• Categories
    • Enterprise
    • Education
    • Experts
    • Health
    • Consumer
    • Social Good
    • Government
  • Gabe Zichermann
    • About Gabe Zichermann
    • Gamification Workshops
    • Presentations Video Archive
  • Gamification Webinar
    • Gamification Revolution
    • Webinar iTunes Archive
    • Webinar Podbean Archive
    • Webinar Youtube Archive
  • Resources
    • Video Archive
    • Gamification Books
  • Corporate Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Dopamine
    • Gsummit
    • Engagement alliance
Search
  • LOG IN
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Recover your password
Gamification Co
  • Categories
    • Enterprise
    • Education
    • Experts
    • Health
    • Consumer
    • Social Good
    • Government
  • Gabe Zichermann
    • About Gabe Zichermann
    • Gamification Workshops
    • Presentations Video Archive
  • Gamification Webinar
    • Gamification Revolution
    • Webinar iTunes Archive
    • Webinar Podbean Archive
    • Webinar Youtube Archive
  • Resources
    • Video Archive
    • Gamification Books
  • Corporate Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Dopamine
    • Gsummit
    • Engagement alliance
Home Government A Political Success Story: Gamification as Civic Engagement Tool
  • Government

A Political Success Story: Gamification as Civic Engagement Tool

By Heong Weng Mak -
January 11, 2016
10882
0
SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
  • tweet
civic engagement

Boosting Civic Engagement With Gamification In Ovar, Portugal

There are many approaches politicians use to try to encourage civic involvement and voter participation. Talking about government budgets is usually not one of them but the Portuguese town of Ovar took to a gamification approach to civic discussion, and to the politicians’ surprise, learned that it was a way to reach citizens of all ages. Businesses have already discovered how gamification can be used for enterprise engagement. It turns out that with some modification, those concepts also work for civic engagement.

Ovar turned its budget discussions into an approach it called “participatory budgeting.” According to Shareable, Ovar’s mayor, Salvador Malheiro, hoped this approach would better connect with the citizens – particularly young people. Citizens were encouraged to show their support for various budget proposals by voting online and in-person. The town opened voting to everyone over the age of 16. The engagement came via a leaderboard that displayed which budget proposals received the most support, which spurred people to turn out to vote.

A total of 38 proposals went before the voters. The top vote-getters were items related to social and sports projects, such as a skate park, according to Shareable. The participatory budgeting approach worked in bringing out citizens. Nearly 25 percent of the city’s residents voted on proposals in the city’s budget. But more than engaging the citizens, the exercise also saved time and money that would have been spent publicizing a mundane budget process that is usually ignored.

“They went to their families or to people in the streets and talked about participatory budgeting, about the projects, and asked support…. asked for votes,” Mayor Malheiro said, according to Shareable. “And they got them! That is public participation!”

Ovar’s success using gamification to boost public awareness and civic engagement in local government has inspired a Canadian city halfway around the world to do the same. Windsor, Ontario is now considering a gamified approach to its budget as a way of engaging its citizens, the Windsor Star reported. In this day and age plagued by voter apathy and political gridlock, Ovar, and perhaps soon Windsor, stand as examples that gamification can be a constructive tool for government.

Image credit: Wikipedia

---
dopa-logo-2013-yel-charcoal

Need help with behavioral science and gamification? Get in touch with our boutique consulting agency Dopamine.

  • TAGS
  • civic engagement
  • civic participation
  • gamified campaign
  • government gamification
SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
  • tweet
Previous articleGamifying Driving Safety With Mobile App TextNinja
Next articleA Review On The Benefits of Video Games in Education
Heong Weng Mak

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

How Gamification Can Beat Fake News

Morf Media’s Playbook Offers Gamified Compliance Training

Teaching House Fire Fighting Skills with NYU Tandon’s ALIVE

EVEN MORE NEWS

How Gamification Can Beat Fake News

July 9, 2019

Test Post

January 24, 2019

The Sweet Way that Gamification Helps M&M’s Boost Consumer Engagement

December 6, 2016

POPULAR CATEGORY

  • Experts653
  • Enterprise580
  • Consumer551
  • Education402
  • Health255
  • Social Good219
  • Government135
  • Contact
  • About Us
©

dopa-logo-2013-yel-charcoal

Need help designing your next gamification initiative? Get in touch with our consulting partner Dopamine Today!