Success factors for e-democracy initiatives  

Webstreaming 04/62  .  Back to Agenda

Draft Agenda

Moderator: Assya Kavrakova, Executive Director, European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)

16.15 – 16.25: Opening and interaction with the audience through Slido

16.25 – 16.40: European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI):

• Three Slido questions to the audience
• Comments on the results and presentation of success factors by Daniela Vancic, Programme Director, Democracy International

16.40 – 16.55: Crowdsourcing citizens’ ideas

• Three slido questions to the audience
• Comments on the results and presentation of success factors by Elisa Lironi, Programme Director, European Democracy, ECAS

16.55 – 17.10: Participatory budgeting

• Three slido questions to the audience
• Comments on the results and presentation of success factors by Dr. Arch. Giovanni Allegretti, Senior Researcher CES (Center for Social Studies), University of Coimbra

17.10 – 17.25: The key role of volunteering

• Three slido questions to the audience
• Comments on the results and presentation by Gabriella Civico, Director, CEV and Piotr Sadowski, Secretary General, Volonteurope

17.25 – 17.45: Questions to the audience through slido, Q&A with the audience, concluding comments from Christophe Lefèvre, EESC member.

Concept Note

The world is changing due to rapid digitalisation, and so is our democracy. People are increasingly using new technologies to reach out directly to friends, sales and customer care representatives and even politicians, requesting rapid solutions to their problems. 

E-participation is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to foster democratic processes by allowing citizens to access and engage with information on specific policy issues and contribute to decision-making processes. It is increasingly being implemented at local, regional and national level in Europe. In a context of perceived dissatisfaction with traditional forms of political engagement, e-participation mechanisms can increase the legitimacy of law-making processes and complement our representative democracy by adding elements of citizen empowerment between elections. 

Based on the organisers' extensive experience with e-participation initiatives, both online and offline, the proposed session will explore the success factors of participatory tools such as the European citizens' initiative, crowdsourcing legislation with citizens, and participatory budgeting. The session will outline the added value of each method to democracy at local, national and the European level. It will also highlight the important role of quality volunteer engagement as an expression of democratic participation, based on good practices in volunteer management as a vital component for success.

The audience will interact through SLIDO at the beginning and at the end of the sessions, to deliberate on the questions outlined above.