Possible questions to ask in a wheel-process
Acknowledge the need for collaborating with the public [Initiate]
Find political support
Obtain financial resources
Secure staff resources
Municipality as a role model [Internal Capacity]
Identify municipal leaders
Build internal capacity
(We need good communication, we need a form to capture inputs, we need a setting that creates dialogues à Art of Hosting, literature about engagement (guidebooks, TNS)
Personal dedication
Third party support
Tip: It is better when somebody from the municipality leads the project and speaks in front of the public. Interaction with the public should always be led by somebody that works in the municipality.
Capture Community Efforts [External Capacity]
Identify community leaders
Informing/educating citizens
Tip: Be transparent about the process, show how much influence people have and communicate the desired outcome of their participation. Involve people in the early stages into the process.
Frontloading (teasing)
Tip: a presentation of a community leader or a very well-known person that has a strong case for this can motivate a lot of people to participate
Bring sustainability to a local level [Engage]
Invite people to something meaningful
Tip: Take into account, what is meaningful to you might not be as meaningful for others. You have different types of people in a municipality (outdoor people, people who like reading books, people from different countries, people with different religious backgrounds, mums, dads, children, youth, pensioners, businessmen, housewives, etc.
Make it easy for people to participate
Resources for this and the next point: Art of hosting, world café, pro action café, open space, online forums
Inspiration of what they can do: survey kiosk, talk to mothers at the playground, youth places, schools, universities, bars, etc.
What you can do: survey (interactive) online and offline
Public ownership through
Early involvement
When is the public involved in the process?
Allow for quick actions
Make community input trackable
- Why is it important for the municipality to engage with the general public?
- What benefits does the municipality have and what benefits will the participants have from this process?
Find political support
- Who are the political leaders that have a great influence in the municipality/in your project?
- Who do we have to have on board to get an engagement process going?
Obtain financial resources
- Who will speak money for this project?
- How can we involve those people into the process to show what impact it has?
- Who could be seen as partners (associations, other social enterprises)?
Secure staff resources
- How much capacity do we need to keep an engagement process going?
- Do we need additional staff to do this?
Municipality as a role model [Internal Capacity]
- How can we be a role model when it comes to good communication, collaboration and sustainability? Where do we want to go? Where are we today? How does the gap between today and the future need to be filled?
- Tip: Walk the talk
Identify municipal leaders
- Who are the people that are respected, charismatic and have high credibility in the municipality?
- Which people have a big network and a lot of connections?
Build internal capacity
- Are there people in the municipality that reach out to the general public and have a good reputation?
- Which skills do we need to engage with the public?
(We need good communication, we need a form to capture inputs, we need a setting that creates dialogues à Art of Hosting, literature about engagement (guidebooks, TNS)
Personal dedication
- Are there people in the municipality that enjoy interacting with the public?
- Are there people in the municipality that are passionate about engaging the public and get inputs from them?
Third party support
- Are there enough time and skills to engage with the public?
- Where could we get training from? (Whistler Centre for Sustainability)
Tip: It is better when somebody from the municipality leads the project and speaks in front of the public. Interaction with the public should always be led by somebody that works in the municipality.
Capture Community Efforts [External Capacity]
- What is already going on in our community when it comes to sustainability?
- What are concrete projects and initiatives around sustainability in your municipality?
Identify community leaders
- Who are charismatic, sympatric and well known people in the municipality? Can we win them for our project?
- Who are people that enable others to participate? Who are community role models?
Informing/educating citizens
- Are we clear about the process? Do we communicate it openly and transparent (goals and how citizens can have an impact)
- What kind of information is necessary to get the process going and the public involved?
Tip: Be transparent about the process, show how much influence people have and communicate the desired outcome of their participation. Involve people in the early stages into the process.
Frontloading (teasing)
- Why should people participate?
- How can you tease them so that they nearly beg to participate?
Tip: a presentation of a community leader or a very well-known person that has a strong case for this can motivate a lot of people to participate
Bring sustainability to a local level [Engage]
- What do people care about? How can citizens engage and take responsibility for sustainability on a local level?
- How can people have a direct impact in their neighborhood?
- What impacts could be seen locally when people change behaviors?
Invite people to something meaningful
- What is meaningful for the people? What would they be interested in?
Tip: Take into account, what is meaningful to you might not be as meaningful for others. You have different types of people in a municipality (outdoor people, people who like reading books, people from different countries, people with different religious backgrounds, mums, dads, children, youth, pensioners, businessmen, housewives, etc.
Make it easy for people to participate
- How many possibilities are there for citizens to participate? Is it just one meeting in city hall or do you meet in various places on various times?
- Is it possible to give feedback on different platforms and in different ways?
- How can different people interact with the municipality?
- Is there a possibility to give feedback in an interactive way?
Resources for this and the next point: Art of hosting, world café, pro action café, open space, online forums
Inspiration of what they can do: survey kiosk, talk to mothers at the playground, youth places, schools, universities, bars, etc.
What you can do: survey (interactive) online and offline
Public ownership through
Early involvement
When is the public involved in the process?
Allow for quick actions
- Is it possible to go to a meeting and do something right afterwards? Do we give Doers the space to do something straight away?
Make community input trackable
- How can people see that their input is been taken into account? How can people see how their input is used somewhere?
