Sub-Category: Innovative Participatory Mechanisms



Alvari – Community Participation Mechanism

The city of Tampere in southern Finland, which has a population of 220,609 as of January 2014, created an integrated system for public participation called Alvari in 2007. Alvari serves as an advisory working group model enabling citizens to participate in city administration, thus promoting a bottom-up perspective to planning. The initiative created four advisory working …   Continue readingAlvari – Community Participation Mechanism

Harava, Web-based Participatory Planning

In 2009, the Finnish Government implemented the Action Programme on eServices and eDemocracy (SADe), a national development project designed to develop new tools for citizen participation and interaction in land use planning. Launched in June 2013 as part of SADe, Harava is an interactive map-based application being used by municipalities, cities, and local governments …   Continue readingHarava, Web-based Participatory Planning

Grassroots Legal Advocates or “Community Paralegals”

Namati is an international civil society organisation dedicated to putting the law in people’s hands through building a global movement of grassroots legal advocates who work with communities to advance justice. The objective of training grass roots advocates is to empower communities to exercise their rights and participate in processes of governing. Namati, working …   Continue readingGrassroots Legal Advocates or “Community Paralegals”