Active democratic participation
Since its beginning, DEMOS has utilised an active approach towards learning about government processes in order for improvement to take place in a constructive and progressive manner. The fundamental aim is to aide society with the ills caused by democratic deficit, citizen dissatisfaction and policy fragmentation. The partners of the project are comprised of three interconnected arenas of action research that include city test sites, research and evaluation framework and an advisory and dissemination forum. The potential of the project lies in the possibility for citizens of the partner municipalities as well as citizens of municipalities at large to expound on the benefits generated. The notion is that the knowledge obtained can be crossed over to problem areas from city to city and country to county accordingly. The key concepts and issues for this plan were comprised into a paper that addressed innovation in democratic partnership and the related duties of the project's researchers. More specifically, it involves the selection criteria of pilot projects and provides a framework for follow-up discussions regarding innovation outcomes. The broad outcome areas already chosen are tangible influences on decision processes and service outcomes and also the perceptions citizens have regarding their participation and satisfaction in local democratic processes. Those who are likely to benefit from this action research include local government officers and elected members, citizens and activists, voluntary organisations and all levels of governance.
