This quick-reading 100-page book is a how-to collection of tools that have proven to be highly effective for facilitation of group conversation about difficult topics. The book shows how to help people hear each other when they feel like shouting; how to focus on the issues at stake rather than having a war of personalities; how to employ actual practices for better understanding (interviews, small-group discussions, role-reversal presentations); and how to move a group toward making a decision that all can honestly support. (continue)

The Center for Assessment and Policy Development and MP Associates, Inc., runs this website, which offers resources and advice on evaluating a program's effectiveness in bridging racial divides. The site includes all kinds of tools and resources on how to organize and carry out an evaluation, what kinds of questions to ask and outcomes to measure, and also some guidelines for thinking about and using results. (continue)

Drawing on intensive firsthand experience gained during the most successful years of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, Harold Saunders explains the complexities of the peace process: it was not just a series of negotiated agreements but negotiation embedded in a larger political process. In the first edition of The Other Walls, Saunders argued persuasively that until leaders change the political environment by lowering the human and political barriers to peace, negotiators stand little chance. (continue)

Is public deliberation rare? How widespread has it been? Are deliberation's organic practices at the very core of collective decision making? Did it exist before governments developed? The case studies included in Collective Decision Making Around the World begin to answer these questions. The research suggests, rather paradoxically, that deliberation may have been widespread throughout the world and throughout history. Taken as a whole, the case studies also show that deliberation is both fragile and powerful. It can be destroyed by top-down politics, but like a sturdy plant, if eradicated in one area, it reseeds itself in another. (continue)

Simply put, a Local Issues Forum is an online public commons (or town hall meeting), where any citizen, journalist, or elected official can post an idea, ask a question, make a public announcement, connect with one another, monitor public opinion, and ask for public input, and where journalists can look for story ideas or identify sources for articles. Created by e-democracy.org, Local Issues Forums utilize listserv technology. The goal of a Local Issues Forum is to give everyone a greater voice in local decisions and encourage more citizen participation in local public policy making. It also provides a forum for decision-makers to receive immediate feedback from the community on issues that must be decided or voted on. (continue)

This 242-page handbook by Bettye Pruitt and Philip Thomas (2007) is a joint effort of CIDA, International IDEA, OAS and UNDP, receiving valuable input from a wider network of organizations (including NCDD). This handbook is the result of a joint initiative to provide decision-makers and practitioners with a practical guide on how to design, facilitate and implement dialogue processes. It combines conceptual and practical knowledge, while providing an overview of relevant tools and experiences. NCDD highly recommends this handbook. (continue)

The IJP2 is an online, multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of information among researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, and citizens about public participation and its impact around the world. It has been created with the specific intention of bridging the arenas of research and practice within the field of public participation. (continue)

This concise 7-page guide to the World Café (2002) covers the basics of the process. It includes brief outlines of each principle, a description of Café Etiquette, an outline of key elements of the World Café conversations, and tips for creating Café ambiance. Download from www.theworldcafe.com/hosting.htm. (continue)

This 116-page guide was developed for public bodies such as local authorities, government departments or other statutory agencies who commission or deliver participatory processes; those with similar roles in the voluntary and private sectors; and people who want to know what to expect when they get involved in decision-making processes. This document is the first publication from UK-based Involve. It is based on research funded by the Home Office Civil Renewal Unit during 2004/5. Involve aims to create new systems that enable people to influence decisions and get involved in actions that affect their lives. (continue)

Public participation has become a central plank of public policy-making. Increasingly, decision-makers at all levels of government build citizen and stakeholder engagement into their policy-making processes. Activities range from large-scale consultations that involve tens of thousands of people, to focus group research, on-line discussion forums and small, deliberative citizens juries. This guide to evaluating public participation is intended to help those involved in planning, organising or funding these activities to understand the different factors involved in creating effective public participation. (continue)