Viale Battista Bardanzellu,109,00155 Roma
The Democratic Party of Lazio presents lazioattiva.it an innovative web platform to facilitate citizen participation
Hello Iside could you introduce yourself?
Iside Castagnola: I was born in Sicily but I am Roman by adoption. I live in Trastevere, I have a daughter, and I am a lawyer specialized in family mediation.
In 2013 I was elected councilor for the Democratic Party in the I° Municipality of Rome Capital.
I am the chairman of the Special Committee “Security, legality, protection of rights in the territory of the center of Rome.” Of the I° Municipality,
My full resume is available here in pdf format.
On October 13th, 2015 at Rome’s Democratic Party section in via dei Giubbonari there will be a public conference to present activities undertaken by the PD Lazio Commissions. The “Economic Development” Commission will present its first proposals and an innovative web platform to facilitate citizen participation. What is this platform?
Iside Castagnola: The PD is going through a time of great transformation and is aiming to become more open, more inclusive, and more useful. This means, first, starting putting people first and bringing into play ideas, values, and projects.
I believe that in Lazio and in Rome, in particular a new “active citizenship” needs to be put into practice and therefore that the Democratic Party should have the courage to propose innovative and courageous new forms of participation.
Commissions of PD Lazio have been established to respond to this challenge and to give priority to the themes of research, analysis and proposal.
(click to enlarge here the pdf format)
From this point of view, which political objectives do the PD Lazio Commissions have? In particular the “Economic Development” Commission?
Iside Castagnola: Commissions have the goal of developing political proposals of the Democratic Party of Lazio, regarding the most important issues that affect our region and our party organization, trying also to involve the largest possible number of people not only activists but citizens too.
In this context, the “Economic Development” Commission focuses on the economic development of Lazio’s territories and intends to carry out its work with the active participation of citizens, militants, PD Sections, associations, territories, and research bodies.
The goal is to “listen” to people and territories, to energize, and to create innovative methods for gaining consensus, finding easier ways to propose ideas and projects.
For this purpose, we created a website www.lazioattiva.it that allows everyone to send ideas, proposals, projects or simply suggestions or also discuss problems regarding the economic opportunities in the Lazio Region.
Can you explain how it works www.lazioattiva.it?
Iside Castagnola: First of all, anyone can send an idea, a proposal, a project on the main topics identified by the Commission through the website.
Each proposal will be carefully assessed by the Commission, which will make a preliminary selection.
In any case, all proposals - even those that are not selected - will be posted on the bulletin board of the proposals and will be commented upon.
What are the themes of the Commission, on which it is possible to submit ideas and proposals?
Iside Castagnola: We selected some themes that we believe are central to the economic development of our territory.
Of course, Lazio has many other “economic vocations” but we need to classify topics to bring in more general categories such the business economy, economy of the depressed areas, tertiary sector.
We invite people to use these more general categories if the idea or project to be proposed does not belong to a specific category.
The next step?
Iside Castagnola: Proposals selected in this way by the Commission will be subject to presentation in “Elevator Pitch” format.
The Commission will contact the author of the proposal who will be invited to present his idea in the course of a meeting held in a theater. The author will have an 8-minute time limit, including the possible use of presentation materials.
The “Elevator Pitch” format consists in describing an idea or a project in a clear, concise, comprehensible manner and which lasts for the time of an elevator trip from the first to the last floor.
That is what we will use to listen to people and territories, share ideas, build potential consensus, and to develop a political proposal.
The next step?
Iside Castagnola: The Commission will discuss and select a limited number of proposals, which will be further discussed to evaluate their feasibility, and transform them into political activities.
During this process, the proposer will work together with the Commission to develop and define a concrete and viable political proposal for our region.
At the end of this process?
Iside Castagnola: Upon completion of this path, the Commission will have several political proposals inspired by the ideas selected for each of the different areas of our Region.
These political proposals will be presented to the General Secretary of the PD Lazio by the “Economic Development” Commission in an evening meeting open to the public.
After this meeting with the PD Section of via dei Giubbonari in Rome, will there be other events in the Democratic Party sections on this issue?
Iside Castagnola: Definitely yes. The Democratic Party of Lazio intends to present their activities to its Party sections and to associations, professional groups and people workplaces to receive suggestions and involve everyone in its activities.
Thanks Iside
Iside Castagnola: Thank you
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