in content lists or on the content page.
Many important decisions concerning our daily lives will be made in municipalities and wellbeing services counties during the upcoming electoral term. Developing services in a human-oriented manner and with attention to citizens’ needs requires new and more effective ways for residents to participate.
The need for change has been identified by citizens and decision-makers alike. According to Sitra’s Futures Barometer, only 15 per cent of Finns find that they are able to influence the future of their municipality of residence, and 16 per cent think that they are able to participate sufficiently in the discussion about the future of their municipality of residence. Correspondingly, only 24 per cent of the decision-makers in municipalities and wellbeing services counties find that citizens’ views on the future are sufficiently taken into account in decision-making.
Citizens can be better engaged in decision-making through means such as the digital Polis platform or deliberative citizens’ panels. Both methods have already been tested at different levels of public administration.
Citizens’ opportunities for wider participation improve the quality of decision-making, increase the acceptability of the decisions and may even speed up the decision-making process. New forms of participation may also increase people’s confidence in their opportunities to make an impact and their trust in society’s capacity to make decisions in difficult times.
Sitra is launching two funding calls aimed at integrating deliberative citizens’ panels and the digital Polis platform into decision-making at different levels of public administration.
Deliberative citizens’ panels help build a shared understanding
In deliberative citizens’ panels, a randomly sampled group of ordinary citizens come together to learn about and discuss a selected issue. The panels can be used to assist decisions made in all administrative branches if the decisions involve matters such as questions on fairness, long-term impacts and strongly divisive issues. They can reinforce the shared knowledge base, bring the voices of different population groups into the discussion and build a shared understanding through discussion.
The funding call Citizens’ panels for better decision-making is looking for projects planned by public administration actors aimed at promoting citizens’ panels and establishing them in the participation and decision-making structures across different levels of administration. Instead of individual experiments, funding will be granted for establishing the use of citizens’ panels in the long term. Central government organisations, wellbeing services counties, local authorities and joint municipal authorities can apply for the funding.
In the call, a maximum of seven projects will be funded by granting funding amounting to EUR 10,000–50,000 per application. Sitra’s share of the funding may be up to 50 per cent of the total costs of the project. The funding call will be open until 12 noon on 6 May 2025. All details of the call and the instructions for applying have been compiled on the application page (in Finnish).
Digital Polis platform enables constructive exchange of opinions for large groups of people
The funding call Integrating the Polis platform into municipal decision-making is looking for municipal projects aimed at promoting residents’ participation in municipal decision-making with the help of the Polis digital platform. Instead of individual pilot projects, we are looking for projects aimed at establishing the use of the Polis platform in the long term.
Polis is a digital platform that enables the constructive exchange of opinions on a selected topic for large groups of people. On the platform, users can vote on other people’s conversation prompts and add their own prompts. The platform is easy to use, anonymous and makes it possible to discuss shared matters digitally. Polis shows what residents agree on – in other words, matters that will be easy to promote – as well as those that still require more work.
In the funding call, a maximum of five projects will be funded so that each party receiving funding will be allocated a maximum of EUR 25,000. An individual municipality can apply for the funding, or alternatively, a maximum of four municipalities, each with fewer than 20,000 residents, can apply for funding together (consortium). Sitra’s share of the funding may be up to 50 per cent of the total costs of the project. The funding call will be open until 12 noon on 6 May. All details of the call and the instructions for applying have been compiled on the application page.
A separate funding call for the Polis projects of the wellbeing services counties is also open until 12 noon on 11 April 2025. All details of the call and the instructions for applying have been compiled on the application page.
