Best Practice in Politics
We curate exemplary political work that successfully tackles today’s most pressing issues. This platform is a hub of tried and tested best practices in politics.
“Casettiamo, insieme possiamo!” – Changing the city together
A beautiful municipality with a decaying economy and population sees a revival of community life by involving citizens in all aspects of re-designing the city.
300K – Have Your Say – Participatory Budgeting
Citizens in South Dublin vote to allocate a portion of the council’s budget to projects designed and submitted by residents.
4 Day Week Campaign
The 4 Day Week campaign advocates for a shorter working week with no loss of pay, helping workers achieve better working conditions and overall work-life balance.
Administrative Exchange – Baratto Amministrativo
As an alternative to paying directly to the Municipality, taxpayers can voluntarily settle unpaid fees by working for the community.
Bristol’s First Citizens’ Assembly
A representative group of citizens discuss three challenging topics and make recommendations which will inform the city’s plans for the future.
Brunnenpassage: A Space for Participatory Art Production
Brunnenpassage operates as a space for professional artists and amateurs to co-create art, thus fostering social cohesion in a highly diverse neighbourhood.
Building Trust and Social Inclusion with Digital Identities
A system developed in Switzerland creates trustworthy government communication channels and digital identities for citizens.
Citizen Empowerment: problem solving in the community
A platform allows citizens to engage in a constructive dialogue with Tundzha Municipality and find agreements about regional projects.
Citizens of Ankara: Re-Assemble!
This innovative Citizens’ Assembly fosters trust and engagement among citizens and local stakeholders, building a more resilient and cohesive social and political landscape across the City of Ankara.
Citizens Round Tables / Urban Walks
Once a year, participative democracy takes place through discussing locally relevant issues with the officials over a cup of coffee or on the go, with the results being published on the town’s website.
Citizens’ Cabinet
A system in Brussels engages citizens, allowing residents from different language groups to discuss their ideas and perceptions of the city, and to bring them into the political decision-making process.
Collaborative and Transparent Drafting of the Digital Republic Bill
New ways of lawmaking in France allow citizens to take part in the digital drafting of a bill, which eventually gets adopted unanimously both by the National Assembly and the Senate.
Communecter – Connect with your Municipality
An exchange platform for feedback and proposals intends to enable each citizen to contribute directly to projects and the governance of a territory, at the neighbourhood, municipal, and regional level.
Community Power
Community Power brings low-income communities together with Cumberland Council to co-create new ways to work together.
Consultations for the Łodź 2030+ Strategy – Co-Created City
Residents are involved in the creation of the city’s development strategy, enabling the realisation of a shared vision for the future.
Cooking and Chatting in Bielefeld
This initiative is about sharing a public meal as part of a quarterly event, where citizens and politicians come together to cook, eat, and discuss.
Cooperative Council Groningen
Neighbourhood ambassadors and randomly selected citizens work with politicians to build trust between people and politics, connecting participatory and representative sides of democracy.
Corruption Prevention through Civic Engagement
A platform connects people to crowdsource actionable data on corruption, offers training and educational activities, and helps find solutions and close legislative gaps.
Create Lithuania
Lithuanian professionals with internationally acquired experience help the Lithuanian Government adopt the best foreign practices.
Decidim
This free open-source platform allows institutions all over the world to initiate participation processes, leading to the democratisation of development.
Deliberative Committees
A new permanent procedure engages randomly selected citizens in policy-making alongside parliamentarians, to democratise reforms and increase public support for decisions.
Diversity Management
The City of Mannheim sets the pace for respectful, intercultural urban coexistence, with a round table on diversity management and strategies, such as anonymous application procedures.
Divestment from Fossil Fuels
A law is passed to divest public funds from companies who explore, extract, or process fossil fuels.
E-sports and Politics Live from the Swedish Parliament
A Swedish politician reaches out to young people with live weekly discussions on an internet platform, revealing to young people that all topics, even online e-sports, are politically relevant.
Eberswalde Citizens’ Budget
A system of participatory budgeting is questioned and redefined in order to encourage maximum participation with a low-threshold voting event.
Electoral District Citizen Assemblies
Electoral District Citizen Assemblies (EDCAs) renew the relationship between residents and their local MPs, with a focus on engaging with those people who are disillusioned and frustrated with the current political scene. Anywhere around Europe a growing number of citizens – the “invisible third” – feels left behind by the political establishment. EDCAs are a low-threshold approach to involve all parts of society into a non-partisan political debate based on random selection and door to door motivation to participate.
Engagement for Glarus!
Am online platform encourages civic and political engagement of children and adolescents in the Canton, and recognises them as citizens.
Ferla Agorà – Ideas Square
Citizens take part in the democratic process and the governance of their town by meeting on the main square to discuss and vote on current issues.
Fluicity
This transparent platform enables effective public participation in local governance.
Frankfurt Democracy Convention 2019
Citizens are randomly selected to represent society and discuss relevant issues to reduce alienation from politics and increase active participation in local democracy.
Free Public Transport in Luxembourg
Revolutionary yet simple – free public transport enhances the environmental sustainability, social welfare, and quality of life of the residents of this small country.
Free Public Transportation
A Municipality in Bulgaria offers free public transport by purchasing its own buses instead of hiring a company to provide the service.
Gdynia Storm Shelter
A complex system of financial, social, and cultural support services helps local residents in all social groups weather the “storm” of the coronavirus pandemic.
GovTech Lab
Emerging technologies from different innovative players are used to solve public sector challenges in Lithuania.
Graz Fund for Promotion and Development
Graz supports the professional development of the working population at risk of poverty, with grants for education and training.
Green Budget
A citizen budget in Lublin is dedicated to the allocation of new green spaces throughout the city, developed and chosen by citizens.
Helping Teenagers Imagine their Future
The project enables young people to understand their rights and grow within a democracy, by holding meetings in the Municipal House.
Helvetia Calls!
Helvetia, the female national personification of Switzerland, campaigns for women to enter politics, run for office, and improve democracy.
Home Quarantine Without A Home?
Bratislava sets up a fully-furnished quarantine town with medical and psychological care, for people without homes during lockdown.
Improving Educational Structures with Civocracy
Civocracy is an online platform that was created to enable the community to actively contribute to local educational reforms, resulting in six major structural changes.
Improving the Living Environment in Kėdainiai District Municipality
A citizen participation programme in Kėdainiai District provides support to a range of citizen initiatives for civic improvements that are already having an impact.
Including the Citizen at the Heart of Parliamentary Work
A system in France encourages citizen participation through online debates on an open source platform, where a wide range of citizens’ proposals are collected for implementation.
Innovation.linz.at Citizen Participation Platform
The Innovation.linz.at Citizen Participation Platform connects citizens with local administrative departments to generate dialogue on civic improvements and implement project ideas.
Introducing the Smart City: citizen engagement
The pioneer smart city of Rzeszów offers one-stop-shops for public services, such as car registrations and obtaining IDs, sets up a helpline for the same purpose, and introduces a participatory budget.
“Casettiamo, insieme possiamo!” – Changing the city together
A beautiful municipality with a decaying economy and population sees a revival of community life by involving citizens in all aspects of re-designing the city.
300K – Have Your Say – Participatory Budgeting
Citizens in South Dublin vote to allocate a portion of the council’s budget to projects designed and submitted by residents.
4 Day Week Campaign
The 4 Day Week campaign advocates for a shorter working week with no loss of pay, helping workers achieve better working conditions and overall work-life balance.
Administrative Exchange – Baratto Amministrativo
As an alternative to paying directly to the Municipality, taxpayers can voluntarily settle unpaid fees by working for the community.
Bristol’s First Citizens’ Assembly
A representative group of citizens discuss three challenging topics and make recommendations which will inform the city’s plans for the future.
Brunnenpassage: A Space for Participatory Art Production
Brunnenpassage operates as a space for professional artists and amateurs to co-create art, thus fostering social cohesion in a highly diverse neighbourhood.
Building Trust and Social Inclusion with Digital Identities
A system developed in Switzerland creates trustworthy government communication channels and digital identities for citizens.
Citizen Empowerment: problem solving in the community
A platform allows citizens to engage in a constructive dialogue with Tundzha Municipality and find agreements about regional projects.
Citizens of Ankara: Re-Assemble!
This innovative Citizens’ Assembly fosters trust and engagement among citizens and local stakeholders, building a more resilient and cohesive social and political landscape across the City of Ankara.
Citizens Round Tables / Urban Walks
Once a year, participative democracy takes place through discussing locally relevant issues with the officials over a cup of coffee or on the go, with the results being published on the town’s website.
Citizens’ Cabinet
A system in Brussels engages citizens, allowing residents from different language groups to discuss their ideas and perceptions of the city, and to bring them into the political decision-making process.
Collaborative and Transparent Drafting of the Digital Republic Bill
New ways of lawmaking in France allow citizens to take part in the digital drafting of a bill, which eventually gets adopted unanimously both by the National Assembly and the Senate.
The Winners
of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2022/2023
Gdynia – Deaf-Friendly City
Gdynia’s comprehensive measures have made it one of the first deaf-friendly cities in Poland, ensuring that residents with special needs can fully participate in, and benefit from, city services.
Participatory Methods in the Revitalisation Process
Rybnik sets a national example for civic improvement initiatives by adopting a participatory approach to the revitalisation of degraded areas.
Sophia Chatbot
Sophia is a digital chatbot that anonymously assists survivors of domestic violence in gathering potential evidence, provides access to resources and support, and continuously evolves to meet the needs of survivors globally.
