Community Development through Citizen Engagement
Citizen engagement in municipal governance provides a means for incorporating citizen values, interests, needs and desires into decisions that affect their lives and supports improved municipal decision-making by bringing all perspectives to the table. Focusing on the importance of meaningful citizen engagement, course participants will consider the role citizen engagement plans in building strong, vibrant communities. Topics will consider overcoming common barriers and risks associated with engagement, framework and policy development, why, who, how and when to engage, as well as steps to necessary components for the preparation, planning and implementation of citizen engagement initiatives. Course participants will also be given guidelines to evaluate the impact of citizen engagement initiatives on achieving municipal goals.
Module 1 : Setting the Stage
- Understand the benefits and opportunities of citizen engagement
- Identify levels of engagement and types of decisions
Module 2: Getting Ready
- Understand legislated citizen engagement
- Learn risk management, foundations of citizen engagement and how to assess expectations
Module 3: Building Your Approach
- Define issues and decisions to be made
- Determine how to set engagement outcomes, who to engage and what levels of engagement are needed
- Learn tools for engaging your citizens
Module 4: Evaluating Your Efforts
- Measure what matters and and track your progress
- Understand, analyze and report your efforts
Refund policy:
- One month or more prior to course date: full refund
- Two weeks prior to course date or less: $75 administration fee
- One week prior to course date: 50% administration fee
- Less than one week prior to course date or no-show: no refund
