evoice: rationale

Over recent decades interest in politics in the North Sea Region has dwindled to such an extent that the legitimacy of our elected leaders is being brought into question. Figures show that:

fewer people are using their right to vote;
membership of political parties has plummeted, and
the choice of political representatives is narrowing as fewer people put themselves forward for election.

If these trends continue, the proper functioning of the democratic system could be endangered.

evoice: contact information

If you would like to get more information about the evoice project and its activities, please contact:

Mr Jan Walburg (project manager)
Smaragdstoep 21,
NL-9403 SE ASSEN,
The Netherlands
Tel.: 0031 592 406570
Fax: 0031 592 406055
E-mail: bureau.walburg@iaf.nl

For contact information on the project partners, visit the who is who on www.evoice-eu.net

Contact person for the Bus Stop 39 is:
Mr John Birchall
Joint Information and Publicity Officer
Tel: 0044 1603 222972 or 0044 7721 551877
E-mail: john.birchall@norfolk.gov.uk

BUS STOP 39: achievements

In one year, from October 2006 to October 2007:

659,668 unique hits were made to the Bus Stop 39 site;
6,427 votes were cast in the favourite character contest;
20 local bands competed to provide the project theme tune;
53 people signed up to receive text or email alerts;
7 newspaper and web articles, 3 radio interviews and a slot on regional TV;
21 different council services or issues were mentioned.

79% of the young people involved felt they had learnt something about local council services.

evoice: targets and aims

Despite the gloomy background described in the rationale, people are interested in single-issue politics. Building on this, evoice will combine traditional communication channels such as local newspapers with high-tech, innovative approaches to show people that they are also effected by general politics, and encourage them to participate.

evoice takes into account local variations in legislation and regulations, culture, and the differences in style between administrators and politicians in different countries and regions.

evoice assumes that local and regional authorities are the appropriate organisations to work with to reach the evoice aims because of their direct links to the citizens.

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