The purpose of this article (2013) by authors John M. Bryson, Kathryn S. Quick, Carissa Schively Slotterback, and Barbara C. Crosby is to present a systematic, cross-disciplinary, and accessible synthesis of relevant research and to offer explicit evidence-based design guidelines to help practitioners design better participation processes. From the research literature, the authors glean suggestions for iteratively creating, managing, and evaluating public participation activities. The article takes an evidence-based and design science approach, suggesting that eff ective public participation processes are grounded in analyzing the context ... (continue)

This Policy Research Report (2013) from the World Bank analyzes community development and decentralization projects, showing that such projects often fail to be sensitive to complex contexts – including social, political, historical and geographical realities – and fall short in terms of monitoring and evaluation systems, which hampers learning. Citing numerous examples, including projects and programs supported by the World Bank, the authors demonstrate in this 300-page book that participatory projects are not a substitute for weak states, but instead require strong central support to ... (continue)

Several years in the making, with the involvement of many of us in the D&D community, this 2012 book edited by Tina Nabatchi, John Gastil, G. Michael Weiksner, and Matt Leighninger can be purchased here on Amazon.com for under $30. The 336-page book is published by Oxford University Press. Although the field of deliberative civic engagement is growing rapidly around the world, our knowledge and understanding of its practice and impacts remain highly fragmented. Democracy in Motion represents the first comprehensive attempt to assess the practice and impact of ... (continue)

Who says you can’t quantify public deliberation? It is true that quantitative measurement hasn’t been a strong suit of the field. It is also true that some of the most significant impacts, such as policy changes, are inherently difficult to quantify. But at this point, enough scholarly research and evaluative work has been done that is possible to pull together a concise statistical glimpse of the kinds of things these projects accomplish. Matt Leighninger, executive director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (an NCDD organizational member) has done ... (continue)

The Deliberative Democracy Consortium recently released “A SeeClickFix for Public Participation?” Tools like SeeClickFix tap into the capacity of citizens to be ‘intelligent sensors’ of their environment, allowing them to report problems like potholes and graffiti. Can this same thinking, and some of the same technology, allow citizens to gather, track, and analyze data on public participation? In this project, a team of MPA students from the Maxwell School at Syracuse conducted exploratory research on this question, interviewing a variety of participation and evaluation experts, ... (continue)

This deck of 91 full-color cards distills the core wisdom of the field: what skilled facilitators do over and over again to make things work. The content is more specific than values, and less specific than tips and techniques, cutting across existing methodologies with a designer’s eye to capture patterns that repeat. The deck can be used to plan sessions, reflect on and debrief from them, provide guidance mid-stride, and share responsibility for making the process go well. In addition to the card set (which ... (continue)

The Obama Administration’s Open Government initiative is now three years old.  But is it making a difference?  Tina Nabatchi’s new report (2012), published by the IBM Center for The Business of Government, provides a practical assessment guide for government program managers so they can assess whether their efforts are making a difference.  The report lays out evaluation steps for both the implementation and management of citizen participation initiatives as well as how to assess the impact of a particular citizen participation initiative.  An appendix provides helpful ... (continue)

This 2011 report from the Alliance for Children and Families provides a set of inter-related tools that help organizations measure the impact of their work. The tools can be implemented independently or through participation in the formal project. The report also includes a detailed description of the process used to develop the measurement system. Also see the webinar slides, which provide a brief overview of the project and how to implement the measurement system tools. This project commenced with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to ... (continue)

A facilitated group process developed by Yellow Wood Associates in St. Albans, Vermont that integrates systems thinking into strategic planning, identifies key leverage indicators and aligns actions to achieve goals. You Get What You Measure® is an inclusive, values-based process. (continue)

In this economic climate, the value of public engagement needs to be articulated in economic terms. Involve’s toolkit demonstrates that you don’t need specialist skills or knowledge to make the business case for engagement. Download the July 2011 toolkit from Involve and Consumer Focus, Making the Case for Public Engagement: How to demonstrate the value of consumer input. Toolkit authors are Edward Andersson, Emily Fennell and Thea Shahrokh. There is a substantial amount of anecdotal evidence in support of public engagement and some case study ... (continue)