Strengthening local advisory councils as engines of inclusive and effective citizen participation

In Etterbeek (Brussels – Belgium), citizen participation is a cross-cutting priority of the 2025–2027 legislative term, seen as a structuring lever for local democracy and social cohesion. In this context, thematic advisory councils play a key role as spaces for dialogue between citizens, associations and public authorities.

The municipality has recently launched a process to revitalise and structure these councils, both by creating new ones (notably in the fields of families, animal welfare and health) and by revising the functioning of existing councils (climate, seniors, mobility and road safety) in order to improve their scope, regularity and impact. Despite these efforts, several challenges remain: difficulties in sustainably engaging diverse audiences, participation sometimes limited to already engaged profiles, lack of continuity in exchanges, and still limited impact on concrete public policies.

In this context, Etterbeek aims to experiment with a strengthened approach to transform these advisory councils into active platforms for shaping local policies. The objective is to move from a sometimes purely consultative logic towards more dynamic, inclusive and action-oriented mechanisms.

Several avenues for experimentation are being considered. In particular, the municipality intends to test the use of facilitators specialised in citizen participation in order to improve the quality of exchanges, encourage the expression of underrepresented groups and structure group dynamics. It also plans to diversify interaction formats beyond traditional meetings, by proposing activities such as field visits, social events, conferences or thematic workshops, in order to strengthen participants’ long-term engagement.

In addition, a reinforcement of the human and organisational resources dedicated to these councils is envisaged, to ensure better follow-up, continuous facilitation and effective valorisation of citizens’ contributions. Particular attention will be paid to the inclusion of groups that are less represented in traditional participation mechanisms, in a local context characterised by strong social and cultural diversity (more than 150 nationalities coexist in Etterbeek with diverse socioeconomic profiles).

Within the framework of an URBACT network, Etterbeek seeks to position itself as a partner city in order to confront its practices with those of other European cities and identify innovative models of participatory governance. The objective is to test and evaluate different methods of facilitation, mobilisation and integration of advisory councils into decision-making processes, with a view to developing a transferable model capable of sustainably strengthening citizen participation at the local level.