CitizenLab is expanding its presence in the UK market in a bid to revive faith in democracy and drive up participation in local decision making. With an already well-established presence in mainland Europe, CitizenLab’s civic engagement technology is set to be embraced by local authorities and organisations across the UK following a series of successful citizen participation pilots.
With campaigning for local elections on hold, traditional, in-person forms of political participation are currently impossible. CitizenLab’s technology allows people to make their voices heard in a safe and efficient way. The platform provides Governments, Local Authorities, and membership organisations with a ‘digital democracy toolbox’. The platform enables them to replace community meetings with virtual discussion forums, organise votes on suggested policy changes, or gather new ideas through surveying tools.
The technology has already been piloted successfully by the London Borough of Newham. Using digital engagement tools, CitizenLab was able to provide an online portal where people who live, work, and visit Newham could participate actively in the decision making processes, which continued throughout the pandemic uninterrupted. Newham were able to gather hundreds of community views on a number of urban regeneration decisions across a four month period.
The CitizenLab platform was founded by three Belgian millennials (Wietse Van Ransbeeck, Aline Muylaert, and Koen Gremmelprez), who discovered that, after leaving university and moving into new neighbourhoods, there were very few ways to get involved in community-related issues and local politics. They also found, despite 55% of citizens saying they would like to be involved in local decision-making, 83% say there is a lack of transparency in politics preventing them from doing so. Founded in Brussels 2015, the growing CitizenLab team comprises over 35 people based throughout Europe and the UK, and is a mix of developers and citizen participation experts.
CitizenLab’s technology has also been designed to drive up engagement amongst young people, who are statistically the least likely to get involved in local politics. A recent study from the University of Cambridge found that in almost every global region, it is among 18-34 year olds that satisfaction with democracy is in significant decline, with less than 50% of under 35s feeling confident in the current democratic system.
Speaking on the importance of trust within political engagement and the need for a continuation of democracy during this unprecedented time, Wietse Van Ransbeeck, CitizenLab Co-founder said:
“As millennials, we felt frustrated that there was, and still is, a communication and participation gap between citizens and their decision makers. The pandemic and recent political events within the UK and Europe has meant that this divide has never felt bigger. It’s vital that we find solutions before trust is eroded permanently.
“Our platform has been designed to not only engage with people in a more efficient and effective way, but also to allow citizens and communities to continue to be heard, and collect relevant data about citizens’ priorities. We believe that empowering citizens can help governments make better decisions, improve trust and strengthen democracy.”