To reach this goal, we empower and support central and local government decision-makers as well as civil society organisations to create smart, sustainable and effective e-government, e-democracy and cyber security solutions.

In our e-democracy programme, we focus on how digital tools support and amplify democratic practices, improve the interaction between governments, civil society organisations and citizens, increase transparency and create new ways for citizens to participate in decision-making.

However, as we always point out, we are not providers of those new digital tools, on the contrary, we aim to be the developers of a new digital culture based on democratic values, such as transparency and inclusiveness.

As an example, one of the aspects we pay attention to is digital vulnerability, which occurs every time technology deepens rather than smooths social gaps. Due to a lack of digital skills, media literacy and low awareness and habit of cyber hygiene many people are vulnerable to all sorts of new threats or are left out of social, political and working life.

To avoid this sort of side effects, and improve the benefits of digital culture, we train, consult and mentor local authorities in designing their action plans for implementing technological tools for citizen engagement. Also, we support local authorities with this aim and citizen engagement initiatives, including finding innovative ways and tools to co-create solutions to deal with climate change challenges.

Against this background, eGA participates in the PHOENIX project to bring its experience and expertise to contribute to the development of new practices of citizen engagement.

Our contribution to the project focuses mainly on three areas. First of all, eGA will support the research activities related to Sound Practices of Democratic Innovations by sharing with partners the results of our previous case analysis (on Participatory Budgeting) and the lessons learned from our practical citizen engagement initiatives (e.g crowdsourcing on air quality). Second, we will collect data through desktop research, interviews, and surveys for local diagnostics focusing on the Estonian pilot. Finally, we will prepare and carry out the pilot in the City of Tartu, Estonia.

Tartu has a record of great showcases of e-Governance and of Democratic Innovation. Pioneering and experimenting with many good initiatives for civic engagement (e.g., Participatory Budgeting), the city authorities have made a great start to creating a more coherent and resilient urban community. Urban planning and budgetary issues have been identified as priority topics where citizens’ engagement would bring the biggest impact, involving the IT community, civil society organizations and active individuals.

Also, the new Green Deal Plan for the City of Tartu or SECAP (Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan) has set very ambitious goals for many areas (energy, transportation, buildings’ efficiency, protection of biodiversity and ecologic corridors, etc.). Various stakeholders have already contributed to different formats in this strategy, and public consultations are still ongoing in order to finalize and update it.

During the last few years, Tartu has been particularly active in experimenting with various green initiatives (e.g., the project ‘Curated Biodiversity’ and the Car-Free Avenue project). And there is more to come as the City of Tartu is selected to be the European Cultural Capital 2024. One of the main topics for Tartu will be ‘Tartu with Earth: Ecology Before Economy’.

Within this framework, Tartu appears to be a perfect location for a PHOENIX pilot.

According to the interviews conducted so far, the focus theme that would be preferred is food sustainability; a topic that encompasses food recycling, food sharing, food saving, local food production, cooperation with the food industry, markets, new catering norms and practices for public institutions and universities. Besides the perceived relevance of the topic, the interviews showed that it is also better understood and, therefore, provides citizens and stakeholders with more reasons to engage in it.

To better understand why a pilot in Estonia on this topic could be extremely useful it should be noticed that the country is a little behind on food sustainability compared to other European countries and cities. In this context, focusing on food sustainability could be really valuable for the PHOENIX pilot, encouraging Tartu to be a pioneering role model for other Estonian cities that are willing to address this topic.

We can therefore notice that the benefits related to our participation in the PHOENIX project are two-sided. On the one hand, the new knowledge and methodologies developed in PHOENIX can support ongoing and envisioned processes in the city of Tartu. On the other, eGA’s and Tartu’s previous experiences can hopefully enrich the knowledge and skills of project partners.
Finally, due to its experience in e-Governance, eGA will share its know-how and experiences on using existing digital platforms or creating new ones for digital engagement that really consider users’ expectations and skills. A knowledge that we are happy to share to support the implementation of the Tangram methodology.

The political and economic uncertainties and the global crisis we are experiencing might cast a shadow on our long-term goals. Nevertheless, this does not mean we can stop finding solutions to environmental challenges. EGA’s and PHOENIX agree on an answer that deserves to be considered and tested; empowering and engaging citizens with digital tools can help co-creating solutions for a greener Europe.