Public involvement in the policy process should always be accommodated in the decision making progression. It is the foundation of our democratic process of “government by the people” in the United States. Undoubtedly the limited scientific knowledge by the public will require more involvement in the informational segment of the decision making process, but as demonstrated by the recently assigned articles, the benefits received and relationships formed from proactive involvement cannot be replicated in any alternative way. The public already distrusts government and are very skeptic of the policy process, voluntary participation by both parties help rebuild the trust of our bureaucratic system.
The development of a public involvement and response plan (PIRP) in the Unexploded Chemical Munitions case study as discussed in the Shepherd and Bowler article used many positive ways of including the public through the mail, phone calls, public meetings, site visits, monthly newsletters, and my favorite the Zone Captains. Assigning “Zone Captains” in the community you are dealing with can be an effective way to deliver information the masses without having to personally contact each individual, as well as provide an outlet for the community to discuss the information together. The PIRP developed in this case study could be utilized by public managers and environmental planners to engage the community in their projects.
The development of a public involvement and response plan (PIRP) in the Unexploded Chemical Munitions case study as discussed in the Shepherd and Bowler article used many positive ways of including the public through the mail, phone calls, public meetings, site visits, monthly newsletters, and my favorite the Zone Captains. Assigning “Zone Captains” in the community you are dealing with can be an effective way to deliver information the masses without having to personally contact each individual, as well as provide an outlet for the community to discuss the information together. The PIRP developed in this case study could be utilized by public managers and environmental planners to engage the community in their projects.
The Zone Manager is an interesting method to keep the public engaged. I believe it is especially effective because it gives the public a more personal point of contact which should help to promote collaboration and enrich their experience.
ReplyDeleteHi Krystal,
ReplyDeleteI like your suggestion and endorsement of the zone manager idea! I have been involved in a lot of public outreach efforts and know first hand the difficulty of outreaching to mass numbers of people. We have had success using an neighborhood outreach tool where one Saturday we divide into teams and walk around different neighborhoods knocking on resident's doors offering them information and answering any questions they might have, either general or specific. We use this approach not as a way to win support for a specific project, but as a way to be proactive and involve the community. It is a lot of fun, but it is very difficult to reach a large amount of people! In the end, like you suggested, it is best to approach outreach from several different angles.
The multiple media does seem like an effective way of communicating with the public. As usual I have more questions the more I read. I wonder on how the best way to decide how much effort, money and time should be involved in public communication efforts. Also if the budget is limited which methods would be best in which circumstances?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea of a Zone Manager. There are always citizens who are largerly involved compared with other citizens who are totally unaware of what is going on around them. This is a good chance to get citizens involved in the process and reduce some of the work for the government officials. It also includes a lot of citizens which will make them feel like they matter in their community.
ReplyDeleteLeslie,
ReplyDeleteI think everyone would agree that budgets are limited in the public sector, especially in these types of environmental projects. Public engagement is something that is usually not budgeted for or very little, and if we place a strong emphasis on public engagement, maybe we will initiate more funding for this category in our budgets.