Madrid Participa

Dynamic and continuous dialogue between political representatives and citizens.

Type of content: Assets
Type of asset:
Use case
Data source
Big data potential
No
Phase in the policy cycle:
Agenda Setting
Open license availability
No
Ease of use
High
Tags: E-Governance Citizen-centred policy-making
Addresses:
SWOT Analysis for
Madrid Participa
Helpful Harmful
Internal
Strengths• Increase citizen participation in the decision-making process
• Has been used regularly in 22 citizen consultations involving more than 3.5 million citizens.
• Convenient and user-friendly consultations
• Includes younger citizens as well as immigrants in the consultation initiatives.
• Promotes transparency and making government more responsive to citizens.
• e-democracy project that aims at the following:
• Foster citizen engagement in local governance
• Strengthen local citizen associations
• Help bridge the digital divide in society
• Increase awareness of the numerous public access Internet centres deployed throughout the city since 2004
• Provide citizens with electronic means to participate in the local decision-making processes that directly affect them
Weaknesses• Voting channels such as Java mobile phones or SMS are complementary, and their use depends on the available budget and on security and usability issues.
• Need for high awareness of the project among the citizens, so they know that they can give their opinion on different issues
• -Issues must be explained in order for all people to understand what they are being asked
External
Opportunities• Increase citizen participation in the decision-making process
• Offering a more dynamic and continuous dialogue between political representatives and citizens.
• Council regulations that define telematic transactions and e-government initiatives to improve the communication between the Council and the citizens/business.
• Foster citizen engagement in local governance
• Strengthen local citizen associations
• Help bridge the digital divide in society
• Increase awareness of the numerous public access Internet centres deployed throughout the city since 2004
• Provide citizens with electronic means to participate in the local decision-making processes that directly affect them
Threats• Data privacy
• Security experts have voiced significant concerns over the trustworthiness of e-voting systems.
• Not suitable for consultations where secret voting is desired or required.: It implements a voting system that is recorded and verifiable by anybody. The public nature of voting, however, comes at a cost. Because in modern democracies the privacy and anonymity of voting are considered essential to protect individual autonomy and freedom of choice
• Misinterpretation: Need to achieve a high awareness of the project among the citizens, so they have knowledge of the issues they are being asked to express opinions about

Comments

A good example of how citizens and policy makers can communicate. If the public sector is to be transformed from mainly bureaucratic to effective and evidence-based, practices like this one are mandatory to be employed.

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