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eparticipation | edemocracy | eInclusion
Posting Date: 26 December 2008
Last Edited Date: 08 January 2009
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Author:
Matt Poelmans (Burgerlink (ICTU))Netherlands | www.mattpoelmans.nl
Strategic initiative
Award schemeIn 2008 in The Netherlands for the first time a national eParticpation Awards scheme was organised. Its aim is to reward succesful initiatives in the field of eParticipation and to inspire potential followers. eParticipation is conceived of as using ICTs to involve citizens in improving public service delivery, the democratic process and societal inclusion. There are two categories: an initiative by Government and an initiative by Society. Selection is based on compliance with the Dutch eCitizen Charter. Out of 32 cases an independent jury nominated 10, and choose two winners.
The Awards are organised by Citizenlink on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.Citizenlink (Burgerlink) is an initiative of the Dutch Government to improve the performance of the public sector by involving citizens. To that end Citizenlink promotes quality standards, measures citizen satisfaction and stimulates eparticipation. Citizenlink will run from 2008-2010 and is part of ICTU, the Dutch implementation organisation for ICT and government.
The awards were granted by the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs at the Governent 2.0 Conference on December 4th, 2008. The 2 winners were RotterdamIdee in the category Government and Buurtlink in the category Society. RotterdamIdee was first because it provides citizens the possibility of co-decision in projects to improve their city. This opportunity was used widely and other cities can easily copy this approach. Buurtlink wins because it provides a ready made format for a neighbourhood website. It makes use of available applications and its basic postcode structure facilitates citizens meeting one another.