Promote Citizen Participation Research Articles

The Structural Dilemma of Citizen Participation: The Interactive Influence of Social Status and Subjective Social Mobility

In the context of rapid social change, the perception of social stratification has far-reaching and complex influences on human psychology and behavior, including citizen participation. The current research explored the interactive influence of social status and subjective social mobility on citizen participation. Two studies used experimental methods to manipulate subjective social mobility and social status, respectively, to examine the interactive effect. Taken together, the results of both studies revealed that the interaction between social status and subjective social mobility had a significant influence on citizen participation: whereas citizen participation with high social status was not affected by subjective social mobility, citizen participation with low social status decreased with increases in subjective social mobility. This research established a combined dynamic and static analysis framework of social stratification structure, elucidating the current status of citizen participation under the influence of the interaction between social status and subjective social mobility, and providing a countermeasure reference for effectively promoting citizen participation.

Inclusivity in Online Platforms: Recruitment Strategies for Improving Participation of Diverse Sociodemographic Groups

AbstractGovernments are increasingly implementing smart and digital approaches to promoting citizen participation. However, whether online participation platforms are tools that improve inclusivity in citizen participation remains underexplored. To address this gap, this article focuses on the role of recruitment messages and their effect on participation in an online participation platform by gender and age. A field experiment with a neighborhood census sample (N = 6,066) shows that online participation dips for younger and older citizens and is equal among women and men. For the age groups between 60 and 75, differences in the control and intervention recruitment messages significantly impacted participation. These findings can help public managers tailor recruitment strategies to facilitate inclusive participation and represent a first step toward learning what types of messages are effective for whom.

A Review on SEELIFE NGO Website

Many Non-government organizations are working in the country. A non-governmental organization is an organization with no self-profit, group based on the citizen that functions independently of government. NGO activities include, but are not limited to, environmental, social, advocacy, and human rights work. They can work to promote social or political change on a broad scale or very locally. NGOs play a critical part in developing society, improving communities, and promoting citizen participation. This WEB application connects people to various NGOs based on their needs. The application connects people directly to the relevant NGO. The information about various NGOs is given based on their field of operation. If an individual requires the services of or wants to volunteer can directly communicate with NGOs. NGOs can communicate at various levels through this application. If a person or a group wants to be a volunteer in any such NGO, it can do so by registering through this app. And if a person has a query so they can communicate with the help of a chatbot.

SoPa: A Social Media for a Participatory Society

The recent political, economic, and social situation has given rise to question on the part of citizens regarding their own space for political participation. Social movements in the form of protests are an example of this growing need for society's participation. One thing that can expand these possibilities is technology. It is correct to affirm that the advancement of smart city and popularization of technology - more specifically, of social media - has established new opportunities to expand these virtual spaces. In line with this scenario, there are several initiatives whose objective is to develop tools that facilitate or promote citizen participation. However, there are still many issues that need to be investigated in order for the use of these tools to be effective. The objective of this work was to propose a tool that facilitates the discussion of societal problems by citizens. In the analysis of the results - obtained through an experiment with users to evaluate the effectiveness of the tool - it could be seen that, although the majority of users agreed that the discussion model and the proposed problem register can contribute to the real solution of the problem, it could also be seen that citizens still lack motivation and engagement - something that needs to be studied and improved.

FaceLift: a transparent deep learning framework to beautify urban scenes.

In the area of computer vision, deep learning techniques have recently been used to predict whether urban scenes are likely to be considered beautiful: it turns out that these techniques are able to make accurate predictions. Yet they fall short when it comes to generating actionable insights for urban design. To support urban interventions, one needs to go beyond predicting beauty, and tackle the challenge of recreating beauty. Unfortunately, deep learning techniques have not been designed with that challenge in mind. Given their ‘black-box nature’, these models cannot be directly used to explain why a particular urban scene is deemed to be beautiful. To partly fix that, we propose a deep learning framework (which we name FaceLift1) that is able to both beautify existing urban scenes (Google Street Views) and explain which urban elements make those transformed scenes beautiful. To quantitatively evaluate our framework, we cannot resort to any existing metric (as the research problem at hand has never been tackled before) and need to formulate new ones. These new metrics should ideally capture the presence (or absence) of elements that make urban spaces great. Upon a review of the urban planning literature, we identify five main metrics: walkability, green spaces, openness, landmarks and visual complexity. We find that, across all the five metrics, the beautified scenes meet the expectations set by the literature on what great spaces tend to be made of. This result is further confirmed by a 20-participant expert survey in which FaceLift has been found to be effective in promoting citizen participation. All this suggests that, in the future, as our framework’s components are further researched and become better and more sophisticated, it is not hard to imagine technologies that will be able to accurately and efficiently support architects and planners in the design of the spaces we intuitively love.

Електронні петиції як один з інструментів електронної демократії

The article reveals the need to introduce information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) in public administration, the development of which causes radical changes in the lives of society and ordinary citizens. It is substantiated that one of the functions of public administration and a necessary prerequisite for sustainable democratic development is to ensure transparency and openness of government at all levels. This is the key to the implementation of an effective policy that can create real civilian control, ensure human and civil rights, strengthen citizens' trust in government. It is studied that the highest form of e-government is e-democracy, which allows ordinary citizens - members of society to participate in the development of management decisions. This happens at all stages of the process - from initiation and development to the adoption and monitoring of performance. E-democracy provides new forms of communication, unhindered access to public information, and promotes citizen participation in the formulation and implementation of public policy. Citizens use e-government tools to interact with public authorities, as well as to interact with each other on policy and self-government issues. It has been proven that the events of recent years demonstrate the community's desire to participate in decisions. The society is set up to more actively use the tools of involvement. We can see this in the example of the introduction of electronic petitions at the level of public authorities and local councils. This tool for the introduction of e-democracy acts as an initiative for participatory democracy and increases the motivation of the community to use e-government in cooperation with the government. In our opinion, the future of e-democracy lies, first of all, in the use of information and information and communication technologies in the already existing sectors of democracy. Keywords : public administration, e-government, e-government tools, e-democracy, e-petitions, participatory democracy.

РЕАЛІЗАЦІЯ РЕФОРМИ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ СЛУЖБИ ЩОДО БІЛЬШОЇ УЧАСТІ ГРОМАДЯН В ІНВЕСТИЦІЙНИХ ПРОЦЕСАХ ДЛЯ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОЇ ТА ЄВРОАТЛАНТИЧНОЇ ІНТЕГРАЦІЇ УКРАЇНИ

The purpose of the article is to analyze the implementation of civil service reform to increase citizen participation in investment processes for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. Methodology. Various forms of citizen participation in public administration processes, which allows to form a good balance of advantages and disadvantages in this process for the implementation of European integration reforms is based on the methods of theoretical generalization, grouping and comparison have been researched. The analysis of the main advantages and disadvantages of promoting citizen participation in public administration processes is based on the methodology of system analysis and synthesis. Results. It was identified on the basis of the analysis of the main advantages and disadvantages that the advantages of citizen participation in public administration processes far outweigh the disadvantages to ensure better quality of services and living standards of citizens. The main shortcomings of citizen participation in public administration processes have been studied, which will help solve the problems of citizen participation in public administration processes in the context of European integration. Various forms of citizen participation in public administration processes have been developed in order to form a good balance of advantages and disadvantages in this process in order to implement European integration reforms. Different levels of citizen participation in public administration processes are analyzed, which contributes to the effective involvement of citizens in public administration processes for the implementation of European integration reforms. It was found that supporting the processes of socio-economic reform of the civil service through the strategy of public administration will help to implement the main European administrative reforms of public administration in Ukraine. Based on the analysis, it is concluded that supporting the transformation processes in Ukraine by investing in civil service reform helps to build the basic European principles of public administration in Ukraine. It is substantiated that measures to support civil society will be possible due to the training of civil servants, which will provide an opportunity to build the stable and efficient economy of Ukraine. Scientific novelty. The expediency of creating different levels of citizen participation in public administration processes is substantiated: informing, consulting, recommendations, joint development of plans, joint decisions, delegation. Practical significance. The results of the study form the scientific and practical basis for conducting various analytical and forecasting studies in terms of justifying greater participation of citizens in investment processes of public administration.

IMPORTANCIA DE LA CALIDAD DE PARTIDOS Y MOVIMIENTOS POLITICOS Y SU INFLUENCIA EN LA GESTION DE LOS GOBIERNOS LOCALES (REGION PUNO 2006-2010)

Se concibe que, la política por su finalidad, está referida fundamentalmente a la conquista y control del poder y del gobierno. Éste, puede ser nacional, regional o local. Esta actividad tiene su expresión a través de la exposición y concreción de calidad de los partidos y movimientos políticos. En nuestro medio, la actividad política se ejerce a través de partidos, movimientos, frentes o alianzas políticas, luego también, a través de organismos populares o gremiales, instituciones sociales, culturales y civiles. No existe hecho político que no implique lucha o disputa sea en el plano ideológico o programático; también en el plano fáctico. En este último caso, los enfrentamientos alcanzan ribetes de violencia. Dentro ese contexto político, la calidad de los partidos y movimientos políticos tienen su origen en la necesidad de una planeación estratégica, en la obligación de su cumplimiento, para que la comunidad se sienta identificada a través de sus necesidades y quienes se comprometen a administrar, tengan definida una ruta que permita cumplir la voluntad del pueblo que, así lo exige al momento de la elección. De esta manera se debe votar por la calidad de la organización política, el programa de gobierno y por una persona con capacidad para hacerlo realidad. Los objetivos del Programa de Gobierno presentado al pueblo deben estar encaminados a desarrollar la Región Puno en todos sus sectores, con la participación democrática de sus habitantes, trabajando solidariamente, teniendo en cuenta que debe prevalecer el interés general sobre el particular, la convivencia pacífica, la eficiencia y la eficacia administrativa. Porque, sólo con la voluntad y la vocación de nuestro pueblo será posible su desarrollo y es, con el pueblo, con quien se tiene que gobernar, ya que de él, depende la soberanía del Estado. Dentro los muchos objetivos de un programa político, debemos considerar: Promover y garantizar la participación ciudadana; proteger el ambiente para garantizar la sostenibilidad de la Región; prestar los servicios públicos que determine la ley; construir las obras que demande el progreso local; impulsar el mejoramiento social y cultural de sus habitantes; cumplir las demás funciones que le asigne la Constitución y la ley. También es fundamental el rescate de nuestros valores, el fortalecimiento de nuestra identidad, el desarrollo armónico, con un gobierno de puertas abiertas y de cara al pueblo. En ese sentido, se tiende a promover organizaciones políticas de calidad, revalorar un programa o plan de gobierno municipal como única garantía para el éxito de un buen gobierno municipal.

Affective Effect: Issue Engagement on a Youth E-Participation Platform

While E-participation promotes citizen participation in democratic decision-making processes, and often takes place through deliberation, citizens are expected to be cool-headed individuals equipped with reason and logic, insulating their actions from the impulse of emotion. However, research in neuroscience and cognitive science has found that emotion plays a vital part in cognitive processing and is instrumental in decision-making. This study thus fills this research gap by examining the effect of emotions in eliciting participation on a youth E-participation platform. Following affective intelligence theory and appraisal theory, the authors specifically examined three types of emotions; namely, anger, anxiety, and sadness. By applying methods in the field of text and statistical analysis, the authors found that anxiety, although the least common type of emotion expressed on the E-participation platform, was associated with an increased level of engagement. On the contrary, anger dominated issue discussion across topics, and sadness prevailed in the discourse on system-level economic issues.

Personal reflections 25 years after the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo

Personal reflections 25 years after the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo

Green Politics, Expertise, and Democratic Discourse in the Two Germanies, 1989–2019

Environmental movements became a major vehicle for promoting citizen participation in both East and West Germany during the 1980s. Their critiques of industrial society, however, reflected the different constellations of power in their respective countries. Movements in both East and West formed green parties, but their disparate understandings of power, expertise, and democracy complicated the parties’ efforts to coalesce during the unification process and to play a major role in German politics after unification. I propose that the persistence of this East-West divide helps explain the continuing discrepancy in the appeal of Alliance 90/The Greens in the old and new German federal states. Nevertheless, I also suggest that the Greens have accomplished their goal of opening technical issue areas—particularly energy—to political debate. This is currently working to enhance their image throughout Germany as champions of technological innovation and democratic openness in the face of climate inaction and right-wing populism.

Planificación del desarrollo turístico. Una propuesta metodológica

The objective of this document is to propose a methodology for tourism planning that provides better management tools by strengthening government performance and promoting citizen participation. The methodology consisted in search of specialized information to identify the characteristics of different methodologies for the tourist planning, as well as the positions that define the scopes of the participation of the State in the management of development in a globalized context and pre-eminence of market. The results indicate that the planning of the sector is characterized by economic and centralist approach that favors the exclusion of social actors and does not take into account the environmental, economic, social and institutional aspects of the region. The proposed model combines spatial, regional and strategic aspects for the development of tourism and highlights coordination activities that from the public sphere should be promoted to generate governance and citizen participation.

Condiciones habilitantes para los presupuestos participativos en Bogotá: una perspectiva nacional e internacional

El objetivo del presente artículo es determinar las condiciones necesarias para el ejercicio del presupuesto participativo en Bogotá. Con base en lo anterior se hace un análisis del marco normativo de la participación ciudadana en Colombia, con el fin de establecer las condiciones ya desarrolladas para la ejecución del presupuesto participativo. Posteriormente, se desarrolla un diagnóstico de los principales programas de participación a nivel nacional e internacional utilizando la “escalera de la participación” de Arnstein con la intención de resaltar las fallas en la promoción de la participación y en el desarrollo de los presupuestos participativos. Finalmente, se propone un proceso participativo que sintetiza las condiciones habilitantes enunciadas y los aprendizajes de los casos nacionales e internacionales.

Lineamientos y estrategias para mejorar la calidad de la atención en los servicios de salud

The challenge of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) led countries to make greater efforts to increase the proportion of population protected, to define and expand their benefit plans, and to provide financial resources to support payment for the benefits provided. The implementation of the health insurance policy in our country has allowed reaching important milestones, evidencing, however, an insufficient effect on timely access and on meeting the health needs of a large portion of the population. In this article we begin by highlighting the main advances and limitations in the process towards a UHC, guding the development of the pending agenda, based on the proposals issued by international organizations aimed at improving health systems globally. The pending challenges include efforts to involve and articulate the various actors in the task at hand of redesigning healthcare processes, strengthening the ethical dimension of their practice, as well as promoting citizen participation in the generation of a high-quality health system that would facilitate effective and timely access to health services. This requires the adoption of measures that extend to the entire health system, based on a shared vision and led by those responsible for its execution and governance.

A Crisis for Both Parties

A Crisis for Both Parties

New Challenges for a Collaborative Urban Planning: Digital Platform for Promoting Relationship Between Local Administration and Citizens in the City of Malaga

The most conventional systems in the Urban Planning practice leave out needs and real social demands through inefficient management models in many cases. Nowadays there is a social, professional and institutional demand to transform these models into new ways of thinking and planning the city that are closer to its inhabitants. In fact, there is a high social involvement of people that are helping or developing activities in favour of their local communities. However, this social activism is not visible nor recognised as the one made by regulated associations. Undoubtedly, the use of new technologies offers a framework of opportunity in these new ways of ”making the city”, as well as it becomes a new area of work and research.In this sense, there are many experiences that incorporate technology as a resource to promote citizen participation in the management of cities. However, only some of them are effective and achieve the goal of becoming a useful tool for citizens. In the city of Malaga, there are already some digital tools at the service of citizenship, although these require a process of revision and updating that allows optimizing existing resources and increasing their impact as a participation tool. As a first step, it is necessary to identify the agents and social initiatives of existing participation in the city.The objective of this project is to create an interactive digital platform that shows the city of Malaga from a real social perspective, as it makes visible and map the emerging non regulated movements, neighbourhood initiatives and new urban trends with low visibility. Finally, the aim is to create a tool for collectives, associations, administrations and other urban agents to promote synergies and relationships among all of them. The incorporation of all of them is essential for the success of the platform as a participation tool. For this, a methodology of actions is established, and it begins with the identification of possible agents and the way of interaction with each one of them. The digital tool that is used is based on the use of geographic location systems.This article collects the results of the first phase of the research project that includes a methodological proposal for mapping the real social activist reality in cities and a functional test of the digital platform created for this. Likewise, an evaluation of the experience and possible improvements to be incorporated in the successive phases of the project is advanced

Interactive maps. Tools for citizen participation

Interactive maps are digital tools that make information available to people in a visual way, in a single set. In addition, they offer the necessary flexibility so that each person can access the information of their interest. These characteristics make these maps an optimal tool to promote citizen participation. A successful example of the use of these maps as a tool to encourage citizen participation is the Mapa Infoparticipa Project, which,with these tools, socializes the transparency levels of local governments in countries such as Spain, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. This article presents what interactive maps are and argues how they are a tool to encourage citizen participation, based on the experience of Mapa Infoparticipa Project.

Towards a policy relevant neighborhoods and health agenda: engaging citizens, researchers, policy makers and public health professionals. SESPAS Report 2018

A large volume of public health literature has shown how the social and physical features of a neighbourhood affect residents’ health, and how they contribute to health inequalities. In this article, we argue that citizens, researchers, policy makers and health professionals should engage in creating a common, policy-relevant neighbourhood and health agenda to effectively improve population health and reduce health inequalities. We discuss four critical processes for advancing this neighbourhood and health agenda: 1) citizen participation and community empowerment; 2) policy making; 3) producing relevant research; and 4) how to best communicate between stakeholders. Various methodologies and experiences currently exist to secure and promote citizen participation. Sufficient funding of research projects and specific policies, as well as continued communication strategies among stakeholders, are necessary elements of this neighbourhood and health agenda. Establishing collaborative and sustained relationships between citizens, policy makers, health professionals and researchers at local and higher political levels is a challenging but necessary step. Developing participatory action research and local participatory policy efforts are important steps towards developing a policy- relevant neighbourhood and health agenda.

Exploring the Role of Nonprofits in Public Service Provision: Moving from Coproduction to Cogovernance

AbstractThis article investigates the determinants of nonprofits' involvement in cogovernance, or the planning and design of public services, using a unique data set of park‐supporting nonprofit organizations in large U.S. cities. The results indicate that nonprofits are more likely to get involved in cogovernance when they are younger, larger, and operate in communities that are more resourceful and stable. In addition, the likelihood of nonprofits' involvement in cogovernance is negatively associated with the level of social capital and government capacity to provide corresponding public services. The article points to an emerging mode of government‐nonprofit collaboration that goes beyond the production and delivery of public services. As public managers face extensive challenges in sustaining the desired level of public services, these findings have important policy implications for efforts to promote citizen participation and cross‐sector solutions to complex social problems.

Role of community-based organizations (CBOs) in promoting citizen participation

PurposeThe current paper is an attempt to evaluate the role of CBOs in promoting citizen participation in the decision-making process of local government institutions of Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan. Among the most used evaluation techniques of participatory citizenship, the researchers have used an outcome driven approach based on “social goals.” Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which CBOs have been effectual for the promotion of participatory citizenship in decision making of local government institutions in Punjab, Pakistan. In addition, the paper also explores the influence and success level of CBOs in incorporating the preferences and needs of public in decision-making of local government services.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, data have been collected through a self-administered survey questionnaire including both open and close-ended questions. A total of 424 questionnaires were collected from citizens, local government officials and CBO members. Standard survey techniques such as frequency distribution and comparative analyses were used for data analysis.FindingsIn assessing the role of CBOs in educating all the stakeholders and the general public as well as to ascertain the incorporation of public needs and values into local government decision making, the paper finds that the effectiveness of CBOs is very low to fulfill its objectives. The study suggests the need to have more programs to educate CBOs, enhance public awareness campaigns and also to put into place proper mechanisms to incorporate and evaluate the public needs.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills the much-needed research gap by the exploring the unknown contribution of CBOs in Pakistan. The paper has added value to the current literature by highlighting that unless there is strong political will and eagerness of local bureaucracy to give up their powers, the inclusion of citizen participation through CBOs in decision making of local government would just be a futile exercise.