Strengthen citizen participation through technological tools (COBOG0010)

Commitment ID

COBOG0010

Commitment Title

Strengthen citizen participation through technological tools as a core attribute of Bogotá’s Civic Identity, within the framework of Participatory Budgeting.

Problem

Participatory budgeting is a public innovation mechanism that needs to be strengthened in terms of citizen participation. The main barriers to achieving this goal include:

Limited outreach and visibility of calls for participation,
Lack of public knowledge about the process and administrative procedures,
Misinformation regarding the scope and characteristics of the initiative, and
Insufficient technical capacity among participants to design and structure viable project proposals.
These challenges hinder inclusive participation and reduce the potential of participatory budgeting as a tool for collaborative governance and citizen empowerment.

Status quo

Between 2020 and 2025, an average of 8,295 citizen proposals have been submitted under the participatory budgeting framework, with an average of 163,801 people voting on these initiatives.While these figures demonstrate significant engagement, there remains considerable room to deepen participation when compared to the total population eligible to take part—all Bogotá residents aged 14 and older. This gap highlights the need to strengthen outreach, accessibility, and digital participation mechanisms to ensure that participatory budgeting becomes a truly inclusive and representative tool for civic engagement.

Action

To strengthen citizen participation through an innovative technological tool integrated into Bogotá’s Public Innovation Lab (GoLab).This tool will leverage the Chatico platform and coordinate with the District ICT Advisory Office to enhance the management and coordination of participatory budgeting processes. The Innovation Lab will serve as the driving force behind the innovations developed by the Local Development Funds, ensuring alignment with the city’s policies on transparency, participation, and open government.

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

The technological tool is expected to enhance the quality of citizen participation within the framework of participatory budgeting, while also contributing to better technical structuring of proposals and more efficient budget alignment with the Local Development Funds.This will strengthen coordination between citizens and institutions, ensuring that participatory budgeting processes are more transparent, evidence-based, and results-oriented.

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

This commitment directly aligns with Objective 2: “Connecting commitments to people’s everyday lives”, as it seeks to improve citizens’ experience in a meaningful participation process—the participatory budgeting mechanism—through which residents can propose and prioritize how up to 50% of the investment budget of the Local Development Funds is allocated.By enhancing the accessibility and usability of participatory tools, the commitment strengthens citizen engagement, trust, and impact in public decision-making at the local level.

Primary Policy Area

Open Data, Right to Information

Primary Sector

Cross-sectoral, Public Services (general)

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?