e-AGORA is an international project of e-learning with emphasis on local governance approaches and practices. In a multicultural environment and available in 4 languages (en, pt, fr, es), this training provides analytical tools and concrete alternatives for improving governance at the local level.

Policy Context

The project e-AGORA was co-funded by the European Commission in its pilot version (2004 / 2005). After the success of this first initiative, the city of Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy in France, known for its efforts at popularising the use of new technologies, agreed to meet the challenge of re-implementing this innovative project in its boldest potential. The e-AGORA project is currently funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and coordinated by the city of Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy. Partnerships: With the assistance of the e-ENACT platform (Centre national de la fonction publique territoriale française); the city of Frameries, in Belgium, and the Association Française Villes Internet. Support from the Agence Mondiale de Solidarité Numérique. Established in partnership with the e-Pro Info distance learning programme (Brazilian Ministry of Education) and the Federal University of Minas GErais. Support from eDC, eDemocracy Centre of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Description of target users and groups

200 participants (elected officials, civil servants and citizens) from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. A unique approach: participants from various linguistic, cultural, social and political horizons. Eligible participants must have an undergraduate level or sound professional experience.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

Pedagogy and high-level teaching: Teaching and scientific coordination by Leonardo Avritzer, Professor of political science, at the UFMG-Brazil and also MIT- USA. International teaching staff and specialists from: Spain, Finland, France, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Brazil and Japan. Structure: A 15-month training project, only by distance learning, in four languages: French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. Curriculum: A course based on 6 stand-alone training modules with emphasis on experience-sharing among participants and practical cases. - Democracy and local democracy seen from Europe and normative perspective and a view of its influence of political organisation. - Public policies and social questions with focus on decentralization process and public-private partnerships. - Social transparency emphasizing "social accountability" or reporting as a basic social obligation. - Introduction to electronic governance prospects/limits to using ICTs: e-government and e- democracy - Democracy, deliberation and participation: analysis of contemporary experiences, with ICTs as instruments of mediation. – Final work. Specific case of e-governance: analysis and prospects. Supports: Internet, Videoconference, Videos, Asynchronous tutorials (email, post, forums), Synchronous tutorials (videoconference, telephone, classroom, chat groups), Collaborative environment.

Technology solution

Collaborative e-learning environment. Free software created by the Brazilian government. Technology choice: Mainly (or only) open standards, Open source software

Main results, benefits and impacts

Goals: - To provide an effective training and contacts tool for local Authorities in France, Europe and the world - To offer an opportunity to acquire new or deeper knowledge, build up competencies or even change careers or advance in one's career - To federate know-how and experiences - To serve as the support for a vast information-sharing and learning network on public policies in local e-Governance. Obtained results in its first pilot edition (2004/2005): - 98 enrolled students from 14 different countries - On average, 17% accessed the courses daily and 57% did it at least once every three days. - The program provided access to a large set of texts, made available by several authors in several languages. Altogether 214 texts were provided, including obligatory readings and references such as articles, books, chapters of books, websites and others. - 33 videos with teachers' presentation - Throughout the 7 modules, 35 topics of discussion were proposed, totalizing 1018 contributions, which resulted in a rich discussion in terms of ideas and comparing experiences. - 35 chat rooms were set up, totalizing 42 hours of discussion, with the presence of 180 participants. - Another tool to assess students’ performance was the final work, an essay of about 10 pages handed in at the end of each module, which should link the contents and concepts dealt with in the courses to the students’ individual experiences.When analyzing the subjects and contents of the essays, one can notice that the objective of linking content to experience was achieved. This is proved by the diversity of concrete cases reported in the essays and their analysis based on the concepts worked out by the teachers.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

A book has been published with the results of the pilot experience (see "additional documents"). Based on the success of the pilot, the project was relaunched in a new version by the city of Vandouevre, and funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - The contact established between citizens, municipality officials – persons in charge of the creation, implementation and evaluation of public policies – and university teachers/researchers demonstrated, allowed the creation of a network of practitioners and academics sharing different experiences. Lesson 2 - Participants could have a broader vision of, among other elements, the variety and complexity of the dilemmas, but also pointed to concrete alternatives for improving democracy. Lesson 3 - In a multicultural environment, the training was able to promote and implement a dialectical relation university / society / government and, more importantly, to incite discussions, analyses and changes in the public policies with effective potential to transform the picture of governance at the local level. Scope: International