In light of our collective work creating the Core Principles for Public Engagement a couple of years ago, we thought this news from Wales would be of interest… Originally endorsed by the Welsh government last year, the National Principles for Public Engagement in Wales were developed under the guidance of Participation Cymru’s Advisory Panel and are aimed at Public Service organisations across all sectors, with the goal to offer a consistent approach and good standard for public engagement across Wales (a list of Welsh agencies utilizing these ... (continue)

I got a nice message yesterday from Robert Luskin at the University of Texas at Austin, asking me to pass along the following announcement to the NCDD network.  Bob has worked with Jim Fishkin on Deliberative Polling projects for many years, for those not familiar with the name. I’ll be offering a one-week course on “Deliberative Polling and the Empirics of Deliberation” at the ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research) Summer School in Methods and Techniques at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) from July 30 ... (continue)

Thanks to a tweet from Edward Andersson at U.K.-based Involve, it was brought to my attention that the Sciencewise Expert Resource Centre for Public Dialogue In Science and Innovation (ERC) — UK’s national centre for public dialogue in policy making involving science and technology issues – featured a recent NCDD listserv discussion here on its website. The Sciencewise Expert Resource Centre aims to help policy makers commission and use public dialogue to inform policy decisions which involves science and technology. Here’s the post from the Sciencewise site… How ... (continue)

Good friends and NCDD stalwarts, Libby and Len Traubman, have been embracing the potent mix of film and dialogue to persue understanding and common ground for years now.  They document their exploration on their fantastic, down-to-earth website found at www.traubman.igc.org/global.htm. They recently shared their latest film at an event in Harlem and sent us an overview of the evening… “One March 2012 night in Harlem, New York, we screened our new documentary of 200 brave African “enemies” exhibiting communication excellence, DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA: Muslims & Christians Creating Their ... (continue)

NCDD member Steve Olweean of the Common Bond Institute reached out to let us know he is co-coordinating an exciting event in Jordan this June “to bring together best practices and successful models for compassionate, cooperative, and peaceful relationships within and between communities at a time of unprecedented transformation in the Middle East.” Sponsored by the Common Bond Institute and the International Humanistic Psychology Association; endorsed by King Abdullah II, and over 100 universities and organizations internationally; and partnering with Charter For Compassion & Parliament of World’s Religions, this multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural conference will take place on June 20-23, ... (continue)

A garment worker in India, who is working in an urban factory, thinks “I’ve moved to the city to work here and earn a living for my family, and now I can’t survive on these wages.” The worker’s employer, a garment manufacturer, thinks, “I’m getting pinched by my buyer. My profit margins are absurdly thin and decreasing, and I’m struggling to meet delivery deadlines with the impossible lead times I’m given.” The manufacturer’s buyer, a multi-national clothing brand, thinks, “The disposable income of Western consumers ... (continue)

The Alberta Climate Dialogue just released a series of short videos exploring the benefits of deliberative democracy, featuring well known practitioners such as Matt Leighninger (DDC), Janette Hartz-Karp (Curtin University), Edward Andersson (Involve UK) and others. These insightful snapshots of public engagement knowledge and case studies are a valuable resource for communicating deliberative democracy ideas to others: (continue)

I spotted a great article in the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy‘s latest e-newsletter that I thought I’d share here on the blog.  IMTD’s executive Director, Ambassador John McDonald, is a former NCDD Board member, and has been doing groundbreaking work in the field of peacebuilding for decades. For the last two years, IMTD has been working towards the creation of a Peace Corridor (Kartarpur Marg) along the Punjab-Punjab border in order to link two holy shrines. (click “more” for full article) (continue)

Dialogue and deliberation has been the central tool in planning the future of Geraldton, a city in Western Australia, and these efforts have just been recognized with an international award! Geraldton is the global winner in Livecom‘s Community Empowerment and Participation category. 2029 and Beyond is about planning for the future of Geraldton and the region around it. The project mobilises citizens, government and industry in the Greater Geraldton City Region, to collaboratively develop and implement sustainability plans. NCDD member Janette Hartz-Karp has been central ... (continue)

Pathways to Participation is a new report from the UK that explores why and how people participate in their society. I received an email earlier this week from Tim Hughes, one of the report researchers, who pointed out a critical finding for public engagement efforts: too often public consultation changes nothing for citizens but a decreased willingness to continue to be engaged. The reason for this is two-fold, he said. One, the engagement exercises are seen as tokenistic, and participants believe that nothing will really ... (continue)