What are civic participation and civic activities? (2023)

What is citizen participation?

Civic participation is the involvement of individual voters or communities in local, state, and national government. Civic engagement can include voting, political activism, volunteering, etc.commitment to the community. In short, it is the participation of people in governmental and democratic processes.

What are citizen activities?

The potential list of civil society activities involving citizen participation is almost endless and, of course, varies from place to place. Some examples of citizen participation at the local level are:

• To choose
• attending a board meeting
• Work in a community garden or community activity center
• volunteer opportunities

Why is citizen participation important for good governance?

Alexis de Tocqueville toDemocracy in America, writes: “The health of a democratic society can be measured by the quality of the functions performed by private individuals.” The “quality of the job” is civic engagement. Civic engagement is an essential part of good local governance, because democracy needs both elements to function successfully.

Government unites people through common goals and common laws. There are many different forms of government, some more successful than others, but regardless, government organizations such as local government are constantly evolving along with changing values, which are reflected in both the rulers and the ruled. Citizen participation is essential to evolve in providing better services, agility and equity.

Citizen participation is essentialbecause it allows citizens to influence local government policies, values ​​and priorities. This, in turn, leads to higher levels of trust, stronger and happier communities, and creates empowerment among residents who are often overlooked and listened to.

What are the benefits of citizen participation?

Civic engagement is not alone. Citizen participation that goes beyond simple voting can have a positive impact on local government. It also benefits far more aspects of a resident's life than just the government agency itself.

Benefits for local governments include:

• Strengthening community engagement: Civic engagement is not the same as social engagement. However, none of them exist in a vacuum. Omore engaged residentsare in their local community, the more those same residents are involved in civic activities. Civic participation creates a virtuous circle that brings many benefits, including better governance and mental and health benefits for residents.
• Increase inclusion and equal opportunities:Communities are made up of individuals, and each individual has a unique background, perhaps from a different country, perhaps speaking and feeling comfortable in different languages, having their own level of education, marital status, and more. Of course, these are just some of the variables that make up a city, county or municipality. Citizen participation helps to strengthennoresidents and helps government leaders understand their residents' needs and priorities. Understanding all communities and involving residents from different communities encourages greater participation and increases levels of equity and inclusion. These residents see firsthand how the government works and their experience is taken up and shared with their community, creating a virtuous cycle of civic participation.

Read blog: The Catch-22 of fair strategic planning - and how to avoid them

The main benefits of citizen participation for citizens are:

• Improve physical and mental health: studiesshowed that civic engagement has a secondary effect on improving physical and mental health. The act of voting leads voters to self-educate themselves about better health.volunteer work, in every way, helps maintain mental health by expanding your network of friends and resources.
• Creating Next Generation Leaders: Civic engagement for residents under 25 is "work to make a differencein the civic life of their own community.” To make a difference, young civics need the guidance, education, mentoring and skills to become the next generation of leaders. There ismany programsthat encourage the younger generation not only to understand their government, but also to participate in it. It is imperative that all generations are involved in passing the civic engagement torch and keeping the flame burning for all citizens.

What are the challenges of citizen participation?

According toAnnette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas, Austinthere are five main challenges for citizen participation. We've listed and expanded them below and added some additional challenges:

1. Courtesy: As we all know, today's society is very polarized. This polarization causes people to withdraw from civic participation and lose faith and trust in government. It seems that nothing will change and the situation is desperate. It becomes easier to just ignore it and walk away than to get involved and participate.
2. Function models:In our modern world, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the model from those who simply speak louder. Withoutmodels, the younger generation will not necessarily recognize the importance of civic engagement.
3. Capabilities: The skills needed for civic engagement are skills like empathy, the ability to listen, and the ability to lead and be physically present in our cities and communities. We are more used to focusing on technology skills than being able to communicate effectively or even run for office.
4. Conscience: The sheer volume of information available every day leaves no time to sift through it and determine what is most valuable. Awareness of what is going on around you is key to civic participation, which is often spurred by events that happen (or don't) in your local community.
5. Knowledge to participate: Many students take civics classes in high school, and that is the end of their formal education about government and civics in America. Sometimes it can be unclear how to get involved, how to vote, how to volunteer, and residents can also find this intimidating. Cities and counties need to communicate clearly and through multiple channels to let residents know what is happening in their community.
6. Participation barriers: To truly hear every corner of a community, the entire community needs to be able to vote. Some of the barriers to participation do not address a wide range of residents, slow or spotty internet connections, and time, which is a valuable resource for residents of all ages.

How to increase citizen participation?

OBrookings-Institution, in honor of the year 1776, wrote aList of 76 possibilities“Strengthening Civic Participation”. Among the many things suggested is how Americans can increase theirterParticipation in local government. The list suggests things like: stay tuned, vote, volunteer, build community, and just get out and get involved.

But how are the local governmentsincrease citizen participation?Through sponsorship and support:

• commitment to the community
• community development
• independent media
• inclusion and justice
• Transparent communication and governance

Simply put, local governments must provide the tools and opportunities for active citizenship.

How can citizens and governments work together?

1. To connect:There is no shortage of ways to connect with your citizens.social media, official city or county websites, text messaging, chatbots,Survey, and old town hall meetings. All of these opportunities are channels to listen and share with residents: what is happening now, what might happen in the future, and why something happened in the past. Remember, the more they know, the more they'll want to get involved.
2. To hear:don't trust themSTP(same ten people) to broadcast what is happening in their community. Listen to your entire community through a platform like Zencity. For example, the city of Scottsdale, AZ,I wanted to understandwhat the majority of your city thought of a proposed bond program. In fact, there was citizen participation, but the city did not have the opportunity to hear this engagement. By analyzing the data, the city understood what was missing from its message and why residents were opposed to the proposal. Read the full case studyHere.
3. Lei: Finally, local governments need to answer the questions that motivate citizen participation. After taking action, cities and counties need to know whether their actions were successful.read abouthow one county used community feedback to understand the effectiveness of its COVID-19 immunization strategy.

Zencity Civic Engagement Solution

ZencityCommunity insights and analytics platformis the leading civic engagement software for local governments, built to make smart decisions. Our platform collects organic, proactive feedback from every corner of your community and translates millions of community feedback data points into actionable insights.