Open Colorado

 

Local government managers are encouraging citizen participation for a variety of reasons, using different methods, and achieving different outcomes. The complexity of citizen participation makes both process and program evaluation challenging. But without a means of evaluation, it’s difficult to make modifications to improve process and/or outcomes.  In  A Manager’s Guide to Evaluating Citizen Participation, Dr. Tina Nabatchi of Syracuse University identifies the benefits of evaluating citizen participation:

• Accountability
• Management
• Finance and resources
• Legality
• Ethics
• Ownership
• Research and theory support.

Attention is focused on the full spectrum of citizen participation:

• Informing
• Consulting
• Involving
• Collaborating
• Empowering.

With recognition of the needs of different audiences, Nabatchi provides a step-by-step guide to evaluation design and implementation for both process and outcome evaluations. Case examples and worksheets are included. Published by the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the full report can be downloaded from the Knowledge Network.