OGP NM Webinar Series: Codes of Practice on Public Consultation

On January 22, 2013 the Open Government Partnership Networking Mechanism ("OGP NM") webinar series kicked off with a presentation on Codes of Practice on Public Consultations. The webinar was organized by the OGP NM, which is managed by Global Integrity and the World Bank Institute.

The lecture on Codes of Practice on Public Consultation was presented by Edward Andersson of Involve, an organization that focuses on public and stakeholder management.

The session saw Mr Andersson interpreting consultation through the World Banks definition as: "...a process through which subjects or topics of interest is discussed within or across constituency groups. (...) The objective of a consultation is to seek information, advice and opinion. In any consultative process, the convener is not only gathering input, but sharing information as well."

After defining the process, he set out the following reasons why this process is necessary:

• Better information and better decisions;
• Increased public/stakeholder trust;
• Empowers/influences the public/stakeholder;
• It is an important democratic principle;
• A legal requirement (in some countries), and;
• Good public relations tool.

Mr. Anderson did, however, warn that the latter two reasons should be the least important motives consultation.

In closing his presentation, Mr. Andersson gave seven principles on which good consultation should be based. These are:

• Clarify the scope and objectives at the outset;
• Prepare to listen and be influenced;
• Aim for ownership of all key stakeholders;
• Ensure adequate resources and time;
• Build on existing resources/activities;
• Don't oversell;
• Be aware of culture/context;
• Ensure staff have necessary skills, and;
• Feed back.

The full presentation can be found at the following link:

http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/p41q4kojmdk/

For past webinars click on the links below:

- Citizen Budget, together with IBP: http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/p143an81533/ 
- ICT facilitated Citizen Engagement: http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/p9ek08z9c1i/ 
- Promoting Effective use of Data as Catalyst of Open Budgets: http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/p4c04mnp1nq/ 
- Measuring Implementation of Access to Information Legislation: http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/p775m5qxsqv/ 
- Grievance Redress Mechanism  http://worldbankva.adobeconnect.com/p6fi9old80z/