Overview of the methods

Depending on your local government’s overall objective with citizen participation (ie how far up the ladder of participation you want to go), different methods will be better suited for your purposes. ICLD has categorised the methods in this module into two groups: Methods that are more adapted to citizen consultations (middle of the ladder), and methods more likely to provide citizens with empowerment (the top of the ladder). These are not absolutes and depending on how they are implemented, the methods can serve the purpose of different steps on the ladder.

Most of these methods have been taking for SALAR’s Dialogue Guide.

Methods more adapted for citizen consultation

• Hearings
• Focus groups
• Scenario building
• Backcasting
• Open space
• Community researchers
• Hackathon
• Crowdsourcing
• Citizen Report Cards

Methods more adapted for citizen empowerment

• Citizens’ assembly
• Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR)
• Participatory budgeting
• Citizen Juries
• (e)Petitions
• Digital platforms
• Living labs