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)

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)

While there is a growing body of literature and experience about how to engage the public, there are few practical tools to gauge the success of these approaches. Recognizing that local officials and staff have limited time and resources, the Institute for Local Government has created online Rapid Review Worksheets to help local governments assess how well their public engagement processes worked. Learn more and download the worksheets at www.ca-ilg.org/rapidreview. (continue)

An annual report that elevates the discussion of our nation’s civic health by measuring a wide variety of civic indicators, America’s Civic Health Index is in an effort to educate Americans about our civic life and to motivate citizens, leaders and policymakers to strengthen it. Among other things, the Civic Health Index measures such factors as engagement in public policy, charitable giving, volunteering, and online participation. Learn more at www.ncoc.net/CHI. In 2006, the National Conference on Citizenship, in partnership with the Civic Health Index Indicators ... (continue)

Led by the Danish Board of Technology, World Wide Views on Global Warming (2009) is considered the first in-depth global citizen consultancy on climate change. WWViews established a model for the future inclusion of the world’s citizens in global policymaking. The novel and practical project design made it potentially possible for all nations on the planet to take part and to produce comparable results that can be clearly communicated to policymakers. World Wide Views on Global Warming involved roughly 4,000 citizens in 38 countries spanning ... (continue)

This 2008 essay by John Gastil (professor in the Department of Communication, University of Washington) provides a definition of citizen deliberation and suggests broad categories for evaluation, including design integrity, sound deliberation and judgment, influential conclusions/actions, and other secondary benefits (e.g., positive changes to individual participants’ civic attitudes and improvement in local political practices). Evaluation methods are identified for measuring each of these evaluation criteria, and summary recommendations consider how to conduct a thorough, integrated project assessment with a small or larger evaluation budget. Download ... (continue)

This 72-page article by John Gaventa and Gregory Barrett was published in 2010 by the Institute for Development Studies. Over the last two decades, the idea that citizen engagement and participation can contribute to improved governance and development outcomes has been mainstreamed in development policy and discourse. Yet despite the normative beliefs that underpin this approach, the impact of participation on improved democratic and developmental outcomes has proved difficult to assess. Where previous research studies have attempted to demonstrate impact, they tend to be limited ... (continue)

This 2006 CPRN (Canadian Policy Research Networks) report by Lori Turnbull and Peter Aucoin looks at the structural, cultural and practical barriers to making citizen engagement a natural and permanent part of our policy processes. To document the benefits of citizen involvement in the policy process, and for accountability, we need accurate and comparable data. Despite progress in Canada and elsewhere on evaluation frameworks, a commonly accepted set of evaluation criteria has yet to be established. Abelson and Gauvin make suggestions for refining evaluation (evaluating ... (continue)

Ratnesh Nagda’s 2006 article titled “Breaking barriers, crossing boundaries, building bridges: Communication processes in intergroup dialogues” was published in the Journal of Social Issues, 62(3), 553-576. Ratnesh shared the following text about the article and some related resources in an NCDD listserv discussion about assessment in October 2010: The communication processes conceptualizes the dialogic nature of encounter within the context of differences and inequalities. I found four interrelated processes: appreciating difference, engaging self, critical reflection and alliance building. My colleagues and I are now using ... (continue)

Bang The Table’s 5-page pdf titled Why Engage Online outlines “eleven good reasons to engage your community online.” 1. Internet Saturation “Home-based internet access will be as normal in the 21st century as home-based telephone access became in the 20th century. Online conversation will be as normal as breathing. While there will always be some sections of the community with poor access to the internet, it is safe to say that more people have access to the internet than any other form of community engagement.” ... (continue)