The Conference took place in Valongo, a promoter city of the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy
The event was part of a series of events within the European Local Democracy Week, organised by the Council of Europe during the week of 15 October (find more about it here).
The 4th International Conference, named "Paths to Follow" was held fully online (via Zoom), live-streamed on Facebook. You can find the more information and the full recordings on its official Facebook page and the full programme here (in Portuguese).
On Monday, 19 October at 14:30 (WEST), session "A Global World - Webs of Participation and Financing in Citizenship" was co-held by the International Observatory On Participatory Democracy, and moderated by Adrià Duarte (IOPD coordinator) and Nelson Dias (Portugal Participa). You can check the highlights in the following Twitter thread:
🔴Follow live the international session on participatory practices for the European Local Democracy Week https://t.co/EIqaRlmqnl pic.twitter.com/yvRbOGn4X9
— OIDP (@oidpoidp) October 19, 2020
Full video:
On 20 October at 14:00 (WEST), the results of a cross-city research in Spain, Portugal and France was presented, during the session "Why do some people not participate?" More here:
📌¿Porque la gente no participa? Descubre los resultados de un estudio sobre los motivos de la ciudadanía para participar en la vida pública en las ciudades
— OIDP (@oidpoidp) October 20, 2020
LIVE: https://t.co/y4Zg9WfMMv pic.twitter.com/HEdlkm10bk
The research concluded that people who are reluctant to participate have a number of pre-conceptions about what the process entails and their role in it, such as the complexity of the process, requiring commitment and continuity, and budgets that they often consider insufficient and dedicated to minor issues. On the other hand, it identified that those who participate occasionally do so mostly to make proposals and vote.
The study also pointed out some windows of opportunity to improve the margins of participation in the processes:
- Improving communication and dissemination of the process underway
- Generation of specialised technical teams
- Articulation with other participatory processes
- Reinforcing information on achievements
The study is yet to be published. In the meantime, find the presentation here.
More information:
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