People who are participating in a deliberative engagement process should be given clear information on the process before, during, between and after meetings, events or online initiatives. Organisers should circulate a summary of participants’ views as they have been presented to policy- and decision-makers; and they should provide clear information on the final decision, and how participants’ input has made a difference.
Ideally, all reports and feedback to participants are published. Comments from individual participants should be kept anonymous; this enables everyone to contribute freely without fear of reprisals.
Effective deliberative processes can stimulate interest in the policy issue, or in civic participation generally, among participants. Organisers can support and harness this civic energy by:
- encouraging participants to stay in touch with each other after the event;
- giving participants information to help them stay involved in the issue or service through volunteering, campaigning or interest groups; and
- providing information about other public participation initiatives.
You can download the deliberative public engagement: nine principles paper authored by Involve and the National Consumer Council below.