National Hub to Support Participatory Policies (IT0077)

What is the problem that the commitment will address? The need to cope with: the limited knowledge of citizens of participatory processes activated by public administrations; the lack of dissemination among administrations of the most advanced participatory practices at regional and local levels.

What is the commitment? Networking advanced participatory practices at different levels of government, starting with sharing the experiences of national and regional authorities that have invested in participatory processes. The objective is to enhance and valorize existing practices, promoting know-how and the most advanced experiences of participation at the regional level, from which to establish a national hub to support participation policies at all levels of government. The expected results are 1. The creation and operation of a digital platform (unique or widespread) that constitutes the national centre of expertise on participation 2. The activation of a network of qualified actors for the exchange of participatory practices.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the problem? The Hub will bring to the system the most advanced experiences existing on the national territory, thus constituting a point of reference that makes experiences, skills, tools and services available to the public sector and citizens. The Hub will be able to guarantee economies of scale, putting in synergic connection the regional experiences with the platforms in use at national level (ParteciPa, Consultazione.gov, OGP website). Finally, by making use of a community of practices, which promotes mutual learning (peer to peer), it will foster the dissemination of methodologies and lessons learned among public staff involved in the implementation of participatory policies at all levels of government.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? The engagement is relevant to civic participation because it will: · widen opportunities for citizens to inform or influence decisions · support public administrations in the widespread implementation of inclusive and effective participatory processes, also in line with international guidelines (OGP, OECD...).

Additional information Any useful synergy with the Forum for Sustainable Development and other national initiatives will be evaluated (e.g., National Strategy for Inner Areas, Strategic Metropolis Project, Urbact networks), as well as with CSOs already engaged in collecting participatory practices in different areas (IAF, Labsus, Forum dei Beni Comuni, Cittadinanzattiva, ActionAid, Legambiente...).

Activities Activities Start date End date Kick-off of a working team bringing together referral organizations for the implementation of the commitment. 1st March 2022 15th March 2022 Mapping of other actors to be involved, both PA and OSC side. 15th March 2022 15th April 2022 Definition of the constitutive characteristics of the Hub, through the consultation of the relevant actors 15th April 2022 15th May 2022 Design of the participation Hub model to be implemented at the national level 15th May 2022 30th October 2022 Approval of the proposed model by OGP Italy By 30th November r 2022 Design and construction of services and tools for the functioning of the Hub and alignment with the optimization processes of the participation platforms in use at national level (ParteciPa, Consultazione.gov, the OGP website). Activities will be carried out in coordination with the 3.01 commitment to promoting awareness of the Public Debate at the national and local level. 30th November 2022 28th of February 2023 Creation and launch of the Hub as a digital platform (unique or widespread) that constitutes the center of expertise on participation By 30th of March 2023 Promotion of the possibility of participation in the network of qualified actors for the exchange of participation practices 30th of March 2023 30 th of April 2023 National event for the promotion of the Hub of participation By 15th May 2023 32 Ordinary functioning of the hub with quarterly activity reports as accountability to OGP Italy 15th May 2023 31st December 2023

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3.02: National Hub to support participation policies

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 3.02. National Hub to support participation policies

The commitment completed activities to establish a national hub on participation, collecting and documenting existing local and national participatory practices and promoting the establishment of communities of practice in different areas. [111] The Minister for Public Administration formally launched the National Hub on Public Participation on 8 May 2023 during the opening ceremony of Open Gov Week. The hub was designed through a co-creation process between PAs and CSOs with public consultation on its design through the ParteciPA platform. Eleven organizations formally promote the initiative and were behind the co-creation process and population of the Hub’s early content. [112] 

In line with IRM recommendations, the hub is hosted on the ParteciPA platform and has 60 organizations subscribed as of March 2024 to participate in debates and receive updates on new materials and meetings. It divides tools into 10 categories, presenting useful toolkits for public participation. Users can provide suggestions on tools to be included via a dedicated online form. Good practices of public participation increased from 7 to 12 between May and December 2023, with 4 additional practices currently under review and a set of working group areas for communities of practice. [113] An additional area, upon the request of the National Working Group on River Contracts, in cooperation with the University of Salerno, was launched in early 2024 with the goal of enhancing visibility of local initiatives. Each community of practice functions as a forum for exchange of relevant proposals to advance these goals as well as serves as a repository of documents and relevant data. [114]

While a positive and well received initiative, this commitment did not produce “notable early results” yet, as use of the hub was still limited by the end of the implementation period, according to Italy’s End of Term Self-Assessment Report. [115] In the longer term, the significance of the hub’s impact on civic participation in Italy will depend on uptake. The implementation of awareness raising initiatives on the existence of civic participation opportunities – and on OGP in general – as well as the engagement of civil society experts in this domain remains key to achieving success. Civil society representatives view the hub as a positive first step towards providing a repository of public participation tools and prioritize continued progress on this initiative.