Citizen Initiatives are vital to local democracy: 4 key success factors

What are citizen proposals?

Citizen proposals or initiatives can be defined as participatory tools which enable community members to influence the local policy agenda by collecting signatures. Depending on the legal framework you’re in, the outcome of a community proposal can be advisory or binding.

Two key advantages are associated with this type of participatory tool. First, they require minimal effort, leading to a higher number of participants and reduced social bias compared to traditional forms of participation. Digital proposal platforms, like Go Vocal's community engagement platform, can amplify these benefits even further.

Citizen initiatives come in all shapes and sizes, but following are the 5 main types:

Referendum proposal: pushing forward a referendum regarding a matter of public interest.
Agenda initiatives: pushing forward a public policy proposal to be considered by the local government.
Legislative initiatives: pushing forward a regulatory proposal.
Abrogative referendum: responding to a policy or legislative proposal, aiming for its approval or rejection.
Recall initiative: pushing forward a referendum in order to decide if an authority or government body will continue in charge or will be removed before the end of their term.

Key success factors for community proposals

1. Mean it

Although it may sound obvious, in practice a lot of legislation on citizen initiatives is hollow: These initiatives often have little to no real impact, and the conditions for their success are nearly impossible to meet. For instance, in Italy, agenda initiatives are not properly regulated, meaning that parliament is under no obligation to discuss them.

There are two common pitfalls:

Limitations on scope: While it's reasonable to restrict proposals to matters within the local government's jurisdiction, over-limiting their scope can be discouraging. This is the case in many places. In the Czech Republic, for example, a 1992 law prohibits initiatives related to municipal budgets and taxes. Since nearly every proposal involves some form of budget allocation, this law effectively excludes almost all initiatives.
Space and time requirements: In some instances, local authorities have mechanisms to obstruct initiatives. In Oregon (USA), residents have 90 days to initiate a proposal in response to a new law, starting from the day the law is passed by legislators. However, the governor has 30 days to sign or veto the law, potentially using up a third of the time community members have to gather the required number of signatures, thereby limiting the opportunity for involvement.

`2. Meta matters`

This success factor refers to enabling community proposals to also address their very own nature. Meaning that the scope of initiatives should be widened to questions such as:

What requirements does an initiative need to meet?
What topics can a proposal tackle?
Who is eligible participate?
How far into the legal framework can proposals go? Should they extend all the way to the constitution?

Widening the scope like this is important to truly make initiatives a bottom-up participation method, and not solely window dressing.

In Jackson, Mississippi, citizen assemblies use initiatives to collectively decide what their participatory budget will include and how it will be organized. In parallel, these assemblies are using proposals to institutionalize their own functioning. The latter includes making sure that the initiatives keep a sufficiently high level of autonomy from governmental bodies, and that undocumented inhabitants of Jackson can participate without the risk of being arrested.

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3. Information, not persuasion

Inclusion goes beyond involving traditionally excluded groups, it also requires creating opportunities for community members to produce quality proposals by providing adequate information. Some critics argue that direct democratic processes can be ineffective due to residents’ limited access to resources and technical expertise.

One common objection to initiatives is their potential manipulation by interest groups. Since initiatives require significant mobilization and resources, well-funded groups with specific agendas can disproportionately influence outcomes, effectively 'buying' legislation through persuasive public campaigns.

Another concern is the risk of decisions being made in isolation, without considering their broader context. For instance, community members might support conflicting initiatives — such as one calling for increased spending on urban planning and education, and another advocating for a reduction in municipal taxes — creating a paradox.

To address these challenges, facilitation and process are crucial for ensuring community members receive accurate information. Taiwan's approach to initiatives highlights this, as trained facilitators guide participants through the early stages of an initiative, helping them understand the facts and articulate their perspectives.

The Citizen initiative review (CIR) process offers another potential solution. This method involves ‘deliberative mini-publics’ — small groups of community members (20-24) who come together over a few intense days to deeply examine a specific issue. They then share their findings with a broader audience, fostering a deeper understanding of the issue and cultivating empathy for different viewpoints among participants.

4. Oscillation

The fourth and final key success factor for successful proposals is what we can call 'oscillation.' This refers to making the issue at hand tangible and relatable for community members, while using these initiatives as entry points to discuss broader topics.

A great example is the Save Dakar project,which crowdsourced issues affecting daily life in Senegal's capital. Community members used smartphones with geolocation to photograph and report problems in their immediate surroundings that needed improvement. This initiative served as a megaphone, amplifying residents' voices toward local legislators. Not only did this approach significantly lower the barrier to participation, but it also began to shift a deeply rooted mindset—where residents had previously expected the government to handle everything, with little personal involvement.

In Jackson, Mississippi, after extensive sessions with citizen assemblies, it became clear that the number one concern was the city’s potholes, which were causing costly damage to cars. Launching a citizen initiative on this highly focused, local issue had multiple indirect benefits. First, citizens quickly realized there weren’t enough public resources to fix all the potholes, leading them to address the worst ones in their own neighborhoods. Second, the debate naturally expanded to bigger issues like poverty and inequality, as not everyone could afford to repair their cars. Third, discussing such a tangible, relatable issue made people more comfortable speaking up. Many residents gained public speaking skills during these discussions, empowering them to later participate in conversations about broader, more complex topics like racism.

As this comprehensive report clearly shows, proposals or initiatives can improve local policy-making through community engagement, no matter what part of the world you're in. Keeping the 4 key success factors in mind while doing so will help you go a long way.

Go Vocal's Proposals: an intuitive space to co-shape policies with your community

Go Vocal offers everything to set you up for success. From an intuitive space for residents to propose, support, and discuss initiatives to a strong back-end that gives you valuable insights into what truly matters to your community. Discover our Proposals feature today!