One of the strategic objectives of the Network of Transparent Governments of Catalonia (XGT), - and more specifically of the Working Group on Citizen Participation - is provide all local governments with tools to promote citizen participation, with special emphasis on the reality of small municipalities, to ensure that all organizations have the necessary tools to ensure participation processes and give a voice to the public
In this line in the last Plenary Session of the XGT of 23 July 2020, ratified the impulse and extension of the project “We decide Catalonia ” across the country, to facilitate adoption on the platform We decide to all the local bodies of Catalonia putting it at their disposal in a centralized way and at no cost. For more information on the topics covered you can access the press release of the XGT Plenary meeting.
The commitment to "Decidim Catalunya"
"We decide" is a digital citizen participation platform developed with free software, born and promoted by Barcelona City Council in 2016, and which is currently used in more than 100 cities and 20 countries around the world.
The service "We decide Catalonia", which is now beginning its journey, is being promoted after the success of the initiatives promoted by Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Provincial Council, Girona Provincial Council, the Localret Consortium and the General Directorate of Citizen Participation itself. Electoral Processes, and which already has many successful territory implementation experiences, a very active community, as well as a very interesting co-creation model to redesign the functionalities of the platform.
Commissioned by the XGT to the AOC the provision of the service
From the XGT it is wanted replicate the success achieved in the field of Transparency, - where 99,8% of local administrations have an open government portal, being the solution offered by the XGT and AOC a standard in the territory-, to promote a common solution on the platform "we decide" for the management of participatory processes as well as to convey the participation of citizens by the Catalan municipalities that if they want to join.
In this sense the XGT has commissioned the AOC Consortium the provision of the service "We decide Catalonia" which is expected to be available during the course of the year 2021, since it is necessary to sign collaboration agreements, carry out budgetary transfers, carry out the corresponding public contracts, prepare the necessary infrastructure and train staff ”.
The goal is to offer the local world through a comprehensive service “Turnkey”, which includes technological aspects (platform) and technical support, as well as organizational and business (support and training).
In order for this new service to be successful, as it is obviously not just technology, the role of the provincial councils, Localret and municipal entities will be essential, especially in the field of training and support in participatory processes in the territory.
In the course of next year this new service will be offered initially, and in a pilot phase, in the demarcations of Tarragona and Lleida, where the respective provincial councils do not currently offer the Decidim service.
The city councils of the provinces of Barcelona and Girona must contact their respective Provincial Councils if they are interested in using the Decidim service, as it is currently the Provincial Councils that are proactively offering this service.
So this July has been the starting point of this future service “We decide Catalonia”, Which will allow us to take a step further in promoting open government to local administrations. Now it's up to us to start working intensively on the definition of it, so we will keep you informed of its evolution as we have more details and forecasts.
