Go Vocal

““I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to expect every resident to have every piece of information at their fingertips. They are just trying to live their lives. So having these things housed in one place that they can check on their own time is really key, so they can engage with it at a level that makes sense for their lifestyle. The onus is on us to update it and keep people informed.””

““We understood going into this that we’re not going to know everything. And there are things that are going to come out through the process that we’ll need help with. So we just wanted to have a true partnership; we didn’t want just to buy a product.””

““I got to present the current platform to our Director and other higher-ups just now, and they absolutely lost their minds. They are so, so pumped for this site and for the work it will enable to do for the Comp Plan. Your team deserves a huge thank you for being so incredibly responsive and flexible and working with us to stand this up on such a short timeline. We really appreciate it.””

“The dedicated participatory budgeting module enables residents to easily allocate funds through a budget simulator and prioritize local projects. In addition, the ability for residents to comment on the ideas and start a discussion has sparked lively conversations and fostered a collaborative spirit.”

“This platform is creating a more synchronized approach to the whole team and multiple departments communicating with the population to ensure that the things they are doing are aligned.”

“We have to meet people where they are. We have to invite them in and actively work with them to show even our most vocal critics the benefit of an online platform.”

“Now when we talk about our platform, it's pretty well known what it is, and now we have teams actively coming to us saying we're ready to put this project into the platform.”

“Taking that time to really listen to them, I think, was the most impactful way for us to be able to implement it as smoothly as possible.”

“Choosing an engagement platform was our vessel by which we could implement these strategies and these standards to help staff do better engagement and have more meaningful connections with our communities.”

“We were very siloed. Teams didn't know what other departments were working on. We ended up having a lot of duplicative projects, over-surveying our community, and not being able to follow up on the information we were receiving from our residents.”

“The platform has been very well-received in the current execution of the programme’s activities, by both the regional teams of INJUV and by the young people who have interacted through it. Gradually the different functionalities of the platform are getting clearer, and strategies are being generated to connect it to different activities that we will carry out through the programme .”

“We are also seeking out those proposals that are actually easy to implement but haven't received enough votes. Because now we have such a large amount of good ideas that are worth implementing.”

“We’re actually quite happy with this over-representation of younger people,”

“makes your city more attractive, which means that you connect with it more.”

“Maybe people had ideas for the city before, but didn't really have a place where they could put them. Now they're quite happy to have this place where they can put their ideas.”

“Proposals are a really good method for attracting different people who might not be into public engagement yet,”

“Digital participation tools were the missing piece of the puzzle for reaching young people,”

“We’re excited that more than 12,000 people have already registered on the platform in these few months.”

“The platform helps us reach more transparency and hopefully, this will build more trust and insight into how the municipality works.”

“It helps a lot that our team can write official statements and updates directly and transparently on the submitted Proposals, and it helps that those responses are visible to all platform participants.”

“We knew a plug-and-play solution would work best for us, and Go Vocal really stood out in that regard.”

““Participation is not just about collecting opinions. It’s about making better decisions together with residents. The platform helps make that process more accessible, transparent, and effective—and that’s incredibly valuable.””

““The support goes beyond answering technical questions. The team helps with strategic decisions and shares examples from other municipalities.””

““You see that colleagues become more enthusiastic once they understand the value of participation. The Go Vocal platform helps make participation part of everyday work—a real shift in mindset where participation becomes structurally embedded in the organization.””

““Reporting used to be done in different ways. Now we follow a more structured approach with clear documentation. This also improves trust—when residents see what happens with their input and how decisions are made, confidence in the process grows.””