Expected start date:

2022•10•01

Expected end date:

2024•12•31

Institute:

UNU-EGOV

Project Status:

Ongoing

Project Type:

Research

Project Manager :

Aymen Boudebouz

Background:

Governments worldwide are investing heavily in digital initiatives, integrating information and communication technologies into government initiatives to improve decision-making processes and contribute to more connected and actively engaged citizens.

However, digital engagement initiatives are seen not only as a means to improve the democratic process and overall governance, but, in theory, e-participation processes are also seen as positive enablers of change that help empower citizens and communities. In practice, however, this role of e-participation remains elusive and lacks empirical evidence.

This research focuses on a community-centered approach to e-participation. Through a qualitative comparative analysis, we aim to explore the extent to which meaningful participatory processes can act as a means of positive social change that could lead to community empowerment. This work suggests that developing more comprehensive evaluation frameworks can help achieve these goals, which will contribute to overall community empowerment and thus improve future governance processes.

This research can benefit a variety of stakeholders, including:

Researchers and academics in the fields of e-participation, governance, and community empowerment, as it will provide new insights and understanding on the topic.
Practitioners such as government officials, community leaders, and non-profit organizations involved in digital engagement initiatives as it will offer guidance on how to improve and optimize the outcomes of their work.
Policymakers at national, regional, and local levels as it will provide them with evidence-based recommendations on how to implement e-participation processes and achieve community empowerment effectively.
Citizens and communities who participate in e-participation initiatives as it will help to ensure that the processes are meaningful and lead to positive social change.

The objectives of this work are:

To explore the extent to which meaningful participatory processes can function as an end goal in governance initiatives and as a means of positive social change that could lead to community empowerment.
To propose and develop a comprehensive evaluation approach to e-participation that can help achieve these goals.
To identify the influencing factors that determine the success of e-participation and community empowerment.
To provide a better understanding of the relationship between e-participation and community empowerment and its influencing factors, as well as ways to improve it.
To provide a guide for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to improve and optimize the outcomes of future digital engagement processes and create sustainable positive change for citizens.

Activities:

Review of relevant literature on digital citizen participation (e-participation in decision and policy making), the role of e-tools in contributing to community empowerment, and the need for more comprehensive empirical approaches to address the existing mismatch between theory and practice.
Development of theoretical, conceptual framework relating e-participation and citizen empowerment and development of main research hypotheses.
Exploration of existing evaluation models in research and practice to identify gaps and potentials.
Development of a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess the potential of e-participation in achieving positive outcomes for citizens.
Application of the evaluation model to several case studies.
Analysis of findings and providing recommendations for increasing citizen empowerment through more effective evaluation models and identifying factors influencing positive citizen outcomes.
Validation of empirical findings through the confrontation of theory and practice.
Presentation of contributions, implications, conclusions, limitations, and future research directions related to digital citizen empowerment.

The expected outcomes of this Project are:

A better understanding of the extent to which meaningful participatory processes can function as an end goal in governance initiatives and as a means of positive social change that could lead to community empowerment.
A comprehensive evaluation framework for e-participation that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to improve and optimize the outcomes of digital engagement processes.
Identification of the key factors that influence the success of e-participation and community empowerment.
Recommendations for increasing citizen empowerment through more effective evaluation models and identifying factors influencing the achievement of positive citizen outcomes.
Publication of research papers that present the findings, analysis, and recommendations of the research in a clear and concise manner, which can be shared with relevant stakeholders such as government agencies, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and the general public.