Civic Tech Field Guide
Sharing knowledge and productively growing the fieldThe Tech > Participatory democracy > Engagement tech - (613)
Perhaps the core premise of civic tech is that it can improve civic engagement. Whether in concert with formal governmental bodies or independent of them, civic tech promises to help citizens (in the Latin sense, of the city) engage with one another to share power in the pursuit of building just societies.
Recommended reading:
- A collection of case studies demonstrating where civic tech interventions have resulted in tangible improvements and benefits for governments/public institutions and their citizens
- The Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit is an excellent collection of guides and resources for equitably engaging communities in order to share power.
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A collection of case studies where civic tech interventions have resulted in tangible improvements and benefits for governments/public institutions and their citizens, by People Powered
New Ways Feed
South Korea (Republic of) (Hanguk or Namhan) 🇰🇷Korean app to match young people to politicians in their area and discussing their issues
Maino Tech
HelsinkiWe provide modern, effective solutions for participation and collective decision-making.
Ampliando Democracia
MadridAmpliando Democracia es un proyecto que promueve la reflexión sobre cómo mejorar la gobernanza, las políticas públicas y la calidad democrática a través de una participación ciudadana más profunda, inclusiva y sólida.
A report for lawmakers, governments and policymakers at national and European level, 2023
What would you like to do for your community? We want to help make it happen.
by Mark Findlay, Sharanya Shanmugam. In this article, through vignettes from the United Kingdom and Singapore’s experience, we highlight how digital transformation can be made more participatory for users affected by digital initiatives.
"We created the foundation in 2016 - economists, IT and communication specialists - to support the development of free digital tools necessary for community decision-making, and to operate such tools." (Translated)
Red Ciudadana
Guatemala 🇬🇹Participación, formación ciudadana y apertura de datos Somos una organización que trabaja por una Guatemala más democrática, innovadora y transparente.
Partimap
Hungary (Magyarország) 🇭🇺PARTIMAP is a free, easy to use and customizable map-based survey for those who believe that affected citizens should have a say in public development projects.
Namma Mahiti Kendras
BangaloreIT for Change’s Namma Mahiti Kendras are ICT-enabled information centers that aim to break down the barriers to citizens’ right-claiming processes.
Hoplr
Ghent, BelgiumThe all-in-one platform for community engagement
Our mission is to direct technological development towards the collective good.
Talk to Loop
The HagueLoop’s feedback platform is revolutionising accountability in humanitarian aid and development by providing a space for accessible feedback, reliable complaints mechanisms and safe reporting of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH).
The People's Money
New York City (NYC / New York, NY)NYC's first citywide Mayoral participatory budgeting process, run by the NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) (2022-2023)
In legislative theater, communities, advocates and policymakers work together, to identify, develop, and build support for new legislation.
The Participation Playbook is an interactive guide to help you successfully advocate for and implement a participatory program for your government or community. It is a tool for people who want to open up government to meaningful and equitable community participation.
Climate section of the Participation Playbook
Through participatory policymaking, residents propose, debate, and vote on new policies and policy changes, through online platforms and meetings.
DistrictBuilder puts the power of drawing electoral maps in the hands of the people. Redistricting can be a transparent process that represents communities fairly and prevents gerrymandering.
Colab.re
Brazil (Brasil) 🇧🇷Faça com que os direitos sociais se tornem uma realidade.
The Haves and the Have Nots: Civic Technologies and the Pathways to Government Responsiveness
The World Bank Group, H Street Northwest, Washington D.C., DCPaper by Jonathan Mellon Tiago C. Peixoto Fredrik M. Sjoberg
Purpoz
France 🇫🇷Purpoz, la plateforme de démocratie participative pour bâtir une société plus pertinente. (Citizen engagement platform by Cap Collectif)
Investigating the empirical case of urban biking activists in Madrid, we explore how the design of the digital platform Decide Madrid impacted the collaborative practices involved in digital participatory budgeting.
ONTRaC Learning Management System
Canada 🇨🇦This is the online learning portal of the Community Solutions Network
A guide prepared by Codeando México and Code for Pakistan as part of the Code for All Exchange Programme.
actNOW
AfricaA public engagement toolkit that enables a media house or civil society organisation to easily set up channels for engagement. Appears to still be under development.
PolicyEngine
United States of America 🇺🇸Compute the impact of public policy
Smart City-Strategie Berlin
BerlinPublic engagement around plan to merge digital strategy and smart city strategy in Berlin
CiviCue
Taiwan (T'ai-wan) 🇹🇼CiviCue is a decentralized autonomous civic media platform equipped with blockchain civic tech that aims to disrupt existing media landscape by serving as a public good collectively owned and managed by all users who contribute to the platform wellbeing and benefit from profit sharing, thus balancing commercial interests and social values.
Urbanpinion
Estonia (Eesti Vabariik) 🇪🇪Urbanpinion is a citizen engagement platform that lets city government, community leaders, architects and activists easily set up a landing with an interactive map to collect citizens suggestions, receive analytics based on collected data and make later on right decisions for city development.
La Constitución es Nuestra
SantiagoProyecto de evaluación ciudadana del proceso constituyente en Chile
Center for Policy Alternatives
Colombo, Sri LankaThe Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) was formed in the firm belief that there is an urgent need to strengthen institution and capacity-building for good governance and conflict transformation in Sri Lanka and that non-partisan civil society groups have an important and constructive contribution to make to this process.
The Citizen Helpdesks are a pioneering citizen feedback, dialogue and community voice platform to ensure accountability in the development process.
Join Together
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧Digital tools for trade unions
Demokratiefabrik
Switzerland (Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera) 🇨🇭The Demokratiefabrik is a digital place where citizens meet to discuss various topics together and fabricate defined end products.
Airbnb.org
888 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CaliforniaAirbnb encourages hosts to donate their shelter in times of need, and is now spinning the program out as a formal non-profit.
People Powered is a global hub for participatory democracy - the direct participation of community members in making the policy decisions that affect their lives.
NYC Civic Engagement Commission Decidim platform
New York City (NYC / New York, NY)A space to enhance civic participation, promote civic trust, and strengthen democracy in New York City
Column
Miami, FLColumn is the first collaborative public notice platform helping publishers, governments and legal services work together to inform their communities.
inCitu
New York City (NYC / New York, NY)We take planning proposals out of city hall and onto their urban context, seamlessly communicating projects with a large, diverse audience to win community support while crowdsourcing stakeholders' feedback.
Healthier Democracies Case Studies
BrooklynPublic Agenda's Healthier Democracies project studied public engagement systems from 15 locations around the world, and, accordingly, each study has its own report with key learnings and takeaways.
Nesta Democracy Pioneers
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 🇬🇧Democracy Pioneers is an award for innovations that are experimenting with ways to re-energise civic participation and everyday democracy in the UK.
In "Abierto al Público" we explore the use of open knowledge through data, code and other media.
Our goal is to provide multiple independent data sources allowing everyone to reach their own conclusions on what will happen in the 2020 elections.
1Degree
San FranciscoEmpowering you to find what you need from over 26,000 free, up-to-date resources
Vienna Principles
ViennaIm Zuge der Erstellung der Digitalen Agenda Wien kristallisierten sich neun Leitmotive für das Denken und Handeln aller Beteiligten heraus.
Delib Dialogue
Orchard Street Business Centre, 13-14 Orchard Street, Bristol, BS1 5EHDialogue is a digital platform for building consensus via ideas, comments and ratings in a shared space. Manage closed conversations with defined groups of stakeholders, or open up a public debate.
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Civic Tech Field Guide