As a local government manager, it is critical that our citizen engagement programs embody key core values to help encourage public participation.  Just like key values for our organizations, these values can become the building blocks for the creation of a true culture of public participation.  

For the purpose of helping practitioners make better decisions that reflect the interests and concerns of potentially affected people and entities, the international leader in public participation - the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) - has developed its  Core Values for the Practice of Public Participation.  These core values include:

• Public participation is based on the belief that those who are affected by a decision have a right to be involved in the decision making process.
• Public participation includes the promise that the public’s contribution will influence the decision.
• Public participation promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and communicating the needs and interests of all participants, including decision makers.
• Public participation seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those potentially affected by or interested in a decision.
• Public participation seeks input from participants in designing how they participate.
• Public participation provides participants with the information they need to participate in a meaningful way. 
• Public participation communicates to participants how their input affected the decision

IAP2USA accepts nominations for the Core Value Awards in three categories:

• Project of the Year,
• Organization of the Year, and
• Research Project of the Year.

Nominations are being accepted through June 5, 2014.  Projects must have been completed in the USA, but IAP2USA membership is not required. Applicants should be able to describe how their work expresses the IAP2 Core Values and other IAP2 foundations.

A webinar on the application process and evaluation criteria will be offered on May 22 at 1 pm PDT.  All the details including webinar registration are available on the IAP2-USA website at:   http://iap2usa.org/corevaluesawards2014.

ICMA's Center for Management Strategies  promotes the use of the IAP2 Core Values and Spectrum for Public Participation.  To learn more about these important tools that can assist your engagement program, please visit our documents and articles library today.