On February 1, 2017, decidim.org was born, made in free and open source code, conceived and promoted by Barcelona City Council. The platform is currently consolidated as a specialized digital infrastructure for citizen participation around the world.
This year, on February 1, 2022 we decided it was 5 years ago! Decidim.Barcelona, of Barcelona City Council, was the first instance based on the decidim software and, to date, is the largest and has important implementations such as the Participatory Budgets (2020-23) and the PAM.
In Catalonia, it is the territory where the largest deployment has been achieved. All this, thanks to the commitment of institutions such as Barcelona City Council, Localret, Barcelona Provincial Council, Girona Provincial Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya and, more recently, the AOC Consortium accompanying the Decidim Catalunya service among many other institutions and people who have collaborated in success.
The majority of Catalan administrations, with a common strategy and organized by the Network of Transparent Governments, become fundamental for the common goal of carrying out the deployment of citizen participation policies and providing a tool for extending democracy to in the local world.
Statistically, there are more than 400 instances worldwide and more than half are promoted by Catalan administrations. The Barcelona Provincial Council stands out quantitatively with more than a hundred applications. The magnificent dedication and the results of the work of the provincial councils of Barcelona and Girona, have reaffirmed the position of the project on a local scale.
Internationally, the platform is used by local governments and institutions as diverse as the governments of Mexico City, Helsinki, New York, Kakogawa (Japan), the European Commission and the National Assembly of France, among others. Thanks to the efforts of its community, it is translated into 53 languages.
A luster of development and institutional support, has led to a first stage of success and initial consolidation. Now, we have the support of the Network of Transparent Governments to provide local authorities in the demarcations of Lleida and Tarragona with instances of decidim through the Decidim Catalunya service and project.
Citizen participation is key to the achievement of public objectives, for example those of the Government Plan of the XIV Legislature of the Generalitat de Catalunya. A key factor is participation in international projects such as the Open Government Partnership, where several Catalan institutions are committed to a joint project.
One of the big challenges is to make the Decidim platform and a practical and sustainable support model available to all local bodies, regardless of their size and resources.
Another outstanding challenge is the incorporation of innovations in the design, development and monitoring of citizen participation mechanisms to ensure the inclusion of the diversity of groups in society (young people, women, the elderly or newcomers).
