Innovation Tag: Public Consultation

The frameworks for creating and managing the rule of government, as reflected in policies, legislation and regulation, are still based on a paper paradigm. In a digital world this creates poor service experiences and often the intent of a policy is not achieved. Instead if we co-design authoritative machine-consumable rules we can provide better services for citizens, better delivery of policy intent, and enable communities, NGOs and private sector to be part of a government service ecosystem.

The Administration of Rome had to decide how to use about 17 million euros for public works in the territory of the VIII District for projects concerning the environment, landscape and public green spaces, sustainable mobility and accessibility, urban regeneration and infrastructure, ideas or proposals for transversal projects. The innovation concerns the decision-making approach. For the first time, city users were involved in deciding how to allocate these resources.

« DK Plus de Mobilité » is an ambitious transportation policy led by the Dunkirk Urban District Council. This project aims to increase the share (less than 7%) of public transit in the Dunkirk area (200 000 inhabitants). The main challenge and specificity of this project – developed in consultation with local population - consists in combining the upgrading and modernization of transport infrastructures with the implementation of free public transport for all.

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.

Canada Beyond 150 was an experiment in leadership development for a diverse cohort of new public servants, with the goal of encouraging a culture shift to a more open and innovative public service. Working in groups part-time over a year, participants learned foresight, design thinking and external engagement methods and applied them to complex policy issues, with a focus on diversity and inclusion. It demonstrated the power of experiential learning, especially from engagement with stakeholders.

2018 was the year of reflection on the future of Europe. In order to understand the hopes and fears of citizens of Latvia regarding the future of European Union, more than 1500 citizens have been engaged in consultations that took place both in the regions of Latvia and online. Consultations were co-organized by state institutions and civil society organisations using various experimental formats.

East Africa has an urgent need for innovative accountability mechanisms, as many public services are inefficient and corrupt. SEMA helps to improve the quality of public service delivery, by gathering real-time citizen feedback and presenting this data in digestible formats. We use low-tech tools, such as custom-made hardware devices and interactive voice response technology, that help citizens from all backgrounds to have a voice in evaluating their public services.

The Canada Learning Bond, a government education savings program providing a financial incentive to low income Canadians, turned to behavioural insights (BI) to tackle persistent low take-up. Following unsuccessful BI trials based on academic literature and expertise, we turned to Design. In a Government of Canada first, combining lessons learned from human centred design processes including stories from citizens and BI we developed outreach that significantly improved the take-up of the Bond.

Climate change requires comprehensive responses at local and regional level which makes local government critical to the delivery of national and international policies. The establishment of four Climate Action Regional Offices (CAROs) as Centres of Excellence based on distinct geographic/topographic characteristics enables them to advise local authorities in their region on climate action strategies ensuring a coordinated response and assisting with the roll-out of national/regional policies at…

Open and inclusive policy-making builds upon the idea of designing policies by broadening the evidence base. An innovative web-based tool called SME test enables the public (citizens, business entities, economic and other interest groups) to quantify the impact of their alternative policy proposals on SMEs, in addition to substantiating their comments and proposals on a public policy proposal. Despite the tool's ease of use, it enables users to conduct more sophisticated analysis.