Public Participation in Government Decision-Making Process Explained | Public Administration 101

Public participation in government is very important and necessary to make sure that you can influence the various decisions made by the government and have a say on government actions and policies that could impact on your life.

In this video, we will be discussing:
1. What is public participation?

2. Different forms of public participation

3. Benefits of public participation.

4. Challenges of public participation

5. Steps of Public Participation Process

6. How to conduct a successful public participation process.

7. Tools to be used to improve public participation.

WHAT IS PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Public participation is the process by which the interested or affected members of the public or members of community are provided an opportunity to participate and influence public decisions.

This process is sometimes known as Citizen or Community participation, Public or community involvement or community consultation.

There are different forms of public participation.
Public participation processes take many forms, including face-to-face deliberation, problem solving, consensus building, traditional public hearings, and public comment procedures.

This different forms essentially depend on a number of aspects, including.
o The number of people required to participate.
o The sort of influence required from such process
o The type of decision to be made and the outcome required

8. BENEFITS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
In this section, we look at the various benefits for undertaking a Public participation process

Public participation is very important and necessary to make sure that you can influence the various decisions made by the government and have a say on government actions and policies that could impact on your life.

Engaging in a Public participation process actually results in better outcomes and better governance.
When done in properly, the Public participation process will result in the following significant benefits

a. It provides a better understanding of issues and need

b. It provides a basis for better and more implementable decisions

c. It provides a plan to resolve social challenges and issues

d. It’s a platform to provide diverse feedback and inputs

e. It can improve transparency

f. It’s a mechanism to hold leaders accountable

9. CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Even though the Public Participation process has its benefits, it does however come with a number of challenges. We list some of those challenges:

a. Time-Consuming & Costly.

b. Lack of facilitating skills and experience.

c. Lack of participation or lower rate of participation.

10. STEPS OF THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS
There are several steps in the Public Participation Process. In this next segment we look at these various steps.

STEP 1: Establish a consensus on the overall purpose of the Public Participation Process

STEP 2: Determine the role players to be involved in the Public Participation Process

STEP 3: Develop a Public Participation Action Plan
STEP 4: Implement Public Participation Process

STEP 5: Provide feedback to Members of the Public/Stakeholders

STEP 6: Evaluate the Public Participation Process

11. HOW TO CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS
It is important to note that to conduct a successful public participation process, a number of conditions must exist.

o There must be clearly defined goals.
o There must be a clear structure and process.
o An actual opportunity for influence must exist.
o Everyone must be committed to the process.
o The process must be open and inclusive. This means that the process must endeavour to reach out to all relevant stakeholders regardless of race, colour, national origin, sexual orientation or income.

12. TOOLS TO BE USED TO IMPROVE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

To conclude. We should mention that There are a number of tools or techniques that government officials and community leaders can use to implement public participation process.

Some of them are:
Public meetings, or public hearings.
Information Kiosks, or Contact CENTERS.
Events, Conferences, and Seminars.
Websites, Email, and Social media.
Text messages, newsletters, direct mail.
Media Briefings. and TV adverts.