“The e-democracy national action plan and the Province of Brescia case:

the START project for e-democracy in local authorities ”

Strasbourg, 23rd April 2007

Agenda

Short introduction on

Provincia di Brescia

National government

plan for e-democracy

The Province of Brescia

case: START project

Results and future

developments

Lessons learnt

ENTO…

Provincia di Brescia

Introduction

Provincia di Brescia

• Local Government

• 103 Provinces on the Italian territory

• Staff: 903 people / budget: € 480 mln (2006)

• Population: 1.149.768 (2004)

• Many administrative tasks (environment, transports, secondary education, IT assistance, sport, tourism, etc).

Introduction

N. 4 Comunità Montane (Consortium)

N. 5 Unioni di Comuni (Association)

Municipalities

Population

Small Municip. (inhabitants < 5.000)

144 70% 320.000 29%

Medium Municip.

(5.000 –20.000Inhabitants)

5928,5

%538.000 48%

Large Municip.(Brescia

included)3 1,5% 260.000 23%

Total 206 1.118.000

Province of Brescia

Province of Brescia

Main projects on e-gov.

Services for citizens

OrganizationProvince

Network

E-democracy

Information by SMS Digital sign and new web

services

URP on line and chat service

On line budget

Brescian ICT network

ICT network for

schools

E-procurement services

LocalGovernment

E-leader

Forum Club

Strenghtening of ICT infrastructure

Integration between phone and computer

Dogital sign for formal acts

ICT network for

public libraries

CNIPA = National Center for Innovation in Public Administration (http://www.cnipa.gov.it)

4 main priorities for e-gov in local authorities:

1. Development of infrastructures at local level (35 mln €)

2. Diffusion of services for citizens and enterprises (60 mln €)

3. Inclusion of small municipalities in e-gov implementation (13,5 mln €)

4. Start-up projects for developing e-democracy (10 mln €)

CNIPA action plan

2004 Province of Brescia presented project START for funding under Line 4

2005 Approval and kick-off

Sept. 2007 Expected conclusion

Duration: 18 months

START (1)

Province of Brescia 80.000,00

CFP Zanardelli Agency 60.000,00

Center for administrative services 60.000,00

Elisse Srl – Brescia Press 50.000,00

Association of municipalities in the Province of Brescia

-

Association of school managers -

Italiascuola.it -

CNIPA 150.000,00

TOTAL 400.000,00

Partners and funding:

3 main goals:

Obj. 1: providing ICT solutions useful for strengthening communication flows inside Province of Brescia Council and between the Council and citizenship.

Obj. 2: developing a participatory process for involving civil society, students and their parents in the definition of the Teaching Offer Plan, the programming document which contains the definition of services and didactic contents offered by each school.

Obj. 3: communicating and spreading awareness about the new e-democracy opportunities offered by Obj. 1 and 2.

START (2)

Obj. 1:• Provision of innovative instruments (Blackberry for administrators) • Website about Council and Commissions works • Specific communication instruments between citizens and politicians (e-mail, forums,

software for promoting interaction during all the phases of decision making process)• Intranet supporting Council’s work• Services for sharing documents, presenting changes to legislative texts and, more

generally, supporting decision-making process• Training for politicians and civil servants

START (3)

IC solutions on both internal (among Councilors) and external (between the Council and citizens) side

All policy areas are involved

Interaction between Council and citizens is going to take place at each single step of decision-making process:

1. Problem setting and recognition of local actors involved;2. Recognition of alternative solutions;3. Definition of solutions available;4. Final choice.

Obj. 2:• Development of one specific software for supporting participation• Pilot experience involving a panel of 10 school representing different

categories (primary, secondary, professional, …) settled in the Province area

• Development of supporting tools for spreading use also in other institutions

START (4)

According to OECD document on e-democracy, there are 3 levels of relations between citizens and public administration:

a) Informationb) Consultation (initiative by PA)c) Participation (initiative both by PA and citizens)

While Obj.1 aims at promoting a) and b), Obj. 2 wants to be a first experience on c)

Province of Brescia has been developing e-solutions in education for a long time (escuola.provincia.brescia.it )

Obj. 3:• Specific communication campaign for rising awareness about e-democracy

instruments• Brescia Press as a platform of information and communication services for journalists

and media• Newsletter for schools stakeholders• Information kit for students’ families• Spots on radio stations• Events, seminars and media conferences

START (5)

It aims supporting Obj. 1 and 2 in order to sustain their success in enhancing participation through innovative instruments.

Results and future devel.

Next steps

- Obj 1 is going to be developed in order to improve interactions with citizens and finally reaching the “participation level” (OECD)

-Obj. 2 participatory process is going to be applied in every school in the Province of Brescia

-E-democracy tools will be offered to other local authorities in order to be used free of charge (re-use approach)

Obj 1 Obj. 2 Obj. 3• Instruments (blackberry)• web pages and email accounts• intranet• documents sharing software

• software for participatory programming process

• planning of campaigns and contents

1. The use of e-democracy tools is subordinate to:– Cultural conditions

– Organizational conditions

– Technical conditions

2. A strong support by the political level must be gained

3. Transparency is a “good idea” but also challenging: are you sure you want to tell everything? Are you sure you want to listen everybody?

4. E-democracy tools must demonstrate they can improve everyday way of work for obtaining support

5. At the beginning, users of e-democracy tools are only a limited share of total population: don’t worry but take care of it!

6. A continuous comparison with other experience is determinant for finding solutions to local problems: that’s why we are pleased to participate to ENTO – European Network of Training Organization for Regional and Local Authorities

Lessons learnt

What is ENTO?

European Network of Training

Organizations for Regional and

Local Authorities (http://

www.entonet.org)

ENTO is a "child" of the Council

of Europe although it "grew up"

into an independent

organization in January 1995

when it was registered in France

ENTO is a not for profit NGO

funded by Members and Council

of Europe

Our interest in ENTO

Developing shared training

programmes with other local

government

Sharing needs and exchanging

experiences with a specialized

community network

Developing partnerships to

better access EU fundings

Our contributions to ENTOSharing experiences and

solutions of our ICT shared service center for small munipalities

Using our competency center as a vehicle for know-how transfer and development of training programmes

Exploiting strong partnership with 2 main Italian training organizations: SDA Bocconi and Politecnico di Milano

Sharing strong partnership with another European community network (E-leaders forum club)

Our contributions to ENTOMore specifically..

• Development of new ENTO website

• Development of a database of innovative projects developed by ENTO partners (in progress)

• Training initiatives in cooperation with SDA Bocconi and Polytechnic of Milan for ex-URSS Republics people (civil servants, managers, …)

Thank you for your attention!

Dr. Paolo Crugnola

Province of Brescia

pcrugnola@provincia.bs.it