“Policy Hero Challenge” was a session at the LOTE2 conference. You’ll find preparations and outcomes here.
The relationship between citizens and institutions is all too often made of cycles of unrealistic expectations and disillusionment, that leave both sides embittered and estranged from each other. The policy hero challenge attempts to bridge this gap.
- Involves citizens in participatory exercises to design realistic, ready-to-roll policy measures.
- Mobilizes the knowledge of the European legal/financial framework to avoid the pitfalls connected with transforming participation in “writing a book of dreams”, that have zero chance of happening in real life.
- Mobilizes the creativity of citizens to route around roadblocks currently preventing public policies to be the tool for collective changemaking Europe wants – and deserves.
- Tackles the complexities of policy making full-on: vested interests, inertia, leads and lags in political processes all need to be taken on board and hacked in search of solutions.
- Promotes a narrative of result-oriented collaboration between citizens and institutions, where the former are not merely “listened to” but are enlisted as active collaborators – and the latter are acknowledged as powerful tools for collective action and not dismissed as irrelevant or worse.
News:
Matera has agreed to host the first unMonastery! You can follow the work in progress here.
New collaboration with Swedish think tank Global Challenge! You can follow the project here.
Social Capital for Social Ventures submitted to the European Social Innovation Competition! Follow the work in progress here.
Older links:
Policy Hero Challenge information on the old Edgeryders site
What others have to say about it:
#LOTE2 gearing up: can citizens do actual policy design…
Our policy publications:
The Edgeryders Guide to the Future: A handbook for policymakers and managers of policy-oriented online communities