Source: International Observatory on Participatory Democracy
The Distinction "Best Practice in Citizen Participation" is an award given annually by the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD) to recognize public policies implemented by local governments.
How can I submit a proposal?
1st Become member of IOPD
If you want to be part of our network, sign up here.
2nd Join the PARTICIPATE IOPD platform
Sign up to the platform using the same email address you use for IOPD.
You will receive a confirmation email from [email protected]. Follow the link and create your password
Sign in to the platform
Once you are inside, you must fill in your personal profile as a representative of your institution/organization.
3rd Submit a proposal
Once you have created your profile, you will have to go to “Processes” and go into the process corresponding to the 2018 Distinction.
In order to submit your innovative proposal, you will have to reply to three easy questions in three languages (English, French and Spanish):
Who submits the proposal? (100 words)
Which practice/innovation is submitted and which is its purpose? (300 words)
Why is it an innovative practice? (150 words)
You have time until the 7th May 2018. Keep in mind that you will have to answer them in Spanish, English and French. If you need help to translate it, send us the proposal to [email protected] before the 22th April 2018 and we will help you.
You will find all the details in the PARTICIPATE OIDP platform, in each of the process stages. Also, you may find answers to other questions in the FAQs page.
Calendar
First stage - proposal submissions:
Submit your proposal until the 7th May 2018.
If you need help to translate it into any language, you must send your proposal to [email protected] before the 22th April 2018.
Second stage - evaluation of formal requirements:
From the 8th to the 14th May 2018 we will evaluate the compliance with the requirements that are specified in section 3 of the terms and will reject those proposals that do not comply with them.
Third stage - comments and voting:
From the 15th to the 31st May 2018 it is your turn to comment and vote! IOPD members who have signed up to the digital platform will be able to comment the proposals and ask questions to the person who submits it. Each member will be able to vote for up to three proposals.
And then? A ranking with all proposals will be made and the 20 proposals which have more votes will move to the next stage. Should less than 40 proposals be submitted, only the ones which are among the 50% most voted will move to the next stage. If there should be several proposals with the same number of votes, the ones to move to the next stage will be decided by lot.
Fourth stage - submission of the full proposal:
Have you made it to the fourth stage? Congratulations! Now you have to submit the full proposal filling in a new form with questions which are related to the evaluation criteria that the jury must follow.
Also, if you want you may submit complementary information in digital format to enhance your candidacy. You will have time to send the full proposal to [email protected] until the 15th July 2018.
Fifth stage - jury evaluation
Each member of the jury will evaluate 10 proposals and will submit a report on each of them through a form. The report will include the point assignments for each of the evaluation criteria (section 5 of the terms) and a brief justification. The proposal which has more points will be the winner! Also, the jury will be able to choose up to five special mentions.
Final stage - publication of results and feedback
The result of the prizes will be made public during the annual IOPD conference taking place from 25th to the 28th November 2018. On the other hand, jury comments will be sent to the candidacies that have made it to the fifth stage for the purpose of them to be used to improve the practices on participatory democracy.