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Go Vocal’s blog—get insights, advice, and all the latest information on trends to help you foster meaningful engagement.
From shaping the future city of Lancaster to improving parks and rec in Carlisle, PA, surveys are used across our platforms to gauge a community’s opinions on specific topics. Surveys and polls are easy to set up and provide a low-threshold way for community members to weigh in on policy topics, which explains their popularity as a participation method. Still, they only scratch the surface of what community engagement can really accomplish. Let’s examine a survey tool’s main strengths and limitations.
At CitizenLab, we believe that a combination of synchronous and asynchronous participation opportunities make for the most qualitative processes. Before Covid shook the world, these synchronous opportunities were mostly happening offline.
At COP26 – the United Nations Climate Change Conference – countries agreed to address coal’s role as the most polluting fossil fuel. But not before the wording was watered down from “phasing-out” to “phasing-down” coal power. Since then, the UN’s António Guterres warned in April that “governments and corporations are…adding fuel to the flames by continuing to invest in climate-choking industries” and yet, just this month – on the heels of this year’s COP27 – the UK approved a new coal mine. One step forward, three steps back? Unfortunately, this is just one example from many governments’ missteps on climate action. If the world’s democracies are failing on the climate crisis, how can we motivate them to step up to the challenge? In our experience, participatory democracy is up for the task.
The world has received a crash course in digital interaction and tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing as a catalyst for digital engagement, Civic Tech started to invest in facilitating digital deliberation; a field that historically had not been its forte.
You know that your residents want to be more involved in local decision-making, but how do you involve them both meaningfully and efficiently? The right community engagement software makes this possible—enabling you to involve residents, businesses, visitors, and other stakeholders without adding complexity or overwhelming your resources.
Grand Paris Sud (346,826 inhabitants), an intercommunal structure south of Paris, decided to pull up its sleeves and work towards progress. In the spirit of democracy, they chose to seek the opinions of those who know best: the citizens.
