Citizen participation and deliberation is a core element of an open government and considered by the OECD as a powerful catalyst for driving democracy, public trust, and inclusive growth. In recognition of the growing demand by OECD Members to acknowledge and promote this role, the OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Open Government in 2017. To date, it remains the first and only internationally recognised legal instrument on open government and has guided many countries in the design and implementation of their open government agendas. Citizen participation and deliberation is widely recognised as important avenues to reinforcing democracy and strengthening trust in public institutions, as also highlighted in the OECD Reinforcing Democracy Initiative (“RDI”) and its pillar 2 on “Enhancing representation, participation and openness in public life”.  

The global landscape for citizen and stakeholder participation is evolving constantly, becoming richer with new and innovative ways to involve citizens and stakeholders in public decisions. OECD countries are already implementing a diverse set of participatory mechanisms: from more traditional mechanisms such as public meetings, in-person consultations, roundtables and workshops, to more innovative approaches like digital participatory platforms and hackathons. More recently, public authorities from all levels of government have started experimenting with representative deliberative processes such as citizens’ assemblies, councils, and juries where randomly selected citizens are invited to learn, deliberate, and collectively define informed recommendations to address a concrete public problem.   

The Basque Country in Spain has a long-standing tradition of collaboration between public authorities and non-governmental stakeholders and has been implementing diverse participatory practices at all levels of government. The OECD Open Government Review of Bizkaia published in 2019 provided a comprehensive analysis of Bizkaia’s initiatives regarding transparency, accountability, and participation and how they impact the quality of public service delivery. Gipuzkoa, the first province in Spain that hosted a deliberative process in 1993, is now leading the way in developing more engaging and innovative forms of participation.   

Arantzazulab, a democracy and governance innovation laboratory that promotes new forms of collaborative governance, and public authorities in the Gipuzkoa Province – including the Tolosa City Council and the Provincial Council - embarked on a journey to experiment with democratic innovations to empower citizens and improve public decision making. Whilst the primary objective was to experiment and showcase the potential of public deliberation, Arantzazulab’s long term vision is to empower citizens, promote collaborative governance in public policy and deepen democracy by institutionalising and systematising the use of civic lottery and deliberation in the Basque Country. This report takes stock of two deliberative pilots in Gipuzkoa (Provincial level) and Tolosa (Municipal level) and suggests medium to long term actions to move from experimentation to permanent public deliberation.  The OECD would like to acknowledge Arantzazulab for its commitment and continuous support throughout the project, as well as the public authorities from Tolosa, Gipuzkoa and the Basque Country for their contribution to this report.   

This document was approved by the Public Governance Committee via written procedure on 4 September 2024 and prepared for publication by the OECD Secretariat.  

You can read the full report at the link below!