The #YouBudget2018 pre-budget consultation campaign was launched on November 9th, 2017 by Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Through a series of online surveys, Canadians are invited to contribute their opinions on topics pertinent to 2018’s budget allocation. Access the surveys here . The survey touches on four primary areas of concern: * Progress for the middle class – creating more jobs, improving lives, strengthening communities and building the economy * Economy of Tomorrow – driving innovation and equipping Canadians with tools and skills to succeed over the long-term economy * Lifelong Learning – expanding accessibility to education, work experiences and better jobs * Gender Equality – ensuring men and women have equal opportunities to succeed in Canada Each survey contains 3-4 questions, and each question allows respondents to choose as many options as they would like from a group of pre-set answers. The online public consultation period ends on January 26th, 2018. The platform is built on Typeform . To be included in the pre-budget consultations, ideas can also be sent by email or directed to the Twitter #YourBudget2018 discussion.
Projects (325)
From the White House website : In 2009, President Obama called for “a process through which every government worker can submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better.” The President’s SAVE (Securing Americans’ Value and Efficiency) Award fulfilled this commitment by enabling Federal employees from across the government to submit their ideas for efficiencies and savings as part of the annual Budget process. Now in 2010, we are expanding the process so Federal employees can both submit ideas and vote on ideas submitted by others in a collaborative process. Award timeline: July 8, 2010: SAVE Award launch July 22, 2010: Deadline for submissions for SAVE Award 2010 September 2010: SAVE Award winner will be announced.
This project ran from October 27 to November 3, 2008. From the website: How should we expand the use of information technology and protect personal privacy to improve health care? On the eve of the 2008 presidential election, citizens and stakeholders from around the country convened here to share their ideas and concerns about the future of our health IT and privacy policies. Over 3,000 people from every state and 80 countries around the world visited this website, generating hundreds of ideas and comments. Although the National Dialogue has concluded, the ideas and opinions remain available on this website for the review of all those who are interested. It is our hope that this information will continue to spur dialogue and innovation around this important topic. This online dialogue generated more than 100 ideas and concerns.
From the website : “Between July 16th and October 4th of 2009 , more than 20,000 stakeholders from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia participated in the National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review ( QHSR ). The valuable comments and ideas solicited were used directly to inform the study groups tasked with writing the QHSR for the Department of Homeland Security. The final report has been delivered to Congress” and can be seen on the Department of Homeland Security’s QHSR page . The QHSR Dialogue website has an archived version of the three-stage dialogue. Further reading: An evaluation at the Citizen Service Award Blog
adhocracy+
“A £150m package of measures to help UK manufacturers seize the opportunities provided by emerging technologies has been launched by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.” A citizen consultation in the Summer of 2009 on measures to help UK businesses in the advanced manufacturing sector, using a commentable website and an opportunity to get in touch via Twitter.
From the website: The Australian Law Reform Commission released a Consultation Document, Family Violence—Improving Legal Frameworks ( ALRC CP1) for the Family Violence Inquiry on 29 April 2010, as well as a smaller, more accesible summary of that document. The Consultation Paper calls for submissions on more than 200 questions and proposals for law reform, and each of those is listed on this site. They are set out according to the structure of the two consultation documents, in their respective chapters, and people should refer to those chapters if they require background information. […] The purpose of this blog This blog has been set up to enable public discussion and debate of the questions and proposals contained in the Family Violence Consultation Document. The invitation to join this discussion is open to all. The site uses digress.it (version 2.3).
From the website: This site was developed by House Republicans as part of an official effort to increase the dialogue between Americans and their Congress. Here, Americans are provided a new platform to share their priorities and ideas for a national policy agenda. As Republicans, we are committed to our principles of limited, more accountable government; economic freedom; lower taxes; fiscal responsibility; protecting life, American values, and the Constitution; and providing for strong national security. This is an open forum, however, where all Americans are welcome to respectfully offer their opinions, regardless of party affiliation and whether we endorse them or not. It is our hope the active engagement of the American people will produce a robust debate that will aid in the construction of a new American agenda. The site runs on Microsoft TownHall.
From the website: Welcome to BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations’ Angling, Hunting and Trapping Engagement Website The public is invited to comment on proposed angling, hunting and trapping regulations and policies through this engagement website. The Province recognizes that a wider range of perspectives can be reached through web-based public engagement. We will continue to use a face-to-face consultation process in addition to collecting online feedback. The ministry posts regional and provincial regulation and policy proposals on this website for public comment. User comments are visible only to designated ministry staff and to the user that posted the comment. A summary of responses garnered from the website will be qualitatively analysed, summarized, and forwarded to ministry decision makers for consideration. The ministry will post final regulatory and policy decisions on the website. Users can sign up for RSS feeds and/or email notifications to follow the status of specific proposals.
Large-scale public consultation on internet rights and principles held by the General Secretariat of the Brazilian Presidency of Republic on Participa.br platform, between March 20 and April 17, 2014.
From the about page : In days gone by, people used to gather in public spaces to discuss the issues of the day, meeting like-minded people and generating ideas for action. Nowadays, people rarely find time to gather and debate issues in person, but more and more find that the Internet can provide a way to meet other people, discuss issues and gain a sense of community online. Bristol City Council provides a space, here at www.askbristol.com, where you can find information, access resources and of course, be part of the debate, whatever is on your mind. And about viewfinder: What is Viewfinder? Viewfinder is a new site where you can have your say about all sorts of issues that may affect your life in Bristol. The site is a ‘public beta’ which means that though it all works we are still plan to make changes based on what you, the users think. If you do have a suggestion as to how we can make the site better then please let us know using the feedback page.
Aufbruch Bayern (roughly Let’s go, Bavaria! ) is a citizen engagement project by the Bavarian State Chancellery (the Minister-President’s office). The online consultation aims to generate ideas around the issues of family, education and innovation. The site allows citizens to: Learn about existing ideas and suggestions from other participants Suggest ideas Rate ideas Comment and discuss Collect activity points (the most active participants will receive special prizes) Select participants will be invited to attend a workshop with experts Timeline: Website launch: June 15, 2010 Participant workshop: July 8, 2010 Ideas phase end: July 31, 2010 Jury meeting and announcment of winners: Fall 2010 State of the state address “Aufbruch Bayern”: Late 2010
The first ever Australian Citizens’ Parliament was held February 6-9, 2009 in Canberra, Australia when 150 randomly selected Australians met for 3 days to answer the question: “How can Australia’s political system be strengthened to serve us better?” The second phase of the 2009 Citizens’ Parliament process was the online parliament, which commenced after the regional meetings and ran until the 2009 Citizens’ Parliament sitting. Its purpose was to generate an initial set of proposals which could be elaborated upon in Canberra. The Online Parliament ran from mid-October 2008 to mid-January 2009. Over 300 randomly selected Australians signed up and more than 100 were active through out. The detailed proposals they developed helped form the agenda for the February event. 11 of the 12 proposals developed online and deliberated at the Citizens’ Parliament were adopted in their final recommendations to the Prime Minister, Parliament, and the media. The Citizens’ Parliament recevied a Special Recognition Award from the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) in September 2009.
This consultation was carried out by the Australian Government about the Nation’s Cultural Policy. The site was visited by over 4000 people and over 270 comments were left.
From the website: The Council is working hard to keep council tax the same or as low as possible. 1% of council tax represents £1.5m of spending. Central Government is not increasing Barnet’s grant therefore we have to do more for less. The Council is developing the budget for 2010/11. As part of the budget setting process the council is consulting on some options and priorities. The responses to the budget consultation will be reported to Officers and Members for consideration. Consultation is important in the process as it demonstrates engagement, and gives you the opportunity to express your views as part of the process. The Budget Options Simulator allows you to find out about a range of services that the Council is responsible for and the costs associated with these.
According to the Delib case study page , the purpose of this project was to “engage and consult with local residents on the sensitive issue of the future of health care provision in the area”. The consultation engaged more than 10,000 unique users and generated hundreds of responses to the survey.
An e-participatory budgeting (e-PB) project from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
From the site: City Council Member Ben Kallos opened this platform to hear from you, the residents of New York City and to make his legislation more open, representative and connected.
From the about text: Why the Federal Acquisition Process? On his first day in office, President Obama challenged leaders in government to “use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.” The acquisition process represents one of the most important areas of collaboration between government and the private sector. Unfortunately, it is also among the most complex and least transparent. The Better Buy Project is an experiment dedicated to the belief that there’s a lot of room for improvement in the way government buys products and services. We’re testing this hypothesis by asking for your ideas on how to make acquisition process more open, transparent and collaborative. The best part of this project is that the U.S. General Services Administration ( GSA ) GSA would really like to adopt some of your best ideas. Promising ideas will be selected by GSA to be piloted on an upcoming acquisition, where lessons learned will be captured for future implementation. But that really depends on us, and the ideas we’re able to produce.
From the website: Public Consultation on access to information and open government data Access Info Europe and the Open Knowledge Foundation, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Information Program, are holding a public consultation on open government data and the right of access to information. This consultation is based on a new report “Beyond Access: Open Government Data and the ‘Right to Reuse’” produced as a result of research into the open government data and access to information movements. The report identifies the practical, technical and legal challenges facing these movements. The report is based on discussions with activists about the main issues to be address in the next couple of years, questions such as whether a right of access is linked to a “right to reuse” the data received. The consultation is scheduled to last through October 11, 2010. Access Info Europe is based in Madrid, Spain.
An unofficial ‘plain English’ on-line version of the Big City Plan ‘Work in Progress’ document the Birmingham City Council published and asked people’s opinions on. The platform was launched by volunteers of the Birmingham Blogger’s Group to facilitate public discussion on the document. The website lists all parts of the official document with plain English versions side-by-side. Comments were closed on February 6, 2010 and the comments were forwarded to the city’s council.
The Big Easy Budget Game is a budget simulator planning tool for the citizens of New Orleans that enables them to delegate 602 millions dollars over a number of government departments. The game comes with a few rules and restrictions, such as minimum and maximum funding that can be delegated to each department in order to emulate a realistic city. There are also quick polls for some of the departments that ask for more specific insight when players are delegating funds. On average, each game takes about 10 minutes in order to balance the budget. At the end of each game, there is an optional questionnaire asking participants about their involvement with city government, whether or not they feel adequately represented by government, and demographic information for statistics. Both the Big Easy Budget Game and the questionnaire are available in English and Spanish. All the yearly data from the budget games and the optional questionnaire submitted by citizens was analyzed and detailed in two public reports ( 2016 and 2017 ) demonstrating how New Orleanians want to spend their tax dollars versus how the government has been spending them. In addition to The Big Easy Budget Game is its companion website , that visualizes New Orleans’ government spending between 2007 and 2015. The Big Easy Budget Game was created and facilitated by the Committee for a Better New Orleans and the Peoples’ Budget .
From the about page : “Block by Block” is an innovative partnership between the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the UN agency promoting sustainable towns and cities, and Mojang, the makers of Minecraft. Block by Block involves young people in the planning of urban public spaces. Minecraft has turned out to be the perfect tool to facilitate this process. The four-year partnership will support UN-Habitat’s Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016. The first pilot project in Kibera, one of Nairobi’s informal settlements is already underway.
From the website: The Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy ( BRC ) was formed in light of the likelihood that a marijuana legalization initiative will be placed on the 2016 California ballot, and that serious and thoughtful analysis must be conducted in order to identify significant policy challenges and offer possible solutions. The Commission is comprised of leading policymakers, public health experts and academics from across the state and the nation that have done significant work and research related to marijuana. The first public forum was hosted on April 21, 2015. In addition to a live video stream, the project relied on DemocracyOS to ask for public input.
Budget consultation in the city of Bonn, Germany, scheduled to run from January 18 through February 16, 2011.