Annex A. Overview of existing principles
There are a great number of existing principles and standards for citizen participation generally. 5, however, focuses on principles and standards for deliberative processes for public decision making in particular. The following list of principles or standards for deliberative engagement existed when the collaborative work for developing the OECD principles began in September 2019:
Jefferson Centre: Citizens’ Jury Handbook (2004)
Involve: Deliberative Public Engagement: Nine Principles (2008)
Mosaic Lab: Deliberative Engagement Principles (2016)
newDemocracy Foundation: R&D notes about ‘How to do it?’ (2017-2018) and 5 Principles
MASS LBP: How to Run a Civic Lottery (2017) and How to Commission a Citizens’ Assembly or Reference Panel (2019)
Marcin Gerwin: Guidelines and Basic Standards for Organising Citizens’ Assemblies (2018)
Healthy Democracy: Key Quality Elements of the Citizens’ Initiative Review (2018)
David Farrell et al.: Deliberative Mini-Publics: Core Design Features (2019)
Comparing existing principles
In Table A A.1, the OECD has identified the commonalities and differences of the existing principles documents.
Below is a descriptive summary of the principles that are found in all or almost all of the existing documents. In addition to the evidence collected and the principles and good practices it revealed, these principles provided a useful starting point for the development of the Good Practice Principles and the discussions with the international group of experts, public officials, and practitioners who provided important input into this process:
purpose outlined in a clear task or remit to participants, which is linked to a defined public problem that involves the weighing of trade-offs;
influence on public decisions through a clear link to the policy process, including guidelines for how the decision-making authority will respond to recommendations determined at the outset, wide use of voter information, internal implementation structures, or authority to sponsor popular referendums or directly enact policy;
respect for the participants and a valuation of their time and efforts;
representativeness of participants (a “microcosm of the general public”) through random selection and demographic stratification;
deliberation, which entails listening carefully and actively; a mix of various formats that alternate between small group and plenary discussions, and skilled facilitation;
informed discussion by providing participants with adequate time and resources to learn and weigh expertise and evidence from a wide range of experts and stakeholders;
independence of the process at arm’s length from the commissioning public authority;
transparency of all materials – including process design, agendas, briefing documents, submissions, audio and video recordings, the report, and methodology – that should be available to the public, and
publicity of the recommendations, the final report (often written in the words of participants themselves), and the public authority’s response to the recommendations.
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