Report summary: The Participatory Governance Index

Report name

Healthier Democracies: The Participatory Governance Index

Who wrote this report?

The Participatory Governance Index (PGI) is an assessment tool designed to help public officials and government workers understand "the many parts that contribute to a strong, functioning participatory engagement system".

It was published in 2022 as part of Healthier Democracies, an initiative by Public Agenda. The initiative aims to highlight global examples of participatory government projects to inspire efforts to strengthen American democracy. It’s supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Best quote

Successful engagement work does not happen in isolation. Rather, effective public engagement emerges through a network of structures, policies, plans and commitments built and sustained by a wide range of stakeholders.

Key takeaways:

• The three "core components of an effective system of engagement" are equity, transparency and communication.
• Government should provide a range of accessible technological options (such as websites, apps, or videos) to "facilitate the public’s participation in making decisions"
• A healthy engagement system requires "dedicated civic staff" or a "specific office or department" for engagement.

What’s in this report?

The PGI begins by establishing the components of a healthy system of engagement. They are:

• Engagement structures, which are defined as "patterned or organised opportunities for engagement that support cross-sector and government-community collaborations".
• A commitment to engagement, or "investment in engagement as a core value".
• Participation that is "embedded into decision-making and that guides citizen-centred governance strategies".
• The development of "engagement processes that foster meaningful connections between and within communities".

A healthy system of engagement will lead to what the PGI terms 'participatory governance', which they define as the "collaboration of official systems and structures with public input and feedback, resulting in more effective policy making, greater trust between government and residents and healthier democracies".

The guide then sets out how government officials can assess the level of progress in each of the four key areas, thereby enabling them to answer the question: how can we work on the next steps for growing engagement?

A combination of guidelines and reflective questions within each area allows teams and organisations to conduct a thorough self-assessment of the system of engagement in their community.

For example, two helpful questions asked in the ‘Commitment to Engagement’ section are:

• "Are constituents primarily providing feedback on government-initiated proposals or are they involved in the conceptualisation and development stage?"
• "Is there funding allocated for participatory budgeting or to support ideas that originated from your community members?"

Why should you read this report?

Participatory governance is an integral element of healthy democracies. Involving and empowering citizens to contribute to decision-making results in more effective policy and stronger communities.

The PGI will help you to understand your system’s strengths and weaknesses within each engagement category, and "plan or prioritise your own development". It also serves as an opportunity to "bring people together for conversation around shared values".

Who is this report for?

The PGI can be used by "individuals, small groups or whole organisations" to measure the system of engagement in their local area, region or state.

Though designed with the U.S. in mind, it is a highly useful tool for government officials everywhere. The entire self-assessment should take around two hours.

🔗 Find the full resource here. 🔗

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