EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND INTERREG IIIB

Transcription

1 Auszug aus dem Projektantrag/ extract of the project application EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND INTERREG IIIB Community Initiative concerning Transnational Cooperation on Spatial Development Project: E-VOICE - the voice of the citizen in the multi-media information society - the challenge of future democracy in Europe Project Description 1. Aim of the project The E-VOICE project intends to increase and enhance and (at least: means to contribute to avoiding further decreasing of) political interest and engagement of European citizens in general political issues in all phases of the policy cycle (see WP3-5). A good functioning administrative system, opened via digital gates, will also contribute to the democratic well-being of the individual citizen, the common good and public interest (see WP6), (see also Box 3.7: rationale). Ten years ago many people believed that the internet itself would lead to a new democratic age and coined the terms e-government and e-democracy. Over the past few years various e-government/e-democracy experiments have been carried out, in various places in the participating countries and beyond, which aimed to increase the influence of citizens on politics, or to access the administrative system, through the employment of ICT tools. Sometimes the results of these experiments were successful, in other cases they were disappointing because of their incidental, shortterm and often isolated character. In general, it has become clear that ICT tools only in combination with other communication channels and embedded in organizational 1

2 processes according to the social and cultural environment lead to the desired effects. Therefore, the E-VOICE project believes in the potential of modern ICT tools to increase citizen participation and to access the administrative system, but only if they are employed in a well-structured and well-considered manner and if they are used in combination with traditional means of communication over a longer period of time. The multi-media dialogue approach which E-VOICE intends to develop, apply and evaluate in a European context combines the strengths of the 'new' and the 'old' media, while taking into account local differences in current legislation and regulations, local and regional settings, political and administrative culture, general culture, regional mentality of citizens and the differences in style between administrators and politicians of different countries and regions. Citizens' attitudes towards politicians and political institutions are influenced by media reports about national policy. But positive experience can be gained more easily on the local and regional level and change the general attitudes that way. Therefore, the E-VOICE project concentrates on the citizens' relationships with politicians and within political institutions in their local/regional community - with their local/regional officials, their local/regional elected representatives and their local/regional administrators. Furthermore, there is a growing interest in single-issue political matters, such as plans for a new road or development plans for housing or industrial purposes. The E- VOICE project assumes that interest in single-issue politics - where citizens may have direct, noticeable influence - provides a handle for enhancing interest of citizens in general political issues, to which end the multi-medial dialogue approach advocated by E-VOICE may serve. The E-VOICE project will endeavour to reinforce citizens' influence on such policy processes on the local/regional level, from the preparatory stage through policy-making to implementation. Citizens will be stimulated to intensify their political involvement so that they are better able to understand and contribute to policy-making, also with regard to spatial issues. Hopefully this leads to more interest and responsiveness to the democratic 2

3 processes and resulting from this to more confidence in the democratic policy process in general. Therefore, E-VOICE is an example par excellence of a project that is set up as a cooperation between several European regions with cross sector cooperation to promote the transnational transfer of knowledge, experience and training. Politics is fun again, and not only for politicians! Politik macht wieder Spaß, und nicht nur für Politiker! Politiek is weer leuk, en niet alleen voor politici! 2.) Objectives The immediate objectives of the E-VOICE project are to increase the quantity and quality of citizens' political participation in a) each of the local projects and b) over a longer period of time. To reach these objectives, E-VOICE aims at improving the knowledge about the appropriate media mix for improved attention to the citizens' voices by developing, publishing and dissiminating a tool library, a user manual which describes and evaluates various applications and their combinations (the 'multi media dialogue approach') and the ways how to use them, and a summarizing 'handbook' with guidelines based on these experiences. The lessons learned will also be presented on an own web-site and in a (digital) newsletter, as well as on international congresses and seminars. The important point of the E-VOICE project is to find out and to 'play' with parameters how to use and to combine different media and communications channels to gain an optimum of citizens' participation by addressing political issues in a user-oriented way by the most appropriate means. However, there is not one optimal media mix for all subjects and target groups. Instead, different combinations and different organizational approaches turn out to be more successful for different subjects and in different environments (e.g.: urban and rural). The most appropriate approach cannot be found in a single act, but only gradually in a learning process of experimentation, 3

4 evaluation, improvement, second evaluation, second improvement, etc. And since there is no single solution for all kinds of topics, these learning processes have to be carried out for different subjects at different locations in order to draw general lessons for future processes in the same local community as well as to transfer this knowledge and experience to other communities. Therefore, the E-VOICE project will launch experiments on citizens' information, engagement and participation in three ways, with varying subjects, at the project locations: a) public sector information will be made available online in such a way that relevant information is easier to find and to understand. Adequate ways of indexing, search and presentation will be developed, tested, evaluated and improved; b) various combinations of ICT-tools and offline means of political participation will be employed on different topics in order to increase the number of participating citizens and the quality of their contributions; c) online provisions of public services will be structured and presented in such a way that they correspond better with the citizens situation in order to increase the number of transactions. This implies that E-VOICE is organized as a framework of workpackages (with local experimental processes) which are coordinated in such a way that learning does not only take place at each location and within each single case, but also between the different projects conducted by the partners in order to find, for example, whether an approach applied successfully in a rural environment also works in an urban environment. To gain and exchange this kind of experience affords an overall process of several years. 4

5 The E-VOICE project Aims to stimulate the participation of citizens in the existing representative democracy; Aims to integrate (administrative) services in a citizen-centred way Investigates the accessibility of citizens to public-sector information Recognizes the primacy of political decision-making in the (municipal) council; Addresses the dialogue between stakeholders and interested parties during the entire political and administrative process, from planning through decision-making to implementation and evaluation of policies; Acknowledges developments in today s information society, but regards modern technology as a tool rather than as an aim in itself; Focuses on: - exchange of information and other forms of communication and interaction between citizen and government; - collaboration by stakeholders and interested parties: working, experimenting, learning, implementing, and disseminating the results; - exchange of knowledge, training and experience between the international project partners. 3.) Activities The activities of the E-VOICE project are divided into the 9 workpackages (WP) outlined below. WP 1: Joint transnational development of a European multi-media dialogue approach for interactive citizen participation and publication of an users manual E-VOICE will investigate and develop a generalized concept for an innovative mix of 'new' media (Internet, , sms, mms, i-mode, etc.) and 'old' media (television, radio, (mobile) telephone, newspapers, libraries, face-to-face meetings, etc.) to enhance democratic policy processes pro-actively and which should lead to an integration of these democratic processes within the government re-engineering. Depending on the citizen group - young voters, disabled persons, elderly people, immigrants, etc. - and the location (which country, rural or urban area), the composition of the media mix and the organisational approach may vary. This concept will gradually be developed and tested in local/regional pilot projects. The results of the multi-media approach will be described in a user manual. The user manual will provide guidelines and recommendations for setting up a multi-medial dialogue approach, will indicate suitable M-tools (applications, techniques and 5

6 protocols), describe best practices, give practical examples, and offer suggestions as to which selection of means of communication is most appropriate for a specific situation. WP2: Shared online M(ulti-media) tool library To enable the project partners to organise the multi-media dialogue approach efficiently in their pilot projects, using (new) M-tools, these tools will be made available in the framework of the project after careful selection, consultation with the partners and modification as required via a shared online library. Tools can be applications for fora, mediation, (moderated) chatrooms, electronic bulletin boards, protocols for the use of digital maps, instruments for questionnaires and polling, tools for authorisation, security, routing and statistics. By making the M-tools available to all partners collectively in a single transaction, the project will avoid paying twice for copyrights, development and implementation. WP3a: Opening windows - how to organise access to public-sector information Access to public-sector information is the basic precondition for citizens' participation and dialogue in public affairs. The E-VOICE project will investigate how to optimize the search for relevant information in the front and backoffice and how public-sector information can best be presented. This information must be understandable and citizens need to know where to find, how to handle and respond to it. For this purpose, information and document management systems, indexing and thesaurus systems have to be selected and improved, workflows adapted, etc. WP3b: Opening windows empowering citizens, civil servants, politicians and administrators In order to extend access to and use of (public-sector) information and to improve the citizens' participation in democratic processes, empowering modules (inviting, learning and training) - aimed at increasing awareness as well as at changing people s behaviour - will be developed, tested, evaluated, carried out and where necessary modified, for the main targetgroups (citizens, civil servants, politicians, administrators), as well as more special citizen target groups (e.g. young voters, disabled persons, immigrants, elderly people), and if necessary in co-operation with intermediate groups, such as NGO's. 6

7 WP4: Engaging Citizens, Engaging Neighbours In this workpackage - which is divided into four components: a) rural and urban and b) formal and informal procedures - E-VOICE will, by means of the multi-medial dialogue approach, endeavour to involve citizens, city-dwellers as well as villagers, directly and interactively in (spatial) development processes, in order to establish any differences in applicability of the multi-media dialogue between formal and informal procedures and between rural areas (NOFA, Norfolk County, Sweden) and urban areas (Bremen, Groningen, Kortrijk). In the pilots the multi-media approach will be tested, evaluated and, if necessary adapted. WP5: Council Dialogue The E-voice participants investigate and try to improve in this workpackage the multimedia dialogue between politicians, councillors and citizens, in order to a) broaden the democratic process, b) increase engagement in the democratic society and, c) to find new ways to reach 'underdogs' in the community, e.g. people on social welfare, elderly persons, immigrants. WP6: Client-Centered Service Online delivery of public services may influence the citizens attitude toward local and regional governments. Integration of services in a citizen-centred way is the key to improvement of these public services, taking into account experiences at Bremen and by other partners. Integration may be vertical (between different levels of government) or horizontal (between departments) or both. A number of approaches are possible: a) ubiquitous: providing the same service via different channels, b) one-desk: reducing the number of agencies and c) immanent: avoidance of unnecessary contacts. WP7: Publicity The E-VOICE project will disseminate its results via an E-VOICE website, a threemonthly (electronic) international newsletter with free subscription to which the project partners will contribute content, articles in (scientific) magazines and journals, 7

8 and articles in newspapers. The project will also present its results at international congresses, will publish a user manual and will organise a seminar. WP8: Monitoring E-democracy Score and Project Evaluation During the project the results will be monitored on a regular basis in a Monitoring E- democracy Score, with special attention to the impact/context indicators (long term outcome) connected with the rationale, see Box 3.7 and 6.4. The evaluation part of this workpackage - which includes an end-of-project evaluation - will evaluate and verify the results of the project and check them against the original objectives to assess whether the project outcomes meet the project goals. WP9: Project management and international coordination The project management will provide effective project management, international, technical and organisational coordination at all stages, carry out all administrative tasks, establishing and maintaining an effective communication between the project partners. The project management will also safeguard the transnational and spatial elements to prevent them from being eroded in the implementation phase of the project. In brief: The E-VOICE project will develop the multi-media dialogue approach, will inventory and select the best tools, train the participants, apply multi-media dialogue in pilots, evaluate the whole process, organise local democracy days, disseminate the results and publish a user manual. To obtain the European support needed in the preparatory phase and in the later phase of dissemination of results, the E-VOICE project will be brought under the patronage of the Communication Group and/or the Economic Development Group of the North Sea Commission. First contacts with the coordinators of these groups have already been established. 8

9 4.) Other activities Location of activities The E-VOICE activities will take place in the regions participating in the project. These are: - Norfolk County (UK), including the City of Norwich (120,000 inhabitants); 798,000 inhabitants in all - Leiedal region (B); twelve cooperating municipalities with a total of 278,000 inhabitants, including the City of Kortrijk (75,000 inhabitants) - The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (FRG); 659,000 inhabitants - The Municipality of Groningen (NL); 177,000 inhabitants - Four cooperating municipalities in north-eastern Friesland (NL); 86,000 inhabitants - Three cooperating municipalities in Sweden (together: 105,000 inhabitants) with the support of Västra Götaland Region; 1,500,000 inhabitants in all, including Göteborg (600,000 inh.) Total number of inhabitants: (urban: Norwich, Kortrijk, Bremen, Groningen, Göteborg); rural: 1,867,000) Rationale: Within all countries in the North Sea Region and beyond, a number of developments have taken place over the past few decades which may endanger the proper functioning of the democratic system: a) The number of citizens entitled to vote who go to the polls has decreased ; b) Membership of political parties and societies has decreased; c) Fewer people have put themselves forward for election to representative or other democratic roles. 9

10 These developments bring the legitimacy and mandate of elected representatives into question. This is confirmed by: 1) The diminished interest of citizens in general politics, which can be deduced from diminished involvement with and participation in broad political discussions, among other things; 2) A low level of interest of young people in the existing political system; 3) The growing individualisation of citizens and, as a consequence, citizens diminished involvement in their social environment, which has resulted in diminished participation in volunteer work and membership of local clubs. One reason is that political issues themselves have become much more complex and complicated in a globalizing world. This can hardly be changed. But other reasons are that a) the political issues and connected options are often not presented in an easily accessible and understandable way, b) some organizations and interest groups have better means to get their voice heard than others, and c) that the output of the decision making processes is often not transparent. This kind of problems can be dealt with by improving citizens' participation in the democratic process through a more effective access to public sector information and services and better communication processes, leading to a more active role playing in decision making dynamics. The E-VOICE project assumes that interest in single-issue politics - where citizens may have direct, noticeable influence - provides a handle for enhancing interest of citizens in general political issues, to which end the multi-medial dialogue approach advocated by E-VOICE may serve. This dual approach may have a positive effect on voter turnout at elections and may stimulate people to join a political party or another political association or to stand as candidate for democratic representative bodies. 10