Democratic innovations have spread worldwide over the past decades, with participatory and deliberative processes being replicated across a wide range of contexts. As these innovations grow in scale and reach, an important question emerges: how can they maintain the quality of their internal processes?
This challenge is at the heart of Scaling In, one of the key dimensions explored by the ScaleDem project. Scaling In refers to the ability of a democratic innovation to preserve and strengthen the quality of its internal functioning as it expands.
To better understand this process, researchers from Mission Publiques and UCLouvain are conducting a Delphi study focused on five key dimensions: inclusiveness, integrity, effectiveness, continuity, and learning and feedback capacity.
We are currently gathering insights from practitioners, public administrators, civil society organisations and other actors involved in democratic innovations. If you have experience in this field, we invite you to contribute to the study by completing the survey and sharing it with your colleagues and networks.
Your experience can help us better understand how democratic innovations can grow while remaining meaningful, effective and inclusive.
Take part in the survey here.
We also welcome reflections and experiences on this topic: feel free to get in touch and join the conversation. And let us know if you are available to participate in the online workshop on 15 July, 9:00–12:00 CET.
Featured image by Gizem toprak on Pexels