1. “The e-democracy national action plan and the Province of Brescia case:the START project for e-democracy in local authorities” Strasbourg, 23rd April 2007

2. Agenda • Short introduction on Provincia di Brescia • National government plan for e-democracy • The Province of Brescia case: START project • Results and future developments • Lessons learnt • ENTO…

3. Introduction Provincia di Brescia

4. Introduction • Provincia di Brescia • Local Government • 103 Provinces on the Italian territory • Staff: 903 people / budget: € 480 mln (2006) • Population: 1.149.768 (2004) • Many administrative tasks (environment, transports, secondary education, IT assistance, sport, tourism, etc).

5. Province of Brescia N. 4 Comunità Montane (Consortium) N. 5 Unioni di Comuni (Association)

6. Province Organization Network Services for citizens Province of Brescia Main projects on e-gov. Brescian ICT network E - democracy Strenghtening of ICT infrastructure ICT network for schools Integration between phone and computer ICT network for public libraries Dogital sign for formal acts E-procurement services Local Government On line budget E - leader Forum Club URP on line and chat service Digital sign and new web services Information by SMS

7. CNIPA action plan CNIPA = National Center for Innovation in Public Administration(http://www.cnipa.gov.it) 4 main priorities for e-gov in local authorities: • Development of infrastructures at local level (35 mln €) • Diffusion of services for citizens and enterprises (60 mln €) • Inclusion of small municipalities in e-gov implementation (13,5 mln €) • Start-up projects for developing e-democracy (10 mln €)

8. START (1) 2004 Province of Brescia presented project START for funding under Line 4 2005 Approval and kick-off Sept. 2007 Expected conclusion Duration: 18 months Partners and funding:

9. START (2) 3 main goals: Obj. 1: providing ICT solutions useful for strengthening communication flows inside Province of Brescia Council and between the Council and citizenship. Obj. 2: developing a participatory process for involving civil society, students and their parents in the definition of the Teaching Offer Plan, the programming document which contains the definition of services and didactic contents offered by each school. Obj. 3: communicating and spreading awareness about the new e-democracy opportunities offered by Obj. 1 and 2.

10. START (3) Obj. 1: • Provision of innovative instruments (Blackberry for administrators) • Website about Council and Commissions works • Specific communication instruments between citizens and politicians (e-mail, forums, software for promoting interaction during all the phases of decision making process) • Intranet supporting Council’s work • Services for sharing documents, presenting changes to legislative texts and, more generally, supporting decision-making process • Training for politicians and civil servants • IC solutions on both internal (among Councilors) and external (between the Council and citizens) side • All policy areas are involved • Interaction between Council and citizens is going to take place at each single step of decision-making process: • Problem setting and recognition of local actors involved; • Recognition of alternative solutions; • Definition of solutions available; • Final choice.

11. START (4) Obj. 2: • Development of one specific software for supporting participation • Pilot experience involving a panel of 10 school representing different categories (primary, secondary, professional, …) settled in the Province area • Development of supporting tools for spreading use also in other institutions • According to OECD document on e-democracy, there are 3 levels of relations between citizens and public administration: • Information • Consultation (initiative by PA) • Participation (initiative both by PA and citizens) • While Obj.1 aims at promoting a) and b), Obj. 2 wants to be a first experience on c) • Province of Brescia has been developing e-solutions in education for a long time (escuola.provincia.brescia.it )

13. START (5) Obj. 3: • Specific communication campaign for rising awareness about e-democracy instruments • Brescia Press as a platform of information and communication services for journalists and media • Newsletter for schools stakeholders • Information kit for students’ families • Spots on radio stations • Events, seminars and media conferences It aims supporting Obj. 1 and 2 in order to sustain their success in enhancing participation through innovative instruments.

14. Results and future devel. • Next steps • Obj 1 is going to be developed in order to improve interactions with citizens and finally reaching the “participation level” (OECD) • Obj. 2 participatory process is going to be applied in every school in the Province of Brescia • E-democracy tools will be offered to other local authorities in order to be used free of charge (re-use approach)

15. Lessons learnt • The use of e-democracy tools is subordinate to: • Cultural conditions • Organizational conditions • Technical conditions • A strong support by the political level must be gained • Transparency is a “good idea” but also challenging: are you sure you want to tell everything? Are you sure you want to listen everybody? • E-democracy tools must demonstrate they can improve everyday way of work for obtaining support • At the beginning, users of e-democracy tools are only a limited share of total population: don’t worry but take care of it! • A continuous comparison with other experience is determinant for finding solutions to local problems: that’s why we are pleased to participate to ENTO – European Network of Training Organization for Regional and Local Authorities

16. What is ENTO? • European Network of Training Organizations for Regional and Local Authorities (http://www.entonet.org) • ENTO is a "child" of the Council of Europe although it "grew up" into an independent organization in January 1995 when it was registered in France • ENTO is a not for profit NGO funded by Members and Council of Europe

17. Our interest in ENTO • Developing shared training programmes with other local government • Sharing needs and exchanging experiences with a specialized community network • Developing partnerships to better access EU fundings

18. Our contributions to ENTO • Sharing experiences and solutions of our ICT shared service center for small munipalities • Using our competency center as a vehicle for know-how transfer and development of training programmes • Exploiting strong partnership with 2 main Italian training organizations: SDA Bocconi and Politecnico di Milano • Sharing strong partnership with another European community network (E-leaders forum club)

19. Our contributions to ENTO • More specifically.. • Development of new ENTO website • Development of a database of innovative projects developed by ENTO partners (in progress) • Training initiatives in cooperation with SDA Bocconi and Polytechnic of Milan for ex-URSS Republics people (civil servants, managers, …)

20. Thank you for your attention! Dr. Paolo Crugnola Province of Brescia pcrugnola@provincia.bs.it