What does participation in action look like? In this series, we will showcase successful examples of projects that used PartiCipate to set up their participatory projects.
In Turkey, the Qudra 2 project developed a mobile application called “The Neighbourhood is Ours” to enable digital participation. The goal is the equal distribution of municipal services. By providing an online coordination mechanism between the municipality, mukhtar, apartment managers, immigrants, and citizens, everyone gets a say regarding decisions taken in the neighbourhood.
This project took the local culture into account by respecting the important role of mukthars or village elders. They have their own interface in the application and can receive specific questions in the chat. Similarly, immigrants – a target group of the project – get their own interface in different languages to facilitate social integration and communication between the host community and between and among the immigrants.
In a slideshow with a summary of the most important questions to ask and lessons learned, you can learn more about the case. For example, Tuğçe Caner, advisor at QUDRA 2, recommends starting with a baseline study to understand participation needs and customs. She also points out the importance of tailoring the participatory approach to the local culture and to the target group.