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Policy Engagement
Governments and businesses are increasingly recognising the benefits
that effective public and stakeholder engagement strategies can
bring to policy delivery. Innovative techniques such as consensus
conferences, citizens’ panels and juries provide particularly
effective ways of involving or engaging citizens in a two-way exchange
of views and values. They can help establish the views of non-experts
on often complex environmental issues and can also help to resolve
contentious issues. They are a proven way of improving the policy
making process.
UK CEED believes that greater citizen and stakeholder involvement
is needed, particularly in the development and delivery of sustainable
development policy, if the policies themselves are to be sustainable
and widely supported.
An online consultation can prove to be a very effective stand-alone
process for obtaining qualitative feedback on proposed strategies
and policies from stakeholder groups. It can also be used successfully
as part of an integrated engagement process, complementing other
types of process.
Where online consultations are deployed successfully they can provide
the following benefits:
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A convenient and easy to use forum for focused input from
key stakeholder groups |
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An interactive two-way exchange of information between participants |
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A transparent, auditable and cost-effective process |
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Intelligence to policy-makers on stakeholder attitudes to
policy issues |
UK CEED offers a unique combination of engagement expertise and
in-depth strategy/policy development knowledge. The Centre’s
project team has a seventeen-year track record of delivering wide-ranging
engagement techniques including consensus conferences, citizens’ juries,
focus groups, stakeholder conferences, on-line consultations, advisory
committees and education programmes to facilitate informed debate
on sustainable development issues.
Recent examples of UK CEED’s activities in these areas include:
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SustainIT’s online consultation for EU DG Enterprise
on the integration of sustainable development within the
eEurope strategy. |
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A recent stakeholder consultation process with farmers for
DEFRA on the subject of diffuse pollution, including an on-line
consultation being run in conjunction with Farmers Weekly.
View Article |
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The development and management, on behalf of DEFRA, of a
successful on-line consultation process focusing on the forthcoming
water quality strategy.
View Article |
Click here to view our Online Consultations Briefing Paper that
further explains our work in this area.
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