Develop and implement digital participation platform at local level (NL0041)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?  Better quality of decision-making processes. Studies by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) and others have revealed that there is a dissatisfaction with the responsiveness of authorities and politicians and that there is an urgent need for more direct involvement in policy-making and decision-making. Progress in digital technology is creating more and more opportunities to shape the desired influence using digital means. The Rathenau Instituut and other parties have concluded that, so far, governments have only made scant use of digital applications.  An international comparative study ‘Democracy rapport 2020’ by the V-Dem institute also revealed Dutch public administration to still be insufficiently open to public consultation and participation and forms of direct democracy. The Netherlands is in 42rd position overall (out of 170) when it comes to participation options (including direct forms of democracy). This study compared both national, regional and local levels.  The development of platforms such as digital deliberative forums which enable the easy exchange of ideas and opinions has several advantages, including: o Enhanced legitimacy of decisions; o Shifting the focus to the general interest; o Mutual respect among actors;  This development can be designated as ‘Digital Democracy’ which focuses on supporting current democratic processes by means of digital tools as well as on the challenges surrounding the implementation of such tools. (B. Mulder and M. Hartog, Applied e-democracy: the need for an information framework to support development, 2013).

What is the commitment?  The commitment will lead to a network approach of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations with the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) to promote the possibilities of digital participation platforms and facilitate the use of it by local authorities. This will be done with research partners such as the Rathenau institute, advocates for digital participation such as ‘Netwerk Democratie’ and local authorities. This will serve the following objectives: o To vitalise democracy by demonstrably increasing the responsiveness of local authorities. o To explore the question of how to effectively add a digital channel to the existing participation approach. o To study to which criteria successful participation tools should comply with. 11 o To increase awareness among authorities of the risks and opportunities of digital democracy. To promote open source as the programming standard. o To promote and increase the use of digital participation tools by local authorities. o To foster the collaboration between local governments in developing and improving open source and shared public tools for citizen participation.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? The use of participation tools by local authorities by several partnerships called ‘provinciedeals’ will contribute to the strengthening of local representative democracy with participative elements. Support will take shape in facilitating knowledge and supplies to use the tools. This will be organized with an agreement and partnership with Provinces in the Netherland so they can equip the municipalities in that province. This will promote the use of these tools and thereby strengthen te representative democracy with participatory elements. On a national scale the Ministry of The Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) will be the helpdesk for implementing and using digital participations tools.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? The use of digital applications enables government organizations and residents to quickly exchange large volumes of information and to consult with each other without having to meet physically. The government's service provision can be optimised further by means of these digital applications. This leads to the conclusion that the action point will contribute to more information being released and also that the action point is relevant as regards transparency. The action point will also create wide-ranging opportunities for participation in public matters. This makes this action point relevant as regards social participation. Aspects which demonstrate this include: opportunities for citizens to contribute to policy-making, decision-making and implementation at local level, through the use of innovative digital instruments. With the attention for shared open source tools the commitment also contributes to the development of participatory technology which citizens can trust. By enhancing the open and collaborative development of the tools this action point increases the quality and accountability of public participation tools. The action point offers democratically legitimized actors an extra channel for involving citizens in, and informing them about, the different aspects of public accountability – information phase, debate phase and evaluation phase. This justifies the conclusion that the action point is also relevant for public accountability.

Additional information The actions in 2020 and 2021 will be done within the program of ‘Democratie in Actie’ (‘Democracy in Action’) by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). The publications and helpdesk for local authorities can be found on: https://lokale-democratie.nl/cms/view/57979766/lokale-burgerparticipatie Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start Date: End Date: https://lokale-democratie.nl/cms/view/57979766/lokale-burgerparticipatiehttps://lokale-democratie.nl/cms/view/57979766/lokale-burgerparticipatie12 There will be at least three partnerships (Provinciedeals, ‘Province deals’) with Provinces in the Netherland to promote the use of digital participation platforms by municipalities. Two of those partnerships have already started. - Zuid - Holland/South-Holland (okt ’20 – april ’21) - Groningen (sept ’20 – april ’21) Sept 2020 Dec 2021 Maintaining and improving the helpdesk for digital participation with up-to-date publications and research. This helpdesk can now be found within the program ‘Democratie in Actie’. After this program ends (dec 2021) the helpdesk can be found at the Association of Netherlands Municipalities. Sept 2020 Dec 2021 Every quarter in 2021 there will be a networking event surrounding digital participation. During these events there will be update concerning the latest trends and publications. There will also be the opportunity for local municipalities to discover the possibilities of digital participation tools and meet partners to implement them. Jan 2021 Dec 2021 Piloting the open source digital tool and AI powered consensus platform pol.is (cooperation between Groningen, Amsterdam, Netwerk Democratie, Democratie in Actie). Nov 2020 Aug 2021 Further developing the open source participation platforms such as Open Stad and Consul and making it available for municipalities. Sept 2020 Dec 2021

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3: Digital Democracy

Results Report

Commitment 3. Digital Democracy

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

● Completion: Complete

● Did it open government? Marginal

Drawing on work in the previous action plan, such as the AI-powered consensus platform Pol.is and the helpdesk and guidance materials around digital participation, stakeholders continued to engage local governments in making digital participation more inclusive and relevant. In addition, stakeholders organized a series of networking events to explore what digital democracy may look like in the future. [21] Milestones such as the three partnerships (Provinciedeals or ‘Province deals’) were completed, including one in Zuid Holland, [22] one in Groningen, [23] and one in Friesland. The open-source digital tool and Pol.is (in cooperation with the cities of Groningen and Amsterdam, Network Democracy, and Democracy in Action) was further piloted as planned. Public conversations and consultations were conducted, including on sensitive issues such as the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this case, Network Democracy and Code for NL submitted the results of this Pol.is conversation to the online consultation around the bill "Temporary law on test evidence COVID-19.” Finally, the existing helpdesk for digital participation was maintained and further updated. Overall, the activities from this commitment represented positive, but marginal improvements in digital participation in the Netherlands.