2022 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
16th Edition
In 2017, the Regional Government of the Azores decided to create the PB Azores based on a direct, voluntary and universal process, with the aim of involving citizens residing in the Azores in the choice of public policies, either through the presentation of ideas or through the voting, making Azorean society more democratic, fair and inclusive.
Currently, the Azores OP has 5 editions carried out, a public investment of €3,241,293.00, 2 areas for the presentation of ideas – island scope (ideas with an impact on only one of the nine islands in the Region) and regional scope (ideas with impact on two or more islands) – and 9 thematic areas (4 areas in the 1st edition, progressively increasing to 9).
This democratic instrument is considered innovative because it combines youth and “adult” participatory budgeting – needing to adapt to the way of working and the language used with different audiences –, but mainly because it was the first to be implemented by a Region Autonomous in Portugal, whose budget is not distributed in the same amount over all the islands – it varies according to population, area and public investment budgeted for the previous economic year of each island – in order to guarantee equity in investments public across the Region.
Furthermore, throughout its editions, this practice has been able to adapt, having already taken place in an exclusively online format, and, currently, it has adopted the hybrid format (with online and face-to-face Participatory Meetings), having also been a reference for the creation of the Participatory Budget of the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
Regarding the form of dissemination of this instrument, since the 1st edition its logo and slogan has been maintained, contributing to its easy identification by the target audience. It has invested both in digital channels, such as social networks and websites, and in traditional channels, such as the written press, television and radio. Combining these with a direct communication route with the citizen through the Green Line for Citizen Support (800 500 501) and email (op@azores.gov.pt).
Regarding its stakeholders, public and private entities and, naturally, civil society are involved in this process, not only in the various stages of each edition, but also in terms of dissemination.
These actors also participate in the evaluation phase of each edition of the PB Azores, by completing a questionnaire that aims to assess whether the objectives set were met, who participated and who did not participate (and the respective reasons) and by sending suggestions for improvement / contributions to future editions.
The results of this democratic practice have demonstrated the civic maturity of the Azoreans, visible through the high participation of citizens in the process and the quality associated with this participation. Until the present edition, around 5,799 citizens were involved in the presentation sessions/participatory meetings, face-to-face and online, and 1,588 pre-proposals were presented. Of these, about 60% were approved and gave rise to 531 proposals. During the various voting phases, 29,997 votes were counted, which elected 98 projects.
More information:
https://www.facebook.com/OPAZORES
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