Launched in spring 2009, the European Institute for Public Participation (EIPP) is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to promote better decision-making through public participation. Its key activities are:
Research into what works when in terms of engaging the public in the decision-making processes which affect their lives and society and the environment at large.
Evaluation of specific participation activities to develop a better and deeper understanding of the factors which make these activities effective – or ineffective – in order to learn from experiences.
Building capability and capacity of those charged with …
The European Institute on Public Participation has published together with the Bertelsmann Foundation a systematic comparison of public participation models used in poilcy-making (pdf, in German). In particular the study focuses on large-scale deliberative models and how they are used by whom. These models include everything from Appreciative Inquiry to Participatory Budgeting to Future Workshops.
The handbook is intended for policy-makers, pracitioners of public participation and researchers. It explicitly follows a systematic, though application-oriented approach. This helps to compare the remit and merit of each model. They are analysed according to …
Information on the work of EIPP for the government of Vorarlberg, Austria, on Wisdom Councils and the official research project are available here (German only).
On this project we collaborate with Kairos gGmbh, Austria.
Patrizia Nanz, co-founder of EIPP, was invited to take part in a panel discussion broadcast live on German television. Other participants were Horst Seehofer, prime minister of Bavaria, Hans-Werner Sinn, director of the Ifo institute for Economic Research, Matthias Horx, futurist and researcher and Daniel Dettling, author.
The panel discussed ways to learn from the current economic crisis and find new, sustainable ways of living together. Partizia emphasised the contribution public participation can make to a better future. She highlighted the strengths of citizen engagement, the potential of a collective wisdom.
Pictures …
+++ UPDATE (13.07.09): the original text of the Sole 24 Ore article has been added +++
This is one of the primary intentions of our work at the EIPP – making sure that citizens’ voices are heard and listened to in policy-making. Crucial in that regard is, however, that the broader public debate also engages with public participation, its concepts and potentials. We participate in that debate.
Our recent contributions in the run up to the European elections – but also beyond – are articles on ZEIT online (German) and in …
We had a wonderful event at the Young Foundation this morning. An engaged and interested group of people from national and local government, NGOs, academic bodies and think tanks discussed a short version of a soon to be published report on the need for evaluation of participation.
You can find copies of the Executive Summary of the report, the Presentations and a Summary of the Issues Raised on our Events page. But, before you go, please add your feedback and further thoughts here.
