Nets4Dem

Want the latest scoop on democratic innovation, participatory tools, and opportunities across Europe? Subscribe to the Nets4Dem newsletter and stay in the loop 👉 bit.ly/44DV7Vf

Democracy is losing trust. Polarisation is rising. Too many people feel they have no real say. Cities can’t afford to respond with token participation. A new @nets4dem.eu & @eurocities.eu guide shows what real democratic innovation can look like. #CitizensAssembly

As a @nets4dem.eu member, we've watched it grow from an idea into real infrastructure for democratic innovation across Europe.

Nets4Dem 2.0 is here 👏 OGP is proud to join the next phase of @nets4dem.eu, bringing our Participation Action Group into the network to support collaboration and learning on public participation. Together, we’ll connect citizens, policymakers, and governments across Europe. More 👉 bit.ly/4bafzj5

The Democracy Stories Lab is live! An open call for creators to share visual stories about what democracy could look and feel like. 4 winners get $1,000. 5 honorable mentions get $500. Applications open July 14. See the full call + stay updated→ www.peoplepowered.org/news-content...

What does democratic innovation look like in a social housing block? In Budapest, it's Safe at Home; with residents in K22, the city's largest social housing building, shaping its future directly with decision-makers. 🏆 Learn more about the winner of our Emerging Innovation Award: bit.ly/3Q4YmQU

Democratic innovation doesn’t just happen on its own, it requires: ✔ collaboration ✔ experimentation ✔ persistence @nets4dem.eu is building the infrastructure for that change. Here's how: bit.ly/3NGhovD

And that's a wrap! 👏 📸 Let's take a look back at the final conference of the @nets4dem.eu project organised with @eurocities.eu: Local Action, European Impact. Strengthening Democratic Resilience, which took place on Tuesday 5 May in Brussels 💡

"Enhancing democratic resilience is not an end in itself. Democracy is a system of governance & only truly democratic processes will provide sustainable responses to today's challenges" - Jean-Louis De Brouwer, Director @egmontinstitute.bsky.social, concludes the @nets4dem.eu Final Conference

“Systematic change takes time, but, in Turkey, we still need a mindset change and progressive democratic tools need to be implemented" - @erdemvardar.bsky.social, Founding Director, Yuva Association, shares 🇹🇷's perspective on building democratic resilience at the @nets4dem.eu Final Conference.

Katalin Hegyes from InterGest Hungaria reminds us of the importance of inclusion and representation in democracies⚠️ “Marginalised communities are often excluded from participatory research”, she reminds us at our @nets4dem.eu Final Conference, co-organised with @eurocities.eu.

"Certain forms of democratic promotion may be ill-suited for democratic resilience. Citizens' assemblies are highly reliant on international funding, but that cannot replace political will," explains Melisa Ross (Global Citizens’ Assembly Network) at the @nets4dem.eu Final Conference.

"Local communities are laboratories for democracy. The majority of democratic innovations focus on the sub-national level first; national and European levels come second," Tara Tepavac from the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory shares learnings from the @nets4dem.eu project✊

"Citizens' assemblies increase political knowledge, decrease polarisation, & increase trust. More broadly, they foster a sense of community and social cohesion," Sahib Singh shares some research results at the @nets4dem.eu parallel discussion on democratic innovation.

The @nets4dem.eu final conference continues with 2️⃣ parallel discussions: 🔹"Building democratic resilience from the ground up" 🔹"From knowledge to action: what democratic innovation research tells us about building democratic resilience" Follow us here for live updates from both debates 👋

"States in Africa, Asia and South America have dealt with similar democratic issues for a longer time than we have. There is a lot we can learn from countries in these regions," reminds us Michael Runey of @internationalidea.bsky.social at the @nets4dem.eu Final Conference.

"What matters is not just the overall output, but that any European initiative to defend democracy is a result of a joint process, involving local and European networks," says Daniel Fleischer-Ambrus (@ec.europa.eu) at the @nets4dem.eu Final Conference, co-organised by TEPSA & @eurocities.eu.

"Democracy is a joint responsibility. With civil society space shrinking & the erosion of democratic values, it is easy to be negative, but this gathering gives us hope - not as wishful thinking, but as a strategy that democracy can renew itself," Paul Zoubkov opens the @nets4dem.eu conference.

The @nets4dem.eu Final Conference is starting now! We will discuss the importance of local action to strengthen democratic resilience 💪 The event is co-organised by TEPSA and @eurocities.eu 🤝Follow us here for live updates from the discussions 👇

In 2025, we conducted real-world democracy experiments. With the 2nd Nets4Dem Democracy Lab, we brought together local governments, practitioners, and communities to address complex challenges in climate action. Learn more in our Annual Report: bit.ly/3NGhovD @eurocities.eu

Ideas aren’t the problem. Execution is. Learn what blocks democratic innovation - and how we’re helping kickstart it: bit.ly/3NGhovD