Publication: Amplifying People’s Voices: Opportunities for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement Through Digital Technologies
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2022-03-07
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2023-11-08
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This paper focuses on how digital technologies can be used to increase Citizen Engagement in global development work and how private and public sector organizations can partner with or support World Bank Group (WBG) initiatives in this space. Citizen Engagement (CE) is a vital, required, part of all WBG-financed projects.Defined at its most basic as “two-way interactions” between citizens and governments, it covers a wide range of activities that empower citizens to make better decisions, give inputs into projects affecting their communities, and help them be heard in public matters. Citizen Engagement takes many forms, called mechanisms, and serves many functions as evidenced by their names: Grievance Redress Mechanism, Community Score Cards, Participatory Budgeting, and Social Audit, for example. CE covers a spectrum of citizen interactions – Inform, Consult, Collaborate, and Empower. CE has the end goals of: amplifying the voice and agency of citizens; increasing trust, transparency and accountability; and fostering the creation and expansion of civilsociety. Research consistently shows that more vocal and active citizens, empowered by CE mechanisms of all types, consistently boost key metrics in development projects, improve government services and responsiveness, and promote continued civic participation after projects are completed.
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“World Bank. 2022. Amplifying People’s Voices: Opportunities for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement Through Digital Technologies. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40585 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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