Guidelines for Citizen Participation: Demos Project

Important insights into the development of guidelines for public participation are available from a report published by the Demos Project in 2004.

The report, Citizens, Innovation, Local Governance: A 21st Century Approach was the substantive outcome of the Demos Project, an EU funded project linking eight city councils in seven countries with research organisations across Europe in innovation and action research on citizen participation in local government.

The report includes a series of Guidelines which highlight the most successful aspects of partners' pilot projects and give advice to those embarking on their own citizen participation initiatives, including water planning practitioners. In particular, the report provides a list of the Ten Commandments of Citizen Participation:

There needs to be opportunity for participation at all stages of the policy process, from beginning to end, although it will not necessarily be the same citizens who participate at each stage. Transparency is critical.This means stating clearly at which point in the process, about what issue, and to what extent citizens can influence local policy. Participation will be more motivated if citizens have some decision-making powers as well as an advisory role; that is, they have the opportunity to move up the ladder.
In addition to participating in policy, there must be a mechanism for responding to citizens' concerns in their role as consumers, or the policy process will become destabilised. It is hard to discuss strategic planning if the streets are full of dog dirt!
In terms of the participation of citizens through community boards or local associations,members of groups need legitimacy within their "constituency".This can be achieved by having members who are statistically representative of the wider population or who reinforce their accountability by continuously communicating with their constituency.
Responsibility and competencies are linked. If citizens are to be jointly responsible for taking care of their environment, they need to have a say about (at least part of ) the financial and other resources being allocated.
Coherence between objectives and working methods is essential. If the local authority is seeking to mobilise citizens to get them involved in the maintenance of the neighbourhood's playground, a postal questionnaire aimed at individuals is not appropriate. A meeting to mobilise citizens is quite different to a meeting for gathering information or for communicating policy decisions. This self-evident principle is all too often neglected.
One way to create a commitment by citizens' groups is to enable them to provide ad hoc advice on issues they consider to be important as well as to react to specific questions from the planning agencies. However, planners need to be well briefed to anticipate such advice and to know how to respond. This means a change in their professional culture and practices.
Neighbourhood professionals' knowledge, skills and ways of working should be used to support and complement the capacities and knowledge of residents. Planners are more than just implementers of policy; they are active participants in its development.
The organisation and support of citizen participation in the different policy areas should not be restricted to external communication professionals in the departments concerned. Agency staff in all service delivery units should be trained and supported in this kind of work.

A copy of the report is available for download here.