Shaping policies for inclusive growth: voice, inclusion and engagement

To develop policies that promote Inclusive Growth, public institutions must themselves be inclusive. Governments should give voice to stakeholders and encourage them to engage in decision-making. This chapter describes ways to involve the elderly, youth, unemployed and unprivileged segments of the population. It also focuses on preventing policy capture by special interest groups. The authors address stakeholder engagement in shaping policies, for example through participative budgeting. They describe leveraging tools for engagement, examining access to information and the role of new technologies such Open Government Data and social media. Related challenges are presented, as are various policy levers to involve stakeholders. The chapter also presents ways to ensure that the public sector workforce be inclusive, such as fostering gender equality.