2025 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

"MAIA - Thinking Our City" is a project carried out with all stages of education. It focuses on children and young people and aims to encourage their civic participation, developing active citizenship and their involvement in the community.

Through tools specially prepared and developed for this purpose, children and young people are invited to get involved in the municipality's territory, identifying and creating relationships with the points and geographical areas with which they identify, which allows them to get closer to and get to know the space that surrounds them and in which they carry out their daily activities.

The development of civic participation actions, as well as involvement in community life, takes place through the identification of situations in the area which, from the point of view of the young people involved, appear to be negative or in need of some kind of improvement, as well as situations which are seen as having a positive nature. Carried out in a group context, these actions promote the development of discussion and dialog skills, which are fundamental to any democratic participation.

At a later stage, they are invited to indicate the solutions that, in their view, could resolve the problems previously identified, thus fostering greater civic involvement, as the circle built by identifying problems and finding and indicating potential solutions is completed.

The last phase of the process involves carrying out the so-called “Experimental Action”. This action stems from the designation of proposals for improvement or resolution of any negative issues previously identified in the territorial scope of the school space and surrounding area, with the promotion of an action that is intended, above all, to have a symbolic effect with a focus on community participation and joint action.

The “Experimental Action” also serves to foster democratic spirit and action, as it is developed through the choice of various actions that can be carried out in good time and with few resources, with the children and young people choosing the action with which they identify most, through a simple process of individual voting.

https://www.cm-maia.pt/institucional/inovacao-e-desenvolvimento/programas-e-projetos/maia-pensar-a-nossa-cidade (External link)