Free Guides for Governments to Engage with Communities

The subject of civic engagement is a fascinating one. It involves technology as a driver, but also depends on softer aspects such as planning, implementation, and feedback to improve the process of engagement.

Not all means of civic engagement are digital, though the digital proportion is increasing globally.

A 2015 study, The Accenture Digital Citizen Pulse Survey and the Future of Government Operations, reports that about 75% of respondents in the US find it easier, or about the same, to access private sector services when compared to government rvices.

According to the Accenture Survey: Currently, US respondents are willing to use the Internet, or phone, to initiate interactions with the government, with decreases in non-digital interactions expected in the future. They also prefer to use the Internet and postal mail for tracking and payment purposes, but will likely decrease their use of postal mail in the future.

With the rise of mobile telephones and social media, the opportunities for citizens to talk about political issues, support causes, and engage in digital activism is gaining momentum. Their participation in local government is also increasing.

Our focus here is on how local, state and federal governments can use technology and toolkits to improve their efficiencies in serving citizens and other stakeholders.

This article touches briefly on technology and focuses in detail on the rest of the processes that make for efficient engagement with stakeholders.

The questions we asked ourselves at the time of research were:

1. Are there proven, tested citizen engagement models that civic officials can follow?
2. Are there techniques and templates that local government officials can use, or trigger ideas with?
3. Are there any best practices in civic engagement that will allow for quick assimilation and action, for officials?

Surprisingly, there is a wealth of information on this subject online in terms of guides, toolkits, and templates. These guides and toolkits are from governments across the world, and a good reference from any government.

The Technology for Civic Engagement

The technology for civic engagement is available in AMANDA, the versatile Case Management System for governments, from CSDC Systems.

With AMANDA, civic officials at all levels of government can use an off-the-shelf, fully configurable technology to rapidly provide both web, and mobile-based access to citizens for a variety of functions and processes — Permits & Compliances, Licences, Freedom of Information, Property Tax, Asset Management, and Courts & Justice.

In fact, the AMANDA Mobile App for Service Requests and Complaints uses crowdsourcing as a strategy to engage citizens and speed up communication on civic issues and service requests.

With AMANDA, civic officials at all levels of government can use an off-the-shelf, fully configurable technology to rapidly provide both a web, and mobile-based access to citizens for a variety of functions and processes.

The Research for Actionable Toolkits for Civic Engagement

Our research shows what’s available on the web with tools, toolkits, and actionable ideas for civic engagement by government officials.

1. Toolkits at the Digital Engagement Website
2. Toolkits by the Government of New Zealand
3. Toolkits by the Government of British Columbia
4. Toolkits by the Queensland Government, Australia
5. Social Media & Municipal Engagement by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and the Alberta Association of Municipal District and Counties
6. Civic Engagement at The City of Victoria

Digital Engagement in the Public Sector

Our first stop is at Digital Engagement, where the Techniques, Strategies, Examples, and Questions for engagement in the Public Sector, are covered in great detail.

The Digital Engagement Website outlines the ways in which Public sector organisations can consult citizens, raise awareness of new schemes, deal with service user feedback using social media. The objective is to make civic engagement friendly, human, responsive, and save money.

The ideas are from all over the world. There is information on social media for local governments, blogging for the public sector, managing online reputation, content strategy and templates for action, training, education, and more.

Toolkits by the Government of New Zealand

The Government of New Zealand has put together some great resources for the use of ICT in government.

The ICT website by the Government of New Zealand is armed with tools, advice, policies, and case studies to assist government agencies in adopting ICT capabilities.

The engagement strategy template for the public sector is also available.

Toolkits by the Government of British Columbia

The Government of British Columbia in Canada has put together a Community Engagement Toolkit. This provides advice to municipalities in the design and implementation of a community engagement process.

The tools are meant for the municipal planning processes. However, it can be used in a wide variety of contexts.

It covers instructions on how to identify the most appropriate types of community engagement related to the issue.

Toolkit by The Queensland Government, Australia

The Government of Queensland offers a guide to Engaging Queenslanders. This guide explores the community engagement methods and techniques that assist public officials at all levels, to choose the most appropriate community engagement process.

Strengths and weaknesses of the techniques are summarised to support better decisions.

A broad spectrum of community engagement techniques is used by clients and other agencies to engage with citizens and stakeholders.

Some of these are designed specifically to share information or to elicit views and opinions. Others aim to effectively involve people in government planning, decision-making, service delivery, and evaluation.

Social Media & Municipal Engagement by the Alberta Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and the Alberta Association of Municipal District and Counties

This guide is particularly useful for those who wish to use social media as an add-on medium for civic engagement. It focuses on:

1. It covers the benefits, opportunities and potential pitfalls associated with using social media as part of your municipal engagement
2. It details the importance of planning for success with all of your social media activities.
3. It examines your municipality’s readiness for engagement in social media

Civic Engagement at The City of Victoria

Like many governments around the world, the City of Victoria recognises that effective civic engagement is an integral part of good governance.

The Strategy to Improve The Civic Engagement At The City of Victoria, Canada study defines the benefits of civic engagement, explains how strategies were developed, outlines the challenges encountered during the engagement, shares the recommended actions, and gives pointers on how to measure the success of civic participation, complete with Case Studies.

Are you someone who is actively exploring ways to engage citizens and stakeholders in your municipality?

We’d love to hear your views on the models and toolkits you use or have found useful.