Developing Mass Citizen Consultations using Agora App (FR0123)

What is the issue that the commitment will address?

Agora is a democratic innovation and a world first designed to promote citizen participation in government in order to increase voter turnout rates and improve levels of trust in democracy. The app is another of the initiatives launched since 2017 by the French President and the government, like the Great National Debate, aiming to promote mass citizen participation and let citizens have a say in the decisions that affect them.

What is the commitment?

Title: Develop mass citizen consultation on major public policy challenges using the Agora app

Description: New features are being developed in the Agora app for a broader range of citizen consultations. Several projects are under way or planned: • Hold Agora user workshops in Q1 2024 to define the app’s development strategy based on citizen feedback • Develop additional features in 2024 to encourage citizen debate • Host consultations for other national institutions, e.g. CESE • Consider ways of making the Agora app available to decentralised government departments for regional consultations on specific local issues

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem?

The Agora app was evaluated by a panel of citizens, who decided it would be relevant to develop a feature to let people participate in government consultations. Under this commitment, the app would provide access to citizen consultations from other organisations, e.g. préfectures and CESE.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?

Mass citizen consultations allow users to participate directly in government work, providing their opinion on concrete policy proposals (participation). Participation is also more representative of the population if as many citizens as possible get involved. The government will release a review of the consultations (transparency) and related policy recommendations (accountability).

What are the expected impacts?

• Empower citizens and accelerate citizen participation at the level of citizens, government policymakers and government departments. The longer-term goal is for citizen participation to become “automatic” in government decision-making and government action.

• Reduce citizens’ distrust in government policymakers

• Better address citizens’ concerns in government policy proposals

Milestones

• September – December 2023: Launch of Agora app

• January – March 2024: Specifications and mock-ups of new features

• March 2024 – December 2024: Development and rollout