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.
Ain Qana Community Support Project
A Lebanese municipality uses idle uncultivated land to feed the poor.
Bonn Participates! – Bonn Macht Mit!
An online platform in Bonn encourages civic participation in a simple manner, on topics ranging from bike pathways, to problem reporting, to budget planning.
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’ 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.
City West: room for new city ideas
The citizens of Ludwigshafen re-imagine urban space and discuss their ideas about how to redevelop the location of a former highway.
Civic Crowdfunding
This crowdfunding initiative focuses on making Milan a more inclusive and sustainable city by co-funding citizen-organised projects with municipal funds.
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.
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.
Creative Ireland Programme
The creativity of Irish citizens is supported and promoted through a programme dedicated to its integration into public policy.
Engagement for Glarus!
Am online platform encourages civic and political engagement of children and adolescents in the Canton, and recognises them as citizens.
Essen Packt An! Collaboration Through Social Media
This project started when the citizens of Essen wanted to help each other after a severe storm in 2014, with the initiative becoming a firmly established organisation and an example of how to efficiently organise in the age of social media.
European Solidarity Corps
This EU initiative allows young people to volunteer in different community service projects around Europe and supports them in the process.
Facing Change with a Common Vision
The two cities foster cooperation in diverse dialogue formats with representatives from civil society, the Municipality, the private sector, and citizens, in order to overcome the economic changes affecting the region.
Feuding Youths Becoming Change-Makers
This programme counteracts conflict and radicalisation among youth from two feuding neighbourhoods in Tripoli, Lebanon’s northern capital, by creating an empowering counter-narrative that allows for positive actions, such as beautifying public spaces.
Fluicity
This transparent platform enables effective public participation in local governance.
Formigine 2020
A community of 34,000 people, including city authorities and residents, come together to help the municipality recover and develop – both during and in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
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.
Frome Community Fridge
One community fridge saves 90,000 food items per year from being wasted whilst providing a unique opportunity for social connections to form.
Future of Citizenship: a local forum to promote an active society
A civil forum in the town of Dobrich mobilises the local society and professionals with a connection to the city, to create and develop beneficial projects.
Good Food Strategy: towards a sustainable food system
A sustainable food system in the Brussels Capital Region encourages the growing of local foods and promotes the reduction of food waste by involving a variety of stakeholders.
GovTech Lab
Emerging technologies from different innovative players are used to solve public sector challenges in Lithuania.
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.
KATOresident
Katowice involves its citizens in the development of a green and safe city that has more trees, repairs defects immediately and offers well taken care of public spaces.
Legislatory Laboratories
Monthly workshops enable citizens to voice complaints, democratically engage, and ask questions about action items taken in the National Assembly.
Leuven 2030
Leuven 2030 is a city-wide non-profit organisation that has created a comprehensive roadmap for a climate-neutral future which engages citizens in an innovative quadruple-helix model of cooperation.
Lithuanian Youth Voluntary Service
Encouraging and rewarding the voluntary services of young people through the implementation of an official programme with mentors.
Local Solutions to Global Challenges
A culture of responsibility around climate change is created in a small town through local, climate-friendly actions.
Map of Repairs
A digital tool monitors the funds allocated from the national budget for local repairs, across all of Ukraine.
Oldham Social Prescribing Innovation Partnership
An innovative partnership between public services, healthcare, and the voluntary sector, brings a more holistic, long-term approach to health and well-being – social prescribing – to reduce social isolation, strengthen community ties, and help people access support.
Online Citizen
A highly intuitive electronic citizen platform allows the citizens of Opole to participate in municipal decisions, vote in district elections, and decide which tasks should be implemented in the city.
Online Citizens’ Assembly of Łódź – Greenery in the City
The Citizens’ Assembly of Łódź finds democratic solutions for the city both on- and offline through a two-part system based on education and deliberation, and the support of experts and neutral facilitators.
Paris’ Participatory Budget
Citizens vote for projects proposed by other citizens, making the city more collaborative, with a total of 100 million EUR allocated to this initiative each year.
Participatory Budget in Alytus: bringing more democracy and responsibility to the City’s residents
In Alytus, citizen involvement happens through a part of the budget being allocated according to citizens’ proposals and ideas.
Plus Belles Nos Vies
Citizens, collaborating on grassroots projects on a digital platform, strive to improve their community life.
President-School-NGO Partnership for Open Democracy
A series of events and activities are co-designed by participants from the administrative, educational, and non-governmental sectors to educate the new generation about the conditions necessary for the development of open democracy.
Quality Services for the Residents of Guostagalis
A Services Centre provides social assistance for elderly and socially vulnerable people in a partnership between the community and the authorities.
R-URBAN – Ecological Transition Movement involving Citizens in Civic Resilience Networks
This initiative looks to strengthen urban adaptability to climate change, build social resilience, create new green jobs, and connect municipalities with a hands-on attitude.
Reproductive Justice
An amendment to Irish law is designed to hold Irish hospitals accountable for maternal deaths.
Retired Volunteers Care for Newborns
Well-trained senior citizens volunteer to provide newborn babies with critically needed physical closeness when the parents cannot be there – to reduce infant stress and keep newborns’ immune systems strong.
SeaChange on Greek Islands
The Greek island of Donoussa is a successful model for other islands where residents and businesses commit to reducing their usage of disposable plastic items to improve the environment and encourage sustainable tourism.
“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.
Ain Qana Community Support Project
A Lebanese municipality uses idle uncultivated land to feed the poor.
Bonn Participates! – Bonn Macht Mit!
An online platform in Bonn encourages civic participation in a simple manner, on topics ranging from bike pathways, to problem reporting, to budget planning.
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’ 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.
City West: room for new city ideas
The citizens of Ludwigshafen re-imagine urban space and discuss their ideas about how to redevelop the location of a former highway.
Civic Crowdfunding
This crowdfunding initiative focuses on making Milan a more inclusive and sustainable city by co-funding citizen-organised projects with municipal funds.
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.
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.
The Winners
of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2024
DEC112 – Digital Emergency Communication 112
In 2019, DEC112 was launched to provide an alternative to speech-based emergency communication by implementing a text-based service.
B-MINCOME: guaranteed minimum income & active social policies in deprived urban areas
B-MINCOME effectively improves the well-being of families in socially excluded and deprived areas by combining minimum income guarantees with inclusion policies.
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.