2025 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

1. Origins of the practice

The Réseau de la Gouvernance Locale-Dir (RGL-Dir) was born out of a doctoral thesis in public management aimed at strengthening the participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in local governance in a rural Moroccan commune (Taghzirt). The founder, who had extensive experience in the field, found that the weak structuring of CSOs hindered their participation. The RGL-Dir was conceived as a mechanism for mobilizing the participation of CSOs in local governance. The RGL-Dir is an official institution, governed by the 1958 dahir governing the right of association in Morocco. This legal status enables it to carry out its activities in a structured and sustainable manner.

2. Methodology

The process began in 2023 with a diagnosis of the obstacles to CSO participation. This revealed problems of trust and communication between CSOs and elected representatives. The RGL-Dir was set up in November 2023 with a 9-member executive board. Events such as seminars, meetings and round tables were organized to promote the participatory budget (PB). In January 2025, the local council agreed to allocate 10% of its budget to this process. The PB will take place in 2025, in several stages, from launch to completion of the selected projects.

3. Innovation

The RGL-Dir is an innovation combining academic research and practical action. It is the first to introduce participatory budgeting in a rural commune in the region. The RGL-Dir is also distinguished by its combination of several forms of democracy, which we call the 3Cs:

• Combining traditional and electronic participation
• Combining deliberative and participatory democracy
• Combining representative and deliberative democracy

4. Evaluation

The practice was evaluated through a combination of mechanisms: Semi-directive evaluation interviews, monitoring, evaluation and scientific supervision by Edina SOLDO and Emmanuelle MOUSTIER, professors at the University of Aix-Marseille, as well as by an individual monitoring committee. This practice has been recognized at the scientific level: a communication project on the RGL has been evaluated by a scientific committee. It was presented at the June 2025 edition of the International Symposium at the EDC Paris Business School. It was awarded 22/25, allowing it to be presented unchanged.

Through practice, we have achieved significant impacts on citizen participation and local governance. The RGL-Dir began with restricted meetings attended by just 6 or 7 CSO players. On the day of the general assembly, which marked the official creation of the network, 19 players were present. Since then, the network has grown considerably. Several events have followed, such as seminars (with 39-45 participants), round tables (40 participants) and meetings on participatory budgeting, attended by between 50 and 100 participants. Today, thanks to mobilization via social networks, the WhatsApp groups bring together 119 actors, and the number of CSO members of the network is now 29.

The RGL-Dir introduced participatory budgeting in Taghzirt, strengthening citizen participation in the allocation of public resources. It has also enabled CSOs to co-construct projects and influence municipal management. The RGL-Dir will enable CSOs to co-create and co-build projects that meet the needs of the local community. CSOs now play an active role in public policy, evolving from mere beneficiaries to genuine partners. In addition, the integration of participatory tools such as citizens' juries and consultation forums has contributed to the modernization of administrative practices and fostered institutional confidence and legitimacy.

• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553618278091 (External link)
• Réseau de la Gouvernance Locale (RGL) (External link)