multiple democratic functions: Agenda setting, Participatory budgeting and Policymaking. Innovations include unique debating system, crowd-sourcing, submission of multimedia content and extensive use of AI to improve the user experience as well as content submitted.