Good practice

synAthina — plataforma de actividad cívica del Ayuntamiento de Atenas

Greece · Athens · See the Greece profile

Plataforma del Ayuntamiento de Atenas (desde 2013) que mapea y apoya iniciativas ciudadanas, conectando grupos comunitarios con servicios municipales, ONG y empresas. Ganó el Bloomberg Mayors Challenge de 2014 (1 M€); Atenas fue Capital Europea de la Innovación 2018.

1,918

Actividades de la sociedad civil registradas

222

Grupos comunitarios registrados

Actividades que dieron lugar a actualizaciones normativas o de políticas

Details

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

Context

synAthina es una plataforma del Ayuntamiento de Atenas puesta en marcha en julio de 2013, durante la crisis económica griega, para mapear y apoyar iniciativas cívicas lideradas por la ciudadanía, conectando a grupos comunitarios con los servicios municipales, las ONG y las empresas; actualmente depende de la Oficina de la Vicealcaldía de Sociedad Civil e Innovación.

Activities

Los ciudadanos y los grupos comunitarios suben actividades de voluntariado a la plataforma; el equipo de synAthina organiza sesiones periódicas de 'Open Monday' en el Ayuntamiento para identificar obstáculos y trabaja dentro de la administración para actualizar la normativa obsoleta que bloquea las buenas ideas.

Results

OCDE-OPSI documenta 1.918 actividades de la sociedad civil realizadas por 222 grupos comunitarios registrados, de las cuales 15 se destacan como mejores prácticas y 5 dieron lugar a actualizaciones normativas o de procedimiento; synAthina ganó el Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge (€1 million, 2014) y el Eurocities Innovation Award (2016), y su iniciativa 'Curing the Limbo' obtuvo €5 million en financiación de las EU Urban Innovative Actions en 2018, el año en que Atenas se convirtió en Capital Europea de la Innovación.

Implementation

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

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-18
City of Athens — Vice Mayoral Office for Civil Society and Innovation — accessed 2026-06-18
OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation — synAthina case study — accessed 2026-06-18
Bloomberg Cities — Athens wins innovation prize — accessed 2026-06-18

Attachments

Source image

Quality score: 86/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 29% in this catalogue (55 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / demonstrated replication2/3

A published lessons-learned methodology and 80+ expressions of interest from other cities show transfer potential, though documented adoption elsewhere remains limited.

Scalability2/3

The platform grew to nearly 2,000 activities and expanded into the €5M Curing the Limbo programme, but scale stays at the level of a single city.

Evidence of impact / measured results3/3

OECD-OPSI documents 1,918 activities by 222 groups and 5 regulatory changes, alongside a €1M Bloomberg prize and €5M EU grant — quantified, multi-source outcomes.

Innovation3/3

An early, internationally recognised social-innovation platform that crowdsources civic activity and feeds it into regulatory reform, awarded by Bloomberg and Eurocities.

Inclusiveness / equity3/3

Explicitly hosts both formal and informal groups and targeted refugees, migrants and unemployed residents through Curing the Limbo.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration3/3

Built on a 'Social Innovation Constellation' linking municipality, private sector, civil society, public administration and universities.

Sustainability / continuity2/3

Operating since 2013 with an institutional home in a Vice Mayoral Office, yet major activities have relied on time-limited grant funding (Bloomberg, EU UIA).

Cite this

Evidoria. synAthina — plataforma de actividad cívica del Ayuntamiento de Atenas. Persistent ID: ee6e61a4-e704-452b-944d-68441f34d806.

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