The best public participation platforms

We have been discussing many times what public participation is and why it is important. Now you might ask yourself the next question – How ? 

There are many different options on how to engage citizens. Many companies consult cities on how to advance their efforts or offer physical feedback stations where one can raise their opinion. But another option that embraces the digital transformation we are currently seeing in organizations and communities is the usage of digital engagement platforms. They are used to move discussions and inclusion of citizens to the digital space, while taking advantage of the citizen’s knowledge of their direct environment. We want to introduce some of the best ones that are around in the following for you to boost your public participation right away.

Before jumping into the specific tools and strategies though,  we want you to understand that only investing into one platform will not guarantee you successful public engagement. Every online platform that is out there, fulfils different needs in municipalities and organizations and often it is beneficial to use them together to achieve the best outcomes of projects and community improvement efforts.

Now, let’s get started. We will introduce you to all the tools and describe them and their features.

Bang the table

Bang the table offers Engagement HQ, which is a solution to enhance your public participation. The solution incorporates forums, ideas, places, stories, guestbook, questions, polls and surveys. It helps governments to listen, inform and collect data from citizens. With the engagement tools from Bang the table, you can decide yourself how much support you need in integrating it but can also profit from their Engagement IQ resources to learn about community engagement. They are very active and bring a lot of expertise to the table. 

Citizenlab

CitizenLab is a platform for municipalities to efficiently reach and consult citizens over the full spectrum of public participation. They stand for democratic, transparent and collaborative decision-making. Citizens can make open proposals or receive feedback. CitizenLab includes the possibility of participatory budgeting, sharing and visualization of information and therefore helps cities gain valuable inputs and insights, leading to manageable real-time data. Thanks to the platform, officials need less time processing citizen’s needs, and can make faster and efficient decisions to create communities that residents want. CitizenLab has helped over hundred towns and local governments achieve their community engagement goals in a wide range of urban planning projects.

OpenGov

OpenGov is a cloud based solution that officials can use to engage their citizens. The modern software has different solutions including budgeting and planning, citizen services, procurement, and reporting. Therefore, they are adapting to the needs of public sector planning and analysis. They are specifically adapted to the needs of governments and has experience with many different governments and municipalities. They are aiming to achieve more effective planning and strengthen stakeholder trust.

Civocracy

Citizen engagement made simple with co-creation of projects and policies. Civocracy contributes to public participation with a platform that gives cities the ability to connect with citizens via a variety of means and thus, efficiently run citizen participation and collaborative governance projects. This civic tech company is aiming to create better cities efficiently and transparently. The features include direct communication of project news, surveys, discussion of projects and new ideas as well as participatory budget. Real-time insights are available via participations analytics and if you need an extra hand, they also offer advisory services. Civocracy’s solution has already been successfully applied in many cities over Europe.

WeSolve

Of course our own solution can’t be missed in this list. We believe that we are the best at what we do and that you can benefit from it. We believe to be BETTER TOGETHER!

Our solution provides you with many different options on how to improve your citizen engagement – all in one. You can post challenges, surveys, polls and distribute stories to your community. On the other side, every single one of your members can notify you on issues they see or encounter in their direct environment instantly via an intuitive app. On a central interface, we unite different organizations – just like on a social network. All of the information gets collected and delivered to your doorstep – well, figuratively speaking, because with WeSolve’s management panel you receive all the information in one interface to review and immediately be able to act upon it. It is easy and quick.

With many use cases, we are experienced in the field and have been able to gain expertise in public participation, which we are more than happy to provide to you and your community. Being a startup leaves us with the ability to flexibly accommodate customers’ needs and adapt to the type of organization that you are. 

It’s your turn : with all these platforms at hand it can be easy setting up your public participation processes. What are you waiting for ?