Mudamos

Brazil's Constitution established a few means of direct democracy including the possibility of any citizen to propose a draft bill at a legislative house given the support of a minimum of citizens expressed by their signature. Until today, citizens' initiative bills' signatures are paper based, which is not only costly, but also poses transparency and safety issues. Considering these challenges, the Institute for Technology and Society developed a mobile app called “Mudamos” (“We Change”) to prove it is possible to sign such bills electronically. However, despite its potential for changing citizen participation, technology by itself does not promote political and cultural changes. Thus, Mudamos became an integrated engagement framework, including the free application and also an offline legal draft-a-thon and advocacy for institutional change. In this chapter, the authors present this framework, connecting cutting-edge digital innovation on electronic signatures with social innovative methodologies, highlighting the importance of adopting a holistic approach to institutional change.