have you participated in a public forum to discuss policy or community issues?
Stay standing if at that forum there was a reasonable… …gender balance
…mix of personal and professional backgrounds
…range of perspecti
...
have you participated in a public forum to discuss policy or community issues?
Stay standing if at that forum there was a reasonable… …gender balance
…mix of personal and professional backgrounds
…range of perspectives and opinions
…age range (i.e. 3 generations)
…sense that most participants felt included and influential
…sense that most participants enjoyed it
… sense that their participation would have a clear impact
Key challenges organisingcommunity participation in decision-making
Why these three dimensions? Inclusion & diversity:
legitimacy
experience & expertise, effectiveness;
Quality of communication:
A method to promote dialogue or deliberation?
informed + considered judgement
Impact:
making participation meaningful and consequential
developing social capital: trust & capacity
Enhancing citizen engagement in political decision making Participatory Budgeting in Scotland An assembly of citizens, demographically representative of the larger population, brought together to learn and deliberate on a topic in order to inform public opinion and decision-making
Group work exercise: matching methods to public participation goals consider
public participation goals
strengths and weaknesses Whose Voice: how representative can any public be?
Whose Agenda: are the benefits of participation equally weighted for participants as facilitators?
Outputs versus Outcomes: are the constraints of time, money, relevance and consultation fatigue acknowledged for both parties?
Aspirational or Tick-boxing?
Further references and resources: Escobar, O (2014) Towards Participatory Democracy, now online: http://postmag.org/towards-participatory-democracy-in-scotland
The most comprehensive study of citizens juries (‘Full Report’ is downloadable on the right column):
http://www.climatexchange.org.uk/reducing-emissions/citizens-juries-wind-farm-development-scotland
Other useful links and resources
http://participedia.net
http://participationcompass.org
www.involve.org.uk
http://www.pas.org.uk
http://www.iap2.org
http://pbscotland.scot
http://www.voicescotland.org.uk
http://www.communityscot.org.uk
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