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Good practice Imported

synAthina — civic-activity platform of the City of Athens

Greece · Athens · See the Greece profile · See the Athens profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 10% 86/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

City of Athens platform (since 2013) that maps and supports citizen-led initiatives, connecting community groups with city services, NGOs and businesses. Won the 2014 Bloomberg Mayors Challenge (€1M); helped Athens become European Capital of Innovation 2018.

1,918
Civil-society activities recorded
222
Registered community groups
5
Activities leading to regulatory/policy updates
synAthina — civic-activity platform of the City of Athens

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
City of Athens — Vice Mayoral Office for Civil Society and Innovation
Period
2013-present
Region (NUTS)
EL30
Keywords
civic participation, social innovation, urban governance, open government

Context

synAthina is a City of Athens platform launched in July 2013, during Greece's economic crisis, to map and support citizen-led civic initiatives by connecting community groups with city services, NGOs and businesses; it now sits under the Vice Mayoral Office for Civil Society and Innovation.

Activities

Citizens and community groups upload volunteer activities to the platform; the synAthina team runs recurring 'Open Monday' sessions at City Hall to surface obstacles and works inside the administration to update outdated regulations blocking good ideas.

Results

OECD-OPSI documents 1,918 civil-society activities by 222 registered community groups, with 15 highlighted as best practices and 5 leading to regulatory or procedural updates; synAthina won the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge (€1 million, 2014) and the Eurocities Innovation Award (2016), and its 'Curing the Limbo' initiative won €5 million in EU Urban Innovative Actions funding in 2018, the year Athens became European Capital of Innovation.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes CERV — Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values

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Data sources

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