EVENT CLOTURE :"Citizen participation; from willingness to practice" - Training/Action

To close this 2019 edition of the ELDW, Brulocalis and the Alderman for the Participation of the City of Brussels offered a morning of meeting, exchange and training between elected officials and officials in charge of Citizen Participation. Is participation always the right option? Today, citizen participation in decision-making processes is on the rise. Many decision-makers would indeed like to set up such participatory processes. But is it always advisable, or even possible, to encourage citizen participation? How to determine if citizen involvement in decision-making is justified? And if the answer is positive, how can the process be successful? This event equipped elected officials and the services of the municipal administration with a list of questions and reflexes making it possible to judge requests for participation as well as to select truly participatory projects and to organize efficient participation. Diversity and participation: random draw, a magic solution? The random draw to obtain a representative panel of participants is on everyone's lips, both at regional and municipal level. Does it really guarantee the diversity of the participants, and the representativeness of all strata of the population? Why and when to use it? How to organize it and how much does it cost? Conversely, if the random draw is not appropriate, how to improve the diversity of the public in the participatory processes and avoid the “regulars” of these? This intervention allowed elected officials and the municipalities to determine the most appropriate mechanism for activating citizens.