We are building an online tool to empower citizens from across the EU, acknowledge best practices and experts and enable local government officials to better understand the will of their citizens and engage them in problem solving. Our platform allows each user to pinpoint a local problem, a best practice/expert from across the EU; and a local gov official to see how many citizens demand attention to a problem or a proposed solution (which he/she can win over and count on for re-election if...)

Any number of willing EU municipalities

Our main concern is the communication gap between decision makers and citizens. It has resulted in parties that have "no political substance whatsoever, no convictions"(Habermas, DER SPIEGEL, 2011); citizens who turn away from politics in general.

Our goal is facilitating a structured communication between citizens united by their dedication to a problem/ good practice(both local and spatially recurring) and decision makers and institutions that are responsible for the respective public interest.

We are developing an on-line based media instrument, that allows citizens to make visible, comment on, build an initiative on a problem/practice that they know in their town/municipality; experts on the topic to address the issue/practice publicly; decision makers and institutions to be informed on the topic and thus involved in representing the interest of the network of citizens.

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Citizens who want to make something better; experts who want to contribute to their sphere; politicians and decision-makers who want to base their work and policy propositions on the input, expertise and interest of the people who are committed to an issue/good practice.

Similar previous attempts to establish an effective online based mechanism to amplify citizens' "voice" so (local) government hears it have produced moderate success. We leverage the ease of use of online mechanics and existing online user culture in a way that "speaks" to local gov officials in a way they understand - meaning on our public medium they see the "benefit" to themselves if they act on the public's will.

Coding - EUR 35 000, Design EUR 10 000, Marketing (google ads, fb ads, pitching to local governments) - EUR 10 000, Hosting & Maintenance - EUR 5000, Payment to local freelance journalists to produce articles that properly highlight local initiatives / success stories - EUR 10 000

All comments, questions and ideas are welcome at 2radoraykov@gmail.com