Forum of the Territory x Municipality of Odemira, Portugal
2021 - present
Odemira, Portugal
Community Activation | Prototyping workshops | Facilitation processes
Action Dialogue
System Dialogue
Highlights
During the last few years, the Municipality of Odemira has been going through an exceptional process of opening up spaces for collaboration among its inhabitants and empowering their connection. The goal is to tap into their knowledge, motivation, capacities, and commitment to co-create a sustainable future together.
This endeavour became tangible in “Fórum do Território" (Forum of the Territory), which aims at producing a collective Territorial Agenda for 2030 and influencing public policy design by facilitating citizen engagement.
Since September 2021, The Dialogue Lab is in charge of conducting the methodological processes of facilitating and promoting participation in the Forum, through annual events, decentralised meetings in the civil parishes and different kinds of workshops. Insights through data analysis nurture the research around the project and inform its next steps.
Challenge: To dynamize Odemira’s civic engagement
Despite its diverse landscapes and being one of the largest municipalities in Portugal, Odemira is one of Europe's least densely populated with just over 26,000 inhabitants. Its economy is based on the primary sector, including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and forestry.
In this context, the challenge was to create channels of communication that could connect its inhabitants, driving collective participation. Its ultimate goal was to care for and rejuvenate shared resources for a more robust ecosystem, coupled with equitable resource distribution. By creating spaces where daily life experiences generate economic, social, and cultural initiatives, they aspired to attract individuals who enhance human quality, furthering the community's vitality.
Credit: Luis Guerreiro / Municipality of Odemira
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
A forum to co-create a sustainable futures with the community
The Municipality's call for a shift in focus from divisive elements to uniting forces took shape in the Forum of the Territory, a program envisioned to influence public policy design by facilitating recognition of citizens' invaluable contributions to their realisation.
In this context, they set up a hands-on working structure that involved annual meetings and civil parish workshops, where the same participants could define the mission, objectives, and responsibilities of the territory. In addition, all the interactions would be registered in ongoing research documents, later on incorporated into the Territorial Agenda 2030, the ultimate goal of the whole program.
An inclusive approach to cater to different contexts and needs
The Forum is intended to be a space of participation for the whole community, without exception, also aiming to foster dialogues with schools, retirement houses, businesses and investors, placing environmental respect, circular economy principles, and the responsible use of ecosystem-impacting products at the forefront.
Moreover, the platform is designed to serve as a welcoming space for the discussion of diverse initiatives, and it also opens channels for constructive dialogue between locals, migrants, refugees, and newcomers to comprehensively understand their motivations and needs, with a keen eye on conflict management and innovative integration mechanisms.
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
Engaging the community through dialogue
For this purpose, we put into practice a diverse set of workshops that took place in schools and public institutions. By implementing the dialogue methodology, SPIRAL and others, to then create a harvesting mechanism to deploy the findings into accessible data, we keep the community engaged and at the same time ease their participation in an open, inclusive, and safe environment.
A key to carrying out the project, still ongoing, is to establish working groups that function as communities of practice, whose approach can be thematic, geographical, both or other. Their function is to disseminate the Forum's objectives throughout the municipality, fostering debate and action - as a caravan of competencies that circulate information and integrate practical contributions from all those willing to share commitments and responsibilities according to their sphere of knowledge and activity.
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
After two years of life, the Forum of the Territory has already celebrated 10 sessions, engaging more than 400 participants, and has praised two annual gatherings - a cultural exchange event that celebrated the Forum's accomplishments, allowing for greater interaction between the communities involved and communication with the outside world.
1st Annual Gathering: 2022
The meeting had several distinct moments, from the discussion and validation of the Forum's Charter of Principles, the definition of strategic themes, and spaces for dialogue between working groups, ending with the presentation of the groups' processes and proposals on the next steps. The themes defined as strategic for the Forum's intervention focus on water, sustainability, health, education, and family well-being, which became the cornerstones of the project's unfolding towards the Territorial Agenda 2030, proving the ability of an innovative governance model to identify common objectives for sustainable development in Odemira.
The Results: A Forum that proved the viability of an innovative governance model
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
2nd Annual Gathering: 2023
The event was characterized by moments of sharing, active participation, socializing, reflection, and cultural entertainment, engaging citizens from all the parishes in the municipality.
Throughout the gathering, the outcomes of the Decentralized Sessions were presented. Various groups, including citizens, young people, and political representatives from the parishes, had the opportunity to express themselves. Hélder Guerreiro, the mayor of Odemira, also participated, underscoring the impact of the Forum of the Territory on the municipality's strategy.
The facilitating group introduced innovative dynamics that fostered dialogue among individuals, smaller groups, and the entire assembly, facilitating a collaborative construction of all the voices present. There was contemplation on the challenges of cultivating a participatory culture in Portugal and the significance of translating ideas into tangible actions. A call was issued to establish more spaces beyond the comfort zone, emphasizing the need to strengthen trust between people. Suggestions included reactivating "neighborhood culture" and involving more youth, migrants, and neo-rurals. Proposals were made to expand the Forum format to other spheres and establish decentralized action groups in the parishes. The next steps involve returning to the parishes and engaging with the school community.
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
Credit: Municipality of Odemira
