Country: All EU Member States
Target Group: Civil Society Organisations, civic movements and anyone with an interest to get a better understanding on digital democracy
Date and time: 14 March 2024, 12:30 – 13:30 CET
Language: English
Subject: European Democracy
Format: Webinar (Webex)
What is it for me – Learning Objectives:
As participatory democracy activities are on the rise in Europe, ECAS is organising a one-hour webinar on digital democracy and the role that civil society organisations can play in e-participation mechanisms. The webinar will explore how digital tools are being used to allow citizens to connect with decision-makers and have a say in policy making.
In the first part, participants will learn about digital democracy in general and more specific concepts such as participatory budgeting, crowdsourcing, e-initiatives, e-consultations, and many more. In the second part, the webinar will focus on the role of CSOs in e-participation processes – how can CSOs initiate and run their own e-participation processes? How can CSOs support citizens in using these tools to concretely impact policies? How to advocate for more participation in decision-making at local, national and EU level?
The webinar will be interactive and participants will have the possibility to ask more in-depth questions to the expert.
Meet our expert – Elisa Lironi – ECAS Programme Director
Elisa Lironi is the Programme Director for European Democracy, working at the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) since 2015. She develops and leads ECAS’ European Democracy focus area by implementing EU projects and services related to Digital Democracy, Understanding Populism and Civic Engagement. She conducts research specifically on e-participation practices in Europe and one of her latest publications includes the book chapter “Crowdsourcing EU Legislation: Harnessing the Power of Digital Democracy” (2021, ECPR Press).
Elisa leads Civil Society Europe’s Digital Transformation Cluster that brought CSOs proposals to the Conference on the Future of Europe and continues to feed into the EU’s priority of “A Europe fit for the digital age”. Since 2018, she is the ECI Expert and Project Manager of the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum, working with Secretariat-General of the European Commission on developing and implementing this online collaborative platform.
This activity is part of the EURECA project, co-funded by the European Union