Tool to promote the collection of proposals and adherents for citizens' legislative/regulatory/ policy-making initiatives in the Basque Country. (ESPV0004)

Commitment ID

ESPV0004

Commitment Title

Tool to promote the collection of proposals and adherents for citizens' legislative/regulatory/ policy-making initiatives in the Basque Country.

Problem

While the process to be followed in order to promote Citizens’ legislative/regulatory/policy-making initiatives is exhaustively described in the corresponding regulation:

• European (Citizens’ Initiative – proposal relating to a legal act for the purposes of applying treaties)
• National (Citizens’ Legislative Initiative – proposal relating to legislative proposals)
• Autonomous (Citizens’ Legislative Initiative of the Basque Country – related to Legislative Proposals)
• Provincial in Álava; Bizkaia; Gipuzkoa; (Citizens’ Initiative on Regulations – related to proposals for provincial regulations made to the General Assemblies)
• Provincial in Álava; Gipuzkoa (Citizens’ Initiative on Regulations – related to proposals for provincial regulations)
• local in Vitoria; San Sebastián (municipal regulation projects)

the activity is in fact practically non-existent due to generalised lack of awareness among citizens and the difficulty of mustering the necessary adherence required by each procedure, in a certified and secure manner.

Many of the initiatives fall by the wayside due to expiry of the deadline for mustering adherence, and those which do go ahead come from anonymous groups of citizens, a factor which partly detracts from the purpose of the citizens’ initiatives.

This means that the task of certifying the validity of the adherence is complicated and requires, for its simplification, interoperability between the administrations.

Status quo

All of the above means that citizens’ legislative/regulatory/policy-making initiatives is practically non-existent; either that, or many of the proposals are thrown out due to not having obtained the number of adherents established in the corresponding regulation.

Action

In this framework, the aim of this project is to develop a digital experience focussed on citizens:

• The phase prior to using the tool.
• The phase of using the digital tool. This will be the main phase in defining the digital experience as detailed in the following paragraphs.
• The phase following use of the digital tool. This phase will give details of how the results of their actions are communicated to the people promoting and forming part of the process, and of how the information is shared with citizens in order to instruct and raise awareness regarding this type of processes.

One of the key elements of this experience will be a digital tool which is accessible and easy to use, sufficiently well known and available for use by the groups of citizens who promote an legislative/regulatory/policy-making initiative for the Basque Country, making it possible to:

• Publicise and lend transparency to the process
• Secure, verifiable, non-renounceable and auditable electronic collection of adherents
• Verify the adherents and certify them using existing systems of interoperability (ID document, municipal census, etc.), depending on the requirements of each regulation.

The idea is that it be housed in the Basque Government platform and offered as free software with technical support to enable its external installation by citizen promoters when desired.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?

A clear and accessible experience of the steps to be followed by all citizens in the Basque Country. The Basque administrations (parliament, general assemblies, autonomous, provincial and local governments) have the tool installed on their websites and promote  its use. Promotion Committees exist which also have the tool for its dissemination among citizens and public agents. In the medium term, activity is generated and processing of the proposed regulations is underway.

What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?

This is an initiative which empowers citizens and takes advantage of the power of new technologies to make the legislative and executive institutions more effective and more focussed on citizens’ demands; it is also an opportunity to experiment with new models of collaborative governance. It promotes collaboration with organised and unorganised citizens with a view to achieving greater prosperity, well-being and human dignity in our countries and in an increasingly interconnected world. It enables the interoperability of governmental information systems at state, autonomous, provincial and local level.

It is an initiative which fosters listening to citizens, also enabling fair and affordable access to technology, fostering connectivity for participation in politics. It involves civil society and the public administrations in identifying innovative approaches to policy-making. It is a unique tool, reusable by all of the Basque administrations and the citizens, based on the principles of simple language, user-friendliness and accessibility. It is a commitment that can be measured, with impact, and which will be co-designed with civil society (organised and unorganised). It is a digital experience which makes it possible to strengthen collaborative governance, bringing citizens closer to the public institutions and to public policy-making.

Primary Policy Area

Civic Space, Digital Governance, Open Data

Primary Sector

Cross-sectoral, Public Services (general)

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?