Engaging the Public for River Sustainability

1. Engaging the Public for River Sustainability

2. Civic Engagement – A Definition Civic engagement engenders collective action to identify and address issues of public concern, instilling a sense of personal responsibility to uphold obligations as part of a community.

3. Civic Engagement is not… • Consensus-building • Collaboration • Communication or • Public advocacy Rather it collects from and uses all theseforms of engagement.

4. The Need For A Constituency Overarching Question – Who do you represent?

5. Seven Principles of Civic Engagement • Careful planning & preparation • Inclusion & demographic diversity • Collaboration & shared purpose • Openness & learning • Transparency & trust • Impact & action • Sustained engagement & participatory culture

6. Careful Planning and Preparation • Inclusive oversight • Data and science • Factual and values framework • Common lexicon

7. Role of Careful Planning and Preparation • Information authentication • Trust • Informed discussion

8. Inclusion & Demographic Diversity • Representation of diverse opinion as much as ethnic or geographic • Important for voices in the room • Varying perspectives make new ideas • Legitimizes outcomes

9. Inclusion & Demographic Diversity • How does this apply to public policy for rivers and their communities? • Discussion

10. Collaboration & Shared Purpose • Useful in complex, multi-party issues • Process to obtain goals that cannot be reached by one single agent • Based on principles of local participation and ownership • Goal – jointly develop and agree on common objectives and directions • Share responsibility • Work for the achievement of the agreed-upon items

11. Collaboration & Shared Purpose • How does this apply to public policy for rivers and their communities? • Discussion

12. Shared Purpose – Attitude to Action Continuum

13. Collaboration & Shared Purpose • Important in today’s interconnected society where issues affect diverse groups with different interests and perspectives • Allows future orientation • Leverages resources • Fosters exploration of joint gains and integrative solutions • Permits stakeholders to deal with interrelated issues in a single forum • Shared risk builds trust and minimizes turf issues • Avoids duplication

14. Collaboration & Shared Purpose • How does this apply to public policy for rivers and their communities? • Discussion

15. Openness & Learning • Mindset allows purposeful collaboration • Fosters new ideas • Fosters trust by allowing questioning • Allows individual and group evaluation for on-the-ground solution/evaluation

16. Openness & Learning • How does this apply to public policy for rivers and their communities? • Discussion

17. Transparency & Trust • Role of neutral convener/process in building trust • Fairly refereed game vs. unfairly refereed game • Openness and its relationship to a participant’s willingness to contribute

18. Transparency & Trust • How does this apply to public policy for rivers and their communities? • Discussion

19. Impact & Action • Concrete goal setting • Agreed-upon measurement • Public policy – agenda, constituency, strategy • Who do you represent?

20. Sustained Engagement & Participatory Culture Theo Brown AmericaSpeaks