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Public Engagement in Public Services

Framework & Implications

2/26/2010

ayesha.saeed

2 | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

CONTENTS

1. Scope of Public Engagement in Public Services ........................................................................... 3

2. Mechanics of Public engagement – Best Practices ..................................................................... 4

2.1. Core principles of Public Engagement .................................................................................. 5

2.1.1. Planning & preparing for Public Engagement ............................................................... 5

2.1.2 Inclusion & Population Diversity .................................................................................... 6

2.1.3 Collaboration and Shared Purpose ................................................................................. 7

2.1.4 Openness and Learning .................................................................................................. 8

2.1.5 Transparency and Trust .................................................................................................. 9

2.1.6. Impact and Action ....................................................................................................... 10

2.1.7. Sustained Engagement and Participatory Culture ...................................................... 10

3. Community engagement – Overview ........................................................................................ 11

3.1. Communication Engagement - Sample Models ................................................................. 12

4. Public Engagement – key CHALLENGES ..................................................................................... 13

4.1 IMPLICATIONS to United Arab Emirates ......................................................................... 14

5. Additional Links ..................................................................................................................... 15

6. About The Author .................................................................................................................. 15

3 | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

1. SCOPE OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SERVICES

Government Definition of Public engagement

USA

Our Commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made. It means recognizing that government doesn’t have all the answers and that public official need to draw on what citizens know. President Obama 01/21/09

UK

Public engagement brings research and higher education institutions together with the public. It generates mutual benefit - with all parties learning from each other through sharing knowledge, expertise and skills. Done well, it builds trust, understanding and collaboration, and increases the institution's relevance to, and impact on, civil society. National coordinator center for public engagement UK

Australia

'Community engagement' is a planned process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people, whether they are connected by geographic location, special interest, or affiliation or identify to address issues affecting their well-being. Department of Sustainability and environment

But above all why public engagement is important? Why governments are actively listening to the public? One reason is that in the 6th Global Forum on Reinventing Government held in Seoul on May 24-27, 2005 public participation and government transparency has been identified as the most important two pillars for good governance. But the world has changed in last half a decade to a great extent. According to United

Nations World Public Sector report Civic engagement in public governance today is evolving against a backdrop of several worldwide developments that are transforming the socioeconomic

dynamics of countries with both opportunities and challenges. Now depending on the degree and extent of decentralization, engagements can occur at various administrative levels of public governance - national, sub-national, local government and/or at community level. Policy level engagements occur mainly at the national and/or sub-national level and service delivery at the local government and/or community level. The element of engagement can either be direct or indirect. But in a nutshell, engagement has four dimensions to it

Policy development

Budgeting

Service delivery

Engagement is

older than

democracy; the

bells outside the

castles pioneered

listening at

Federal level

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Accountability Effective engagement with the community and stakeholders is essential for any successful enterprise. It can also result in a more efficient use of financial resources through:

Reduced risk of social conflict and associated delays and costs

Ensuring compliance with the relevant legislative framework

Quicker and smoother permitting and approvals processes

Reduced risk of criticism and resistance from outside parties.

Engagement is an ongoing and multi-faceted process that can include:

Providing information

Capacity building to equip communities and stakeholders to effectively

Engage

Listening and responding to community and stakeholder concerns

Including communities and stakeholders in relevant decision-making

Processes

Developing goodwill and a better understanding of objectives and

Priorities leading to confidence in decisions

Establishing a realistic understanding of potential outcomes. Source: MCMPR Australia

ADD SOMETHING FROM HTTP://WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/MICROSITES/CITIZENS_BRIEFING_BOOK_FINAL2.PDF

2. MECHANICS OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT – BEST PRACTICES

Figure 1.1 Major elements of good governance and their relationship (Adapted from Lee, J. W. (2005))

5 2. Mechanics of Public engagement – Best Practices | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

Before you proceed to mechanics, understand the foundations of your entity i.e. VISION. If your

organization foresees/endorses the fact that public servants do not have all the answers and

listening to the community may help them unanswered questions only then the entity should

proceed with community engagement. Link your vision to your priority map and see if public

engagement has been defined as a priority. If not, drill down into decisions, projects and

initiatives where better results can be derived through public engagement. These decisions

usually fall in the following dimension

Decisions about introduction of a new service/policy

Controversial decisions with high level of public interest – try and win their trust

through constructive engagement and mitigate the probable opposition

Major decisions with high impact on public – but potential reaction of society is

unknown

2.1. CORE PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

1. Careful Planning and Preparation: Through adequate and inclusive planning, ensure

that the design, organization, and convening of the process serve both a clearly defined

purpose and the needs of the participants.

2. Inclusion and Demographic Diversity: Equitably incorporate diverse people, voices,

ideas, and information to lay the groundwork for quality outcomes and democratic

legitimacy.

3. Collaboration and Shared Purpose: Support and encourage participants, government

and community institutions, and others to work together to advance the common good.

4. Openness and Learning: Help all involved listen to each other, explore new ideas

unconstrained by predetermined outcomes, learn and apply information in ways that

generate new options, and rigorously evaluate public engagement activities for

effectiveness.

5. Transparency and Trust: Be clear and open about the process, and provide a public

record of the organizers, sponsors, outcomes, and range of views and ideas expressed.

6. Impact and Action: Ensure each participatory effort has real potential to make a

difference, and that participants are aware of that potential.

7. Sustained Engagement and Participatory Culture: Promote a culture of participation

with programs and institutions that support ongoing quality public engagement.1

2.1.1. PLANNING & PREPARING FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Before you begin planning for public engagement analyzes the context, costs and risks involved.

Understand and interrogate the reasons why engagement is required and what outcomes are

being expected.

1 Source: Developed collaboratively in spring 2009 by dozens of leaders in public engagement IAP2 under

the patronage of NCDD. www.ncdd.org

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1. Vision & Service development: The organization should have a vision and a flexibility to

mould itself in the light of public opinion.

2. Cost of public engagement: The cost of public engagement goes beyond money & time

spent by government (including cost of training, incentives and reimbursements for

participants). It involves cost of public dissatisfaction when they don’t see any actions

being taken on the valid suggestions. The first decision that public service provider

organizations need to make is whether greater user involvement is feasible and

desirable.

3. Risks: Conflicts with politicians / representatives, Delays in decision making and

implementation, Hijacking of the process by special interest groups and Increase of

administrative burdens.

4. Logistics: Venue, schedules, facilitators, techniques of moderation, culturally suitable

programs and discussions.

Table 1.1.

The Six ‘C’s of Successful Community Engagement (DSE Australia)

Capability The members are capable of dialogue.

Commitment Mutual benefit beyond self interest.

Contribution Members volunteer and there is an environment that encourages

members to ‘have a go’ or take responsibility/risks.

Continuity Members share or rotate roles and, as members move on, there is a

transition process that sustains and maintains the community

corporate memory.

Collaboration Reliable interdependence. A clear vision with members operating in

an environment of sharing and trust.

Conscience Embody or invoke guiding principles/ethics of service, trust and

respect that are expressed in the actions of the community.

2.1.2 INCLUSION & POPULATION DIVERSITY

Before Governments decide the inclusion and population diversity policy it is important to

finalize the scope of community engagement. The term ‘community engagement’ is used to

embrace a whole spectrum of activities that support the two-way communication process

between the Partnership and citizens, visitors and other key stakeholders in the town.

Box 2.1.2 Levels of Community Engagement

Information-giving: This is the simplest level of engagement and is simply about providing

information to stakeholders. Although it is a form of engagement in itself, information-giving

underpins all other levels of engagement, as it is essential that participants are provided

information (in varying detail and formats) about the issues about which they are being engaged

7 2. Mechanics of Public engagement – Best Practices | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

so that they are able to make informed and considered choices. Participants should also receive

feedback after engagement has been completed and this is in itself an information-giving

exercise.

2. Consultation & Learning: The objective of consultation and learning is to seek the views and

opinions of citizens, to inform the decision-making process of organizations. This method is NOT

about working with others or putting their ideas into action and it implies a pre-disposition to

change on the part of the organization. In other words, organizations embarking on this type of

exercise must be open to suggestions and be prepared to take on the ideas of the community.

3. Involvement: Here, citizens are actually involved in decision-making and deciding together on

the future of their neighborhoods and other decisions that affect their lives. This can give

citizens the power to choose, without fully sharing the responsibility for action.

4. Acting together: This involves both deciding together and acting together, and also sharing

responsibility.

5. Supporting: This is the most ambitious level of engagement and aims to maximize community

empowerment and capacity building. Organizations play a minimal role in making decisions and

putting them into action. The role of the organization is to help communities to develop and

implement their own plans.

Source: Idea (improvement and development agency)

The depth of engagement should dictate the type and methodology of inclusion. The basics of

people selection are similar to that target audience selection for a marketing research project.

2.1.3 COLLABORATION AND SHARED PURPOSE

Organizers involve public officials, “ordinary” people, community leaders, and other interested

and/or affected parties as equal participants in ongoing discussions where differences are

explored rather than ignored, and a shared sense of a desired future can emerge. Organizers

pay attention to the quality of communication, designing a process that enables trust to be built

among participants through dialogue, permits deliberation of options, and provides adequate

time for solutions to emerge and evolve. People with different backgrounds and ideologies work

together on every aspect of the program — from planning and recruiting, to gathering and

presenting information, all the way through to sharing outcomes and implementing agreed-

upon action steps. In government-sponsored programs, there is good coordination among

various agencies doing work relevant to the issue at hand.

Box 2.1.3: Case Study – Collaborative and shared purpose through internet (USA –

www.change.gov )

The idea of change.gov was to create a grassroots version of the research binders that

presidents receive every day. But instead of advice from top government officials, the Citizen’s

Briefing Book is composed of ideas submitted by ordinary people and reflecting the enthusiastic

engagement from the public we saw throughout the course of Change.gov. 125,000 users

8 2. Mechanics of Public engagement – Best Practices | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

submitted over 44,000 ideas and cast over 1.4 million votes, with the most popular ideas

accumulating tens of thousands of votes each. This was followed by Citizen briefing book which

was later on presented in white house. This is an example of open collaboration but the real

future of collaboration lies in the implication of the suggestions and interactions

2.1.4 OPENNESS AND LEARNING

Greater user involvement implies a rebalancing of the relationship between people employed in

the public services and the people using those services. Ed Miliband MP has acknowledged the

shift that needs to occur:

The first challenge is to involve users as people who shape and contribute to the service…It is

about the nature of the relationship between user and professional. Of course, doctors will

often have greater information and expertise—we will always be dependent on them. But the

question is whether that relationship recognizes the users’ role2

There are several ways in which the role of professional staff would need to change in order to

adapt to the demands of user-oriented services. The New Economics Foundation suggests that

professionals need to adjust from being ‘fixers’ that focus on problems to ‘catalysers’ who seek

to encourage people’s abilities.52 The commentators Charles Lead beater and Hilary Cottam have

proposed a variety of roles for service professionals:

• Advisers: helping users to assess their needs and forge plans for their future care.

• Navigators: helping users find their way to the services they want.

• Brokers: helping users to put together a package of services that meets their needs, where services might come from different sources.

• Service providers: retaining a role in direct service provision to users.

• Risk assessors and auditors: helping users assess risks that may arise (this will be particularly relevant in the case of vulnerable people)

Box 2.1.5: Case Study – Openness & learning in private sector

JWT, the fourth largest marketing communications network in the world, has nearly 10,000

employees in more than 200 offices in over 90 countries, serving over 1,200 clients. It was

founded in 1864 and after more than 100 years of operations it overhauled the entire

mechanism of its operations in the light of consumer insights. A survey across all countries of

location was conducted and resulted into change of corporate vision, key performance

indicators across all offices in all locations.

The idea is if private sector can change itself across many countries so can Government.

2 “Putting users and communities at the heart of public services”, speech by Ed Miliband to Unison and Compass, 18

January 2007

9 2. Mechanics of Public engagement – Best Practices | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

2.1.5 TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST

Respect your audience and they will respect you. Audience is sharing their time and opinions

with you because they want to see a change. They have the right to know the outcome of the

discussion, the procedure etc. Obama’s response to Fisa Bill, reaction of people against Chinese

censorship is the evidence of growing demand of trust building.

Box 2.1.5 Case study Moondarra Fire Information Unit (Australia)0

On the January 19 2006, a deliberately-lit fire was detected burning in the Moondarra State

Park, north east of Moe in Gippsland, Victoria the fire was finally declared under control on 12

February, having burned an area of over 15,000 hectares

After February 17 and until April 24 when the fire was declared safe, the Regional Media and

Communications Officer managed the ongoing flow of information to the community from the

Traralgon DSE office.

The key engagement tools used to inform, consult and empower the community were:

1. Core advice and immediate threat messages - 2. Media Community updates - 3. Community

meetings - 4. Daily visits to local communities – 5.School visits – 6.Community shopping trips

Key Lesson learned

Be honest and share dilemmas

As we know, honesty and transparency is critical. Tell people what to expect.

During the second week of the Moondarra fire, the IMT developed a number of different

options to control the fire to the south in the Tyers Gorge and prevent its further spread. All of

the options involved some risk. Following rigorous discussions, the Planning Officer and Deputy

Incident Controller attended the Tyers community meeting to discuss the different firefighting

strategies and the risks involved.

The community appreciation was obvious - they had been informed understood the difficulties

associated with the decision, were able to provide feedback and demonstrate their support for

the final decision.

Record and respond to community concern and “stories” The IU established a database early to log all issues, concerns and requests for information.

Initially at the meetings, there was a feeling of “why bother talking to you, no one ever gets back

to us”. Information Officers ensured they called back or revisited everyone with a response to

their queries. Where we weren’t able to provide an answer, the IU provided people with details

of who the matter had been referred to and its progress.

People were genuinely pleased and thankful even when we hadn’t been able to help them. This

process enabled a lot of issues to be resolved immediately rather than allowing them to linger.

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Consequently, community concern in the weeks and months following the event was low.

Staying with the community after a traumatic event assists in recovery

Learning from the Alpine fires was that it is important to the community that fire agencies

continue to maintain information flow after the immediate threat has passed. The community

still has critical information needs in terms of rehabilitating their properties and community and

coping with post fire stress in themselves, their friends and family. The experience during the

Moondarra fire was that information needs were certainly as strong during the rehabilitation

and recovery phase. The community made a connection with Information Officers during the

event, built familiarity and look to that same information source for post-fire needs. There was

much value demonstrated in continuing the IU beyond the immediate period of the incident by

allowing IU staff to coordinate ongoing information needs in conjunction with DHS and other

agencies.

Make the opportunity to listen to children’s experiences. The event is fresh in their minds and

they are eager to learn and share. Be sensitive to the impact of the fires on the students and

teachers and visit the school after the teachers have had time to help the students to work

through their experiences”

2.1.6. IMPACT AND ACTION

People sense -- and can see evidence -- that their engagement was meaningful, influencing

government decisions, empowering them to act effectively individually and/or together, or

otherwise impacting the world around them. Communications -- media, government, business

and/or nonprofit -- ensure the appropriate publics know the engagement is happening and talk

about it with each other. The effort is productively linked to other efforts on the issue(s)

addressed. Because diverse stakeholders understand, are moved by, and act on the findings and

recommendations of the program, problems get solved, visions are pursued, and communities

become more vibrant, healthy, and successful -- despite ongoing differences.

2.1.7. SUSTAINED ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATORY CULTURE

Each new engagement effort is linked intentionally to existing efforts and institutions —

government, schools, civic and social organizations, etc. — so quality engagement and

democratic participation increasingly become standard practice. Participants and others

involved in the process not only develop a sense of ownership and buy-in, but gain knowledge

and skills in democratic methods of involving people, making decisions and solving problems.

Relationships are built over time and ongoing spaces are created in communities and online,

where people from all backgrounds can bring their ideas and concerns about public affairs to

the table and engage in lively discussions that have the potential to impact their shared world.

11 3. Community engagement – Overview | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

3. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT – OVERVIEW

Taking participatory democracy as an ideal for public engagement has significant consequences

for how we apply the concept to issues with a scientific or technical element. Instead of merely

receiving inputs from various interested parties, a participatory model of consultation forces

decision-makers to recognize the democratic accountability of their actions not merely every

few years at elections, but in a more systematic, direct sense to citizens. A common

misconception is that there is a particular methodology that can be devised to facilitate all

public engagement. Effective participation, by contrast, is conducted on the assumption that

each different situation will require a different design, using a new combination of tools as part

of an evolving cycle of action and reflection by the institution involved. Source: Wikipedia

Source: Moyne Shire Council Community Engagement Framework

12 3. Community engagement – Overview | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

3.1. COMMUNICATION ENGAGEMENT - SAMPLE MODELS

Public Service Value

Governance

Framework by

Accenture is derived

from the common

concerns and

ambitions of all the

groups of participants

and the principles of

public value defined

in the Global Cities

Forums (a daily log of

citizens across the

globe), the

framework is built

around four

components:

1. Outcomes—focusing on improved social and economic outcomes.

2. Balance—balancing choice and flexibility with fairness and common good.

3. Engagement—engaging, educating and enrolling the public as co-producers of public value.

4. Accountability—clarifying accountability and facilitating public recourse.

Public engagement model in Australia: Australian government is following a comparatively

methodical approach to engagement model and practices, which is illustrated below. This model

is a combination of Excellence and continuous improvement model and is a comprehensive

action oriented plan which can be opted in many countries.

13 4. Public Engagement – key CHALLENGES | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

4. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT – KEY CHALLENGES

Challenges:

A comprehensive list associated with community engagement is available at the website of

Queensland Government (Australia); following are some risks which I foresee in community

engagement

A broad target segments: Unlike private sector Government reaches out to everyone

equally. Now this involves lower & higher SECs, hard to reach audiences, opinion leaders

and followers, literates and illiterates, segments with vested interests etc. This together

broadens the scope of community engagement for public services and makes it

complicated to ensure unbiased results

.

14 4. Public Engagement – key CHALLENGES | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

Accountability, information access and federal government:- Unlike private sectors in

public sector – community and citizens have all the rights reserved to access the

information they shared at all levels. But it is very difficult from Governments’

perspective to share information at all levels, especially in the absence of web 2.0

technologies. Governments are also centralized and decisions take a lot of time before

implementation. This results in distrust of communities on the Governments and

consequently people feel that their input is not being valued.

Generic community management issues:- Addressing the destructive impact of ‘bad

participation’, where negative attitudes to community involvement lead to poor

engagement practices, causing increased hostility, decreased trust and poor experience

and outcomes not only for communities, but also for officials and politicians, thus

further reinforcing negative attitudes and behavior. Recognizing the catch-22 faced by

residents who take on responsibilities as community leaders, but find their legitimacy

challenged precisely because they ‘stand out’ – becoming labeled as ‘unrepresentative

usual suspects’.

Inconsistent vocabulary: - The term ‘community participation’ is understood and

applied differently by different statutory bodies, and by different officers within those

statutory bodies. These variations can make it hard for different bodies to work in

partnership with each other and with communities.

Lack of available statistics on how community engagement helped Governments gain

popularity, enhanced their positive image and got re-elected also acts as a barrier from

government officials view point

Managing expectations: - increased community engagement results into high level of

expectations. So it at times become a catch 22 whereby increasing satisfaction through

involvement Governments can lead to dissatisfaction by inconsistent policy or by not

incorporating the community inputs

Lack of time and interest: - An audit in Canada found that 55% people don’t want to be

involved in community engagement because of lack of time, feeling of no influence over

decision making etc.

4.1 IMPLICATIONS TO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

In a tax-free environment, the first question which Government as a service provider

asks is the depth of community engagement. Why and to what level people should be

engaged? On top of tax-free environment, high turnover rate of expats (which

constitutes the major part of the population) complicates service delivery, satisfaction

levels and result oriented community engagement

15 Additional Links | ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com

A unique mix of expats from different parts of the world results into different level of

satisfaction and expectations across different segments. It becomes increasingly difficult

to understand the cultural, lingual differences in involvement and product delivery.

UAE has very high penetration of mobile phones and internet; this actually paves a way

for technologically advanced means of sustainable community engagement.

5. ADDITIONAL LINKS

Office of public engagement USA

National Coordination center for public engagement UK

Dialogue & Deliberation Engagement Streams

Public engagement principles project

Removing the barriers of community participation

6. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ayesha Saeed is a seasoned executive in the field of communication and marketing research.

After spending years in the aforementioned fields as strategic planner, business development

executive and quantitative researcher, she joined public sector as a strategic planning executive.

She has a demonstrated track record of consumer insight driven business decisions

internationally and locally, across all segments of consumers’ – from stakeholders’ to service

users, suppliers to internal managers.

For more information

Ayesha Saeed Consumer insights executive ms.ayeshasaeed@gmail.com