The Civic Laboratories of Participatory Budgets, a strategy led by the Secretariat of the Government of Bogotá, which promotes citizen participation in the design of proposals for the entire city, has been recognized as one of the Global Trends of 2023 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - OECD - according to the report presented by the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation of this global organization, which includes 38 countries.
Thanks to these Civic Laboratories, participation was achieved from over 132,000 people from the 20 districts that make up the city, who contributed their ideas for the presentation of more than 56,000 initiatives in total, among which the citizens chose their favorites to be executed during 2023.
"The aim of these laboratories was to modernize participation by transforming traditional scenarios, which operate in a deliberative manner and do not allow, due to time shortage, all attendees to present their ideas; only those with certain leadership profiles represent those around them," said Diana Arenas, coordinator of this successful strategy of the Secretariat for the Government of Bogotá.
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Arenas added that this innovative strategy, which today is part of the list of the case studies library of the OECD, "adopts innovation methodologies and co-creation tools to advance towards a collaborative model of participation in which citizen concertation processes are carried out and it is ensured that everyone can give their opinion, whether verbally or in writing, and that these elements are considered so that in the end, the processes have tangible results in a shorter time".
With this goal in mind, the ‘Carnival of Ideas’ tools and the Methodological Guide were designed, thanks to which the participants built better proposals based on the development of innovative ideas, using elements such as canvases and creative blocks.
"In this regard, we must highlight the knowledge of the territory and the experience of the citizens who were part of the strategy, as well as the guidance and support provided by the collaborators of the local mayor's offices and other city entities for the success of this phase," said the coordinator of the strategy.
All aspects related to this initiative, which were highlighted by the OECD, can be consulted at the link https://oecd-opsi.org/innovations/civic-laboratories/.
