Pionnier in the use of ICTs in the democratic life (Interactive City Council, Citizen Panel, e-vote, Worldwide Forum on e-democracy), Issy-les-Moulineaux has been committed for one year in an international project on e-Democracy called "eAgora". This project, financed at 70% by the European Commission, gathers five towns of Europe and Latin America, tests out new tools for a local participative democracy.
Main goal of this project, the creation of an international Academy of the e-democracy aims at promoting the use of the ICTs in the service of the democracy, especially thanks to the development and the promotion of innovating uses for the practice of the public management and for the participation of the citizens.
In the framework of the European Program "URB-AL", the goal of which is to strengthen the decentralized co-operation between communities of Europe and communities of Latin America, the E-Agora project, coordinated by Issy-les-Moulineaux, gathers 4 towns : Viña del Mar (Chile, 300.000 inhabitants), Ipatinga (Brazil, 227.000 inhabitants), Juiz de Fora (Brazil, 450.000 inhabitants) and Frameries (Belgium, 21.000 inhabitants). But 44 cities in the world are taking part today in the online training programm launched by eAGORA, for a better understanding of the mechanisms of the new governance and the local e-democracy, both appeared with the digital revolution.
In addition to the experiments, carried out from today until spring 2006 by the cities that take part to the project, the Academy of the e-democracy works a lot on the formation aspect. Thanks to a partnership with the Federal University of the brazilian Province of Minas Gerais, a platform of online formation makes possible for 108 citizens of all nationalities, students or not, to follow the same formation at the same time.
Only accessible by Internet and thanks to a login and a password, the students of the Master of "local e-democracy and new governance practicals" reach contents and exchanges spaces (forum and chat) of the website, translated in three languages (French, Spanish and Portuguese), and they are advised by Professors, comming from European and Latin-American University. Video, free discussion by chat, exchanges of e-mail, reading of texts, access to studies or debates : every teacher uses new tools and methodes for his teaching. Each pupil gives his copy to the professor by loading, and consults the online bibliography.
This experience represents the widening of the debate space and the knowledge and experiments exchanges space, allowed by Internet. The mobilization of pupils and Professors coming from different countries, speaking different languages and having different cultures offers us a great occasion to cross our glances from the two sides of the Atlantic.
The formation at the culture of responsibility and participation, in particular of young people, is one of the principal axes of the reinforcement of the citizen participation in the modern democracies.
A first assessment will be presented during the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy, organized at Issy-les-Moulineaux on the 28th and 29th September, with the presence of the principal actors of the project.
