2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

The promotion of Civic-Tech in Bohicon for participatory local democracy has involved integrating digital tools into the process of formulating and continuously monitoring and evaluating municipal development plans in a participatory manner. It is all the more innovative in that this dynamic is being driven by grassroots development players, through the Bohicon Town Hall. Local people and members of organised groups, elected representatives and municipal staff are being made aware of and trained in the use of digital tools to develop and anchor citizen participation.

Public awareness campaigns have been rolled out, demonstrating the value of digital tools in boosting citizen participation. A wide range of information media were used: television and radio (messages, debates), national newspapers with wide circulation (Nation, etc.) or specialised newspapers such as Municipal. To amplify this dynamic and create emulation, an annual competition was organised to reward the best citizen participation in the target groups. The competition was divided into four categories: citizens, companies, associations and public bodies, with an emphasis on female participation. Participation in the competition was voluntary for all players.

In order to better monitor the development of citizen participation in the PDC3s (Local development plans), a survey was carried out at the start of the project. This survey, covering a limited number of questions (less than 10), was carried out in collaboration with the Town Hall by the Digital Project Manager in public places in the boroughs (e.g. markets, health centres, etc.) and reached at least 5% of the borough's population (50% of whom were women). At the same time, the same questionnaire was conducted using a digital interface such as SurveyMonkey.

The initiative led to greater citizen participation and, ultimately, a better offer of public services and public satisfaction with public services at the town hall. It has also had a positive economic impact by promoting the emergence of digital companies capable of offering Civic-Tech digital services and digital applications to help people find work.

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