Decidim, an open source platform dedicated to participatory democracy, that we presented on OSOR before, is being implemented in more and more countries. It was adopted in Japan in 2020 by the Code for Japan organisation. First implemented in the city of Kakogawa, Decidim is now used in several other municipalities.
The first Japanese version of the Decidim platform was implemented mainly by Professor Yoshimura, of the University of Tokyo's Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, and Hal Seki, Representative Director of Code for Japan. It was shared on Code for Japan’s Github, making it available for local communities.
Code for Japan promotes the use of open source in Japan public sector as a tool for citizens to be engaged in social and democratic changes. The organisation is part of the wider Code for all network. Code for Japan, is organised in over 90 local groups around Japan, the solution was able to be easily reused throughout the country.
Since its adoption by Kakogawa City Hall in Hyogo Prefecture in October 2020, Decidim has been used in the following initiatives:
- Yokohama City Engagement Platform Initiative
- Cabinet Office (National government of Japan), Smart City Guidebook Subcommittee
- Hyogo Prefecture version of Decidim
- Liberal Democratic Party of Yokohama City Councilors’ Mirai Creative Platform
Nowadays, Code for Japan is participating in MetaDecidim (the global Decidim community), with the Japanese open source community continuously developing the platform locally, based on the collaboration surrounding the international use of Decidim, through case studies and Q&A sessions.
As described by Hal Seki, Decidim gathers various qualities needed for use in public administrations. It is actively updated, provides an easily customisable architecture so that it can be adapted to local situations. It is also robust, supports international language, and contains accessibility features as well as an easy-to-use interface.