Dominican Republic

Youth and Children's Councils

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 2001 – ongoing
Name of organization in charge: Ayuntamientos Municipales / UNICEF
Type of organization in charge: government international organization
Level: local

Impact

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Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: yes
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: yes
Output: yes
Policy Outcome: yes

Since 2001, various Dominican municipalities have been implementing an inclusive policy of opening municipal administrations to their children and youths with the aim of designing more open and accessible policies for young people. At the same time, it strengthens the training and education of young citizens about their opportunities and rights to participate in local democracy. In 2001, Baní was the first city to introduce a Youth Council. Together with UNICEF, the municipality developed the policy framework and promoted the participation of young people in the Youth Council. Some Council positions, such as Mayor, Secretary, Treasurer, etc., were elected by public vote. Young people interested in the positions applied by proposing their programs and the elections were carried out in all the schools in the district. In addition to Baní, Youth Councils have been introduced in San Juan de la Maguana, Yaguate, Ocoa, Constanza, Villa Altagracia, Navarrete, Moca, Mao, La Romana and Capacidad. More than 50 000 young people have contributed their votes in the elections of the Council of the Youth.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: embedded in the constitution/legislation
Frequency: regular
Mode of selection of participants: open
Type of participants: citizens
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation