Toledo City Council digitizes participation

The case of the Toledo City Council

The Toledo City Council's Department of Citizen Participation was at a key moment when it approached us. At the halfway point of her mandate, Councilwoman Helena Galán had managed to reform the structures of participation through a new ordinance. The main novelty of the new regulation was the creation of assemblies to complement the work of the traditional district councils, thus allowing greater involvement of non-neighborhood associations.

However, in order for these structural reforms to have a real effect on the participation rates of unorganized citizens, it was necessary to implement an action plan. Helena knew that one of the keys was to strengthen the associative fabric. And then it would be essential to create new spaces for online participation. Where to start?

Our client

Where to start?

Our consultants made a first contact with Helena's team and with other councilors of the City Council. There was a real commitment of the city government to transparency and participation, but the actions that had been carried out until then were very scattered, without a clear objective. One of the greatest weaknesses of Helena's team was the lack of material and personnel resources, which translated into an excessive dedication of hours to their work without necessarily obtaining the expected results.

Kuorum prepared a customized offer for the City of Toledo. Our consultants were able to learn more about the work being done in each district. A map of actors was drawn up and some themes were selected that had the necessary characteristics to be successfully opened to participation. This work served as the basis for the elaboration of the first Action Plan to Dynamize Citizen Participation in one of the most historic cities in the Iberian Peninsula.

"It was necessary to increase the level of citizen participation."

Toledo City Council digitizes participation

Service customization

Among the measures included in this action plan were: training of elected officials and public employees in the management of participatory processes, training of local organizations in the design of professional communication campaigns, and the implementation of a free participation website where citizens, organizations and the City Council could discuss the selected topics.

Comfortable experience for everyone

After the success of this first pilot project, the City of Toledo is considering the possibility of opening its first participatory budgets, a milestone that seemed unattainable just a few months ago. Finally, and thanks to the enormous work that Helena and her team have done in Toledo with our help, the city has been selected as the venue for the NovaGob 2018 Congress, a reference event in the field of international public innovation.

Therefore, if you are thinking of opening your city council to online participation on an ongoing basis or if you have a specific need to measure the pulse of public opinion on a specific topic, request a demo or contact us and we will advise you without obligation.

Voter experience

From any device

No incidents

Lower emissions

"It was a great success. Now we are preparing to use it for our first participatory budgets."

Juan José Pérez del Pino

Councilor in charge of Mobility, Public Safety, Civil Protection, Citizen Participation and Transparency