Presentation held at the 2012 EuroPCom conference in Brussels, 18 October 2012 on online participatory budgeting as a way of engaging citizens in cooperation with public administration
1. Engaging Citizens
in Online Participatory Budgeting
Dr. Steffen Albrecht
EuroPCom 2012 – 3rd European
Conference on Public Communication
Brussels, 18. October 2012
3. policy evaluation campaigning
Q&As
complaints management
open data
participatory budgeting
reporting facilities
transparency
argumentation support policy simulation
crowdsourcingpublic relations petitioning
conflict mediation voter information systems
citizen initiative
contact forms urban planning
consultations
idea generation
4. policy evaluation campaigning
Q&As
complaints management
open data
participatory budgeting
transparency
reporting facilities
policy simulation
argumentation support
public relations crowdsourcing
petitioning
conflict mediation voter information systems
citizen initiative
urban planning contact forms
consultations
idea generation
initiated by public administration initiated by civil society
5. participatory budgeting citizen initiative
information –involvement – cooperation
reporting facilities
conflict mediation complaints management
open data petitioning
urban planning
crowdsourcing
idea generation campaigning
consultations Q&As
policy evaluation
voter information systems
argumentation support
policy simulation contact forms
public relations transparency
initiated by public administration initiated by civil society
6. citizen initiative
information –involvement – cooperation
reporting facilities
conflict mediation complaints management
open data petitioning
participatory budgeting
urban planning
crowdsourcing
idea generation campaigning
consultations long-term,
policy evaluationrepeated engagement of citizens
Q&As
voter information systems
argumentation support
on central, yet complex issues
policy simulation contact forms
public relations transparency
initiated by public administration initiated by civil society
7. Lessons learnt …
How to attract citizens?
(necessary to legitimate the results)
- Promote the initiative broadly 60K
- Target hard-to-reach groups 40K
20K
- Multiple channels, focus on Internet
0K
Part. Com. Votes
- Low thresholds for participation
Don‘t expect too much (1% of inhabitants is much)!
Don‘t promise more than you can deliver!
8. Lessons learnt …
How to attract citizens?
(necessary to legitimate the results)
- Promote the initiative broadly
- Target hard-to-reach groups
- Multiple channels, focus on Internet
- Low thresholds for participation
Don‘t expect too much (1% of inhabitants is much)!
Don‘t promise more than you can deliver!
9. Lessons learnt …
How to move from information to cooperation?
- Long-term, repeated engagement
- Foster relations with citizens and interest groups
- Combine information, dialogue and monitoring of
results
- Translate budget information for citizens
- Adapt to local circumstances
- Transparency throughout the process
10. Lessons learnt …
How to move from information to cooperation?
- Long-term, repeated engagement
- Foster relations with citizens and interest groups
- Combine information, dialogue and monitoring of
results
- Translate budget information for citizens
- Adapt to local circumstances
- Transparency throughout the process
11. Lessons learnt …
How to deal with conflicts?
(always expect conflicts to show up)
- Communicate that representative procedures are not
substituted, but complemented
- Actively recruit for balanced participation
- Make all conditions transparent
- Install professional facilitation (neutral stance)
Do not underestimate conflicts within
administration and conflicts about legitimacy!
14. Further information
Dr. Steffen Albrecht
+49 30 200 540 260
albrecht@zebralog.de
www.zebralog.com
@zebralog
www.buergerhaushalt.org
(international version to launch January 2013)