Go Vocal’s blog—get insights, advice, and all the latest information on trends to help you foster meaningful engagement.
Online engagement tools enable you to reach a large number of community members in an instant. But not everyone is so simple to reach. Here, we meet four cities using low- and no-tech engagement methods like WhatsApp, SMS, in-person visits, and the good old telephone to ensure the underheard voices in their community get a chance to have their say.
Once again we’re off to Vienna – Europe's Capital of Democracy. Vienna has long been a pioneer when it comes to contemporary citizen participation. And the Austrian capital is also repeatedly named among the world’s most liveable cities. In 2024, Vienna once again took first place in the “Global Liveability Index” published by The Economist. Is there a connection between participation and liveability?
We know the youth are our future, but how good are we at including them in the decisions that affect their lives? Well, not that good, studies have shown. This article outlines key strategies and provides practical tips for achieving meaningful youth engagement.
For governments at all levels seeking ways to engage their constituents in decision-making and agenda setting, proposals are a powerful, generative tool that help close the gap between top-down measures and bottom-up movements.
One of our Public Square podcast episodes takes us to the bustling metropolis of New York City, where the Public Engagement Unit (PEU), under the leadership of Adrienne Lever has developed an innovative approach to community engagement. Our conversation with her unveiled key insights and actionable strategies from their work, offering a blueprint for other cities and organizations aiming to enhance community engagement and public service effectiveness.
We launched our podcast, Public Square, to highlight the transformative stories of local governments worldwide. One episode features an engaging discussion with Aja Hazelhoff from the City of Seattle, focusing on the crucial integration of equitable engagement into comprehensive planning.
In 2023, we launched our updated Events feature and have already seen it help boost engagement: 54% of event attendees had never contributed to their city’s consultation before. And our early results tell us that events are the perfect introduction to the world of participation – they have a strong ability to attract residents who are early in their participation journeys. In fact, 46% of event attendees contribute to other projects!
More and more local governments are engaging their communities in decision-making. Whether it’s to increase trust or create more inclusive policies, community engagement has become a central part of local government and we’ve found that digital engagement with CitizenLab leads to 12x more participation on average. To help local governments keep up, engagement teams are being formed in cities all across the country.
Building a community where residents trust their government requires a strategic and intentional approach to engagement. To ensure your initiatives are successful, it's essential to establish a strong community engagement strategy based on the following six pillars.
By engaging their communities and tapping into collective intelligence, cities across the globe can set better priorities and facilitate sustainable development on a local scale.
In a time where problems with governance can be overwhelming, governments are frantically searching for a solution. There is a constant debate about how exactly a government should go about facilitating change, whether that be with incremental improvement or radical change.
A comprehensive community engagement strategy is key to ensuring the smooth launch of – and satisfying outcomes for – projects. Before initiating a project, it’s best to set clear objectives, define roles and responsibilities, and select the most promising communication channels. Looking for some guidance? Discover Go Vocal’s Engagement Success Plan and how it can help you design your strategy.
Below, we are listing 5 metrics, tools, solutions and frameworks which are useful to measure how governments are performing when it comes to implementing e-participation initiatives. This article is the second of our e-Participation series. If you haven’t read “The Framework That Will Make You Understand E-participation” yet, hop over there and read it first.
Community engagement platforms can increase civic participation, improve trust between residents and governments, and can help collect data that increases the impact of your projects. When you optimize the way you use social impact data, there’s a real opportunity to assess a project’s performance and outcomes, improve future processes, and run more efficient and ethical projects.
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re probably already convinced that citizen participation is a good thing. However, what you might not be so convinced about is that involving citizens in decision-making can be done without huge amounts of resources. And yet, it’s true thanks to digital participation!
You know that your residents want to be more involved in local decision-making, but how do you involve them both meaningfully and efficiently? Community engagement can help by facilitating more active collaboration with the residents, businesses, visitors, and other stakeholders in your community.
Citizen initiatives are gaining popularity, citizen assemblies are proposed as a solution to defrost polarised debate, and overall, there are more participation methods to choose from than ever before.
Citizen initiatives – also known as community proposals – are often seen as a potential antidote to growing political disaffection in many parts of the world. However, not all proposal programs are the same. We have identified four key success factors.
Today’s political landscape is characterised by strong polarisation, a sense of unease, and a decline of trust in our governments (and democracy as a whole).
Deliberation and participation may seem like similar concepts. At their core, they kind of are: both deliberative and participatory democracies are systems that include citizens in governance.
In recent years, communities across the globe have voiced a burgeoning need and desire to be directly involved in local decision-making.
Three years ago we asked ourselves, “How can natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning technologies help digital democracy platforms?” Go Vocal developed a feature that realizes just that.
When it comes to community engagement, most governments’ first concerns are the associated costs. Large-scale projects involving thousands of people must be incredibly costly, right? Well… not always. An online community engagement platform can reduce the cost of participation drastically. Let’s dive deeper into the investment and what you get in return.
Leverage visual tools when planning your public spaces to help your residents analyze and pinpoint areas of improvement in your community.
In the aftermath of a polarising debate, public servants are expected to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. But how do you bridge this divide and inspire your community to move forward together? The answer could lie in citizen participation.
Scaling our impact while practicing transparency and equity
The terms “community engagement” and “community development” are sometimes used interchangeably. After all, both ideas are based on the strength and improvement of our communities. Nonetheless, there are a few key distinctions between the two concepts. Let’s take a closer look at what they are.
Understanding how your community – and who in your community – currently engages with local topics is crucial to identifying opportunities and gaps for your next community engagement project. Before getting started, consider who you need to reach and how you will do it.
Whether you’re working in the public or private sector, you’ll inevitably find yourself needing buy-in from community members and other stakeholders. Comprehensive plans, economic development plans, strategic plans, climate action plans, mobility plans – whatever your mandate, most planning processes share the same core components and necessitate public engagement.
So, you’ve engaged your community. You’ve asked residents and stakeholders to share ideas, cast votes, or take part in a survey. You might’ve even asked them to allocate budgets or invited them to an online workshop. And now, your community engagement results are in.
Survey, idea collection, participatory budget… when launching a community engagement project, there are many participation methods to choose from.
Anonymous participation can be the key to unlocking engagement on topics that your community is divided on. We’ve helped clients host their fair share of such projects on Go Vocal platforms, and we heard the desire for an anonymous participation option loud and clear. Read more to learn how this latest feature can help increase engagement rates.
Are you a firm believer in the offline old-school? Or do you choose the digital route whenever you can? Good news: when it comes to community engagement, you don’t have to pick one.
Harnessing the full power of your community engagement platform requires effective moderation. This ensures vibrant, inclusive dialogue and boosts trust. Dive into best practices to enhance the quality and productivity of the conversations on your platform.
Oftentimes it can feel like your community engagement project is just one of the many things competing for your residents’ time. As a result, you’ve probably found yourself wondering how you can make engagement more appealing and participation more exciting. The good news is that there are plenty of creative ways to engage your community members! While we always encourage local governments and organizations to run meaningful engagement projects, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for fun and lighthearted activities. After all, your community engagement platform should be a space where your residents and other stakeholders want to return to when there are opportunities to provide input and deliberation.
Ensuring that your community engagement is successful and worthwhile requires the full buy-in and continuous support from all levels of the community, starting with your organization and eventually also your residents. It requires developing a culture of engagement in your city. This doesn’t have to be daunting, and in the long run it will save you time, money, and headaches. In many states, community engagement is even now written into new laws and policies. For example, in Washington, as part of the promotion of environmental justice, the state requires that by July 1, 2022 all agencies have a defined community engagement plan for more equitable public participation in sustainable policies. Beyond legal requirements, community engagement is also becoming a norm in the pursuit of developing more inclusive and participatory governments. So let’s start building a culture of community engagement in your city today.
