Go Vocal (formerly CitizenLab)

The time has come for the next chapter: CitizenLab is now Go Vocal! 📣🎉 We have rebranded to better reflect our commitment to empowering communities and fostering meaningful participation. While our name and image have changed, we remain the same team, led by the original founders. Since our inception, we have partnered with over 500 local governments and organizations of all sizes to make local democracy more inclusive and have provided over 1,000,000 community members with a platform to actively participate in shaping their communities. We are excited to continue building stronger communities together. Want to learn more about our rebranding story? Visit our website: https://www.govocal.com/ #GoVocal #CommunityEngagement #GovTech #CitizenLab

Our People & Operations team take such good care of everyone else at Go Vocal, we thought it was time they did something nice for themselves. What did they choose? Axe throwing! 🪓 The team spent a cosy day together in Antwerp, reconnecting face-to-face – especially important for our remote-first team. Ellen Batens Joost Vandenbroele Jordan Houngbo Jeroen Van Ransbeeck #GoVocal #Teambuilding #CompanyCulture

Considering a community engagement platform? 🤔 Whether you're exploring options or re-evaluating your current solution, our guide walks you through: - Understanding your engagement needs - Building internal stakeholder buy-in - Shopping around the market - Technical and legal vendor approval Take a peek at the guide below, and download the full version for free via the link in comments. #GoVocal #CommunityEngagement

Like putting together a puzzle, 360-degree participation happens: across methods, across mediums, and across topics 🧩 In Senior Government Success Manager Jelena Gregorius’s video briefing, she explains the vast number of participation methods and mediums you can use to engage your residents, and how you can combine them into a participation plan that works for your community. Sign up for her video briefing below, on: Building a Culture of Engagement for Local Government.

Team Go Vocal ready to greet you at the Smart City Expo World Congress this week in Barcelona 👋

This month at Go Vocal, we’re zooming in on Proposals. For governments wanting to engage residents in decision-making and agenda-setting, proposals are a powerful tool that helps close the gap between top-down measures and bottom-up movements 💡 The city of Copenhagen launched its Proposals initiative last year. After quickly welcoming 14,000 participants to the participation platform, the first Proposal recently met the threshold of votes required and was then passed into law by the city’s councilors in August 🏛️ Check out this month's newsletter for a webinar on Proposals, plus: 👀 Effective youth engagement strategies for your community 👀 How AI can help us listen more deeply #GoVocal #CitizenProposals

Das DACH-Team von Go Vocal kam letzte Woche in Wien zur Digital Days-Konferenz, organisiert von UIV Urban Innovation Vienna, zusammen. Unsere Leiterin der Geschäftsentwicklung DACH, Eva Mayer, hielt zusammen mit Marlene Fuchs von der Stadt Wien einen Workshop zum Thema KI. Die wichtigste Erkenntnis war, dass KI nicht mehr wegzudenken ist, aber die Macht darin liegt, wie wir sie einsetzen: So nutzt die Stadt Wien beispielsweise unser KI-Tool, um große Datenmengen zu analysieren, die im Rahmen von Beteiligungsprojekten gesammelt werden. Jelena Gregorius führte mit unserem neuen Kunden Gesundheit Österreich einen Workshop zur Beteiligungsstrategie durch. Es war toll, sich persönlich zu treffen, um Strategien zu entwickeln, wie sich die Österreicherinnen und Österreicher stärker am Thema Gesundheit beteiligen können. Schließlich nahmen wir uns auch etwas Zeit für Teambuilding, nachdem wir kürzlich Janec Kohlschütter im Team willkommen geheißen haben. Bis zum nächsten Mal in Österreich! Marlene Fuchs Monika Stumpf-Fekete Joachim Pranzl Benedikt S.

In case you missed the news: Last week the UK's Secretary of State for Health Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP announced a major public engagement initiative on the future of the NHS, or National Health Service 🙌 In collaboration with Thinks Insight & Strategy, Go Vocal (formerly CitizenLab) is proud to be hosting the online engagement where, in the first week alone, more than 50,000 stakeholders, from staff members to patients and organisations – have had their say 🗣️ Users can submit their own ideas for the future of the health system, and comment on each others' ideas to join the conversation. While some submissions are a little more light-hearted (beer on tap in the wards, anyone? 👀), others show the strength of what's possible when everyone gets a say in the future of their healthcare ❤️🩹 Take a look at the excellent submissions so far (link in the comments) – and if you're an NHS user, make sure you have your say. #GoVocal #PublicConsultation #CommunityEngagement

"This is the first time in my life that I felt my voice mattered." ❤️🩹 Low voter turnout in local elections can often lead people to believe that residents aren’t interested in having a say. But this civic assembly on youth homelessness in Deschutes County, Oregon is a great example of why this isn’t the case. If you create opportunities for residents to participate, you make space for fresh idea generation, policy improvements and a flourishing of trust. Check out this heartwarming video from DemocracyNext where the assembly’s members speak about the experience of having their voices heard. And make sure you read the article, too – an excellent example of residents being part of shaping policy that brings a tangible improvement to their neighbours' lives 🙌

Wil jij van gemeenten die al met ons platform werken horen waarom zij met een digitaal participatieplatform werken, hoe zij tot de keuze voor ons platform zijn gekomen, hoe het interne proces is verlopen en waar ons platform nu door hen voor ingezet wordt? Sluit dan aan bij de online inloopsessie van de VNG en hoor van drie gemeenten wat hun ervaringen met ons platform zijn!