- You are working in the City Manager’s Office in a local City, and you’re boss – the City Manager, serves on a planning committee that is working on a 20 year vision for the County. This committee hopes to lay out a “road map” for future that will assist local decision makers in the allocation of resources for infrastructure and for investments in economic development. You have been asked to make a five minute presentation on the importance of citizen engagement and dialogue in the creation of this long term plan. In as few pages as possible, describe what elements you would include in your presentation. Why is Civic Engagement important?
Civic engagement brings difference in the life of the communities and ignites the individual of the society to develop his or her knowledge, skills and motivates to bring the difference to the society and community. The quality of life of the people of the community gets better and the process includes both political and non-political engagement. When a person has civic responsibility and morality, he or she sees oneself as an integral part of the larger social dynamic structure. Such an individual would be willing to take part in the procedure of betterment and would comprehend the civic and moral dimensions of various issues of the community.
The primary ambition for making the presentation is to make the audience comprehend the importance of civic engagement and promote their enthusiasm in the same avenue. It has be made clear that a continuous dialogue has to be there between the citizens and the authority for a productive future of the community of the land. Development is a cumulative process and should involve the civilians.
The audience, namely the staff at the city manager’s office including the City Manager himself, has to be presented with the vision and the forthcoming plans of the authority so that they can come together to aid to the process. Each staff member should be present during the presentation as every person employed in the authoritative body is an integral part of the system that is at the helm of development. All the departments of the office should be made aware of their responsibilities and the individual members should be appointed respective duties so that there is no impediment in the process of dialogue and engagement. It is only after the staff becomes acquainted with the plans and targets that they would be fulfilled in the long run. The focus on engaging people in the developmental activities should begin with involving every member of the office at the very inception.
It is important to comprehend the reasons for public input and the ambition to involve them in the process of planning and work.
Taxes are one of the biggest sources of funds for completion of projects which are going to be envisioned by the municipal body. Thus, it is of omnipotent priority to condition the public to agree to the plans of the civic body. This would ensure community support in the process of carrying out the respective developmental projects. The community should understand the utility of the projects or else the work would meet constant attack and scrutiny from the critics.
In case of any problems which may arise in the procedure of work, the issues have to be addressed with the cooperation and involvement of the people. Thus, civic engagement would also make it sure that the ability to identify the issues requiring address is enhanced. Moreover, community assets can be involved in addressing such problems. Hence, the number of people who are involved in the process of developmental work becomes very important for the authorities.
The following things which are discussed have to be included in the presentation.
It is comprehensible that the civil society is of paramount importance as a catalyst for development besides the state and the market. Necessary social consensus can be achieved through the Civil Society Organizations and this would aid the long term development processes and economic reforms. CSOs can also promote effective governance and have a very critical role in delivery of the economic and social services. Environmental protection can also be aided by these organizations. Hence, it is of primary importance for the authority of the state to work in unison with these organizations as these are the pillars of the society. World Bank has developed the Participation and Civic Engagement group which analyzes the issues and opportunities of civic engagement at a national level. Thus, a methodological framework can be used to comprehend the factors which influence civic engagement.
Participation is a very important factor in civic engagement as the stakeholders can influence the priority setting and the process of policy-making. The active participation of the stakeholders can be very important in the projects that are funded by the World Bank. This can also be a key to ensure long-term sustainability. Participation would also enhance accountability and transparency and would thus actually catapult the effectiveness of the projects and policies aimed at development.
It has been recognized all across the globe that the involvement of citizens is extremely important for increasing democratic governance and the delivery of services. The civil society organizations, many other non-state actors and the citizens can actually hold the state machinery accountable to the public and make the authority work in response to the needs of the common people of the communities. Citizens are the actual stakeholders and they should be included in activities related to demystification, information disclosure, dissemination and so on which would actually help the state in the process of functioning.
Development in the truest sense of the word should be inclusive in nature and hence it is the primary responsibility of the government to be responsive to the aspirations and requirements of the people who are affected by the measures. The authority should work toward promoting transparency and accountability and thus improve the outcomes of the programs.
It has to be remembered that the primary stakeholders are actually active participants. The local masses should be enabled to analyze and take action in response to development programs. There has to be joint learning of the stakeholders and they should work as catalysts to the programs and should help in rectifying any wrong actions.
- How does Civic Engagement build social capital and community capacity?
Civic engagement and social capital are closely intertwined in the American society. Voter turnout, participation in public meetings and forums, following the media, taking part in community programs and being active in social organizations are all examples of civic engagement. Behavior of the people of the society can actually be independent and autonomous in nature to qualify the activities as civic engagement. Civic engagement can be comprehended as any activity which would bring the person out of the indoors and get involved with other people of the community.
It has to be understood that civic engagement is not in itself a manifestation of social capital. Following the media or voting would not ensure that social capital is created or gets promoted. In fact, social capital emerges out of the various networks rising from civic engagement.
Thus, it can be said that civic engagement is a precursor to the social capital. It can be imagined as static electricity which holds inert energy for later use. Social capital is created when the engagement of the people is stirred by some event or issue and is directed toward some specific ambition which needs to be fulfilled.
There are two implicit assumptions which need to be kept in mind. Civic engagement actually has cumulative impact and is aided by the involvement of each individual. Thus, the welfare of a community gets accentuated if a larger number of people are involved in civic activities. Secondly, it is expected that a community’s social capital would increase proportionally with civic engagement in the community. Thus, social capital depends upon the individual’s involvement and is related to community welfare.
Social capital has come to the limelight as a topic of policy debate and public discourse. The concept has in its semantic domain many of the attributes which are associated with the American democracy like individual and group efficacy, trust and so on. The concept also embodies political expediency and correctness urging on the fact that the poor people are not incapable of changing the status quo.
Social capital, thus, can be explained as a positive outcome of personal socialization and socializing behavior. Social capital can be defined as the summation of the potential resources which are related to owning of durable network of relationships among individuals of the society.
Social capital thus has two distinct parts, one which is based on the relationships which enable the people to access the resources which are legally owned by someone other than themselves, and the other is the quality and amount of resources which can be utilized. Social capital gets created when the relationships among the people of the community transform in certain ways which promote action. It is also believed that social capital refers to certain features like norms, networks and social trust which collaboratively aid the process of cooperation for everyone’s benefit in the community.
Thus, it can be clearly comprehended that social capital is actually an asset which represents the collection of resources which can be utilized by the members of the community. Another, inference is that these resources are dependent upon the mutual relationships and cooperation.
Community building, on the other hand, delves into harnessing the individual relationships as well as social capital as a result of civic engagement. Then, these are used as a coherent force through focused strategizing on the part of authority. However, it needs to be understood that the process does not happen on its own and it needs much persuasion. There is no general formulation for building community capacity through deliberate intervention owing to the vast differences in social, political, economic and structural features of different communities.
However, it can be comprehended that community capacity is also dependent on civic engagement as it is the cumulative potential of the individuals of the civil society that adds up to become the potential of the community as a unit.
The people work together to identify and deal with the problems of the community. This involves the socially valuable relationships. Increased human capital is another important factor in community capacity. Stakeholder engagement and organizational skills of residents and groups are all major features which boost the capacity. The common agenda promotes the local institutional capacity and thus the problems are dealt with.
Civic engagement can be individual or in group. But, in community capacity, the common goal is what acts as the trigger for uniting the people to work together for the cause. Thus, civic engagement is the heart and soul of community capacity.
Civic engagement is the key to advancement in the modern society and it is only through collective efforts can a community gain momentum and tread on the path of development. Civic engagement aids the governments and also empowers the individual of the society and fulfils his or her goal of life and renders the community with capability to brave the odds and move forward.
