During a journey through the idyllic town of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, we were directed by many city experts to meet an auto mechanic. He was the go-to person for everyone in the city, including the city government, for engineering issues such as the city’s water supply. He had seen the city evolve and remembered its various extensions, its water supply networks, and the various issues the city had faced in the last three decades. This was a surprising yet welcome change after relying on experts to know about cities in our work.
The prevailing approach to citizen engagement fails to create a space and a platform where decision-makers actively seek the opinions and knowledge of ordinary citizens. Only the residents, who live with the city's challenges daily, can provide a truly comprehensive understanding of its functioning.
Smaller cities have immense potential for impactful citizen engagement but lack institutional efforts to seek citizen voices. Interestingly, these cities traditionally witnessed strong collaborative governance led by non-governmental agencies as local governments have only recently started catching up with urban service delivery. However, the emerging formal paradigm of governance is centred around government agencies. Within this paradigm, it has been challenging to find pathways for these agencies to connect with the informally congregated citizen voices in tea shops, tree shades and other public spaces.
Citizen involvement, when initiated by the government in these cities often underutilises and undervalues local voices. Citizens' opinions, even if sought, rarely receive the significance they deserve. Additionally, these initiatives frequently suffer from low citizen turnout due to inadequate and insincere efforts to engage them in meaningful discussions.
To bridge the gap between government actions and citizens' needs, it is essential to identify and strengthen spaces for citizen engagement. This involves both opening government agencies to citizen suggestions and enabling citizens to approach their city government institutionally. In this piece, we will focus on the ways in which the government can be more open to listening to its citizens.
1. Changing approach to citizen engagement
Valuing citizen voices: The first step in seeking citizen voices is valuing them. There is a prevailing notion that 'domain experts' have all the answers to the complex challenges cities face. However, active citizens and citizen groups from various smart cities have alleged that they were not invited to provide input for smart city proposals. Even when they were invited, their inputs were often excluded from the final proposals, and in many cases, the final proposal was not even shared with them.
Valuing citizen voices can be achieved through several strategies:
Formal invitations: Actively invite citizens to participate in discussions and decision-making processes.
Public recognition: Recognise valuable inputs on public platforms and at events celebrating citizen contributions.
Showcase success stories: Share success stories and testimonials that highlight the impact of citizen input.
Transparent feedback mechanism: Establish a transparent feedback system to keep citizens informed about how their contributions were used and the outcomes that resulted.
Respecting local context and authenticity of a place: During a visit to another small town, we learned of a government event where the President of India was the chief guest. Despite suggestions to showcase craftwork from local artisans, the event opted for generic flower bouquets. This small example highlights a broader issue of disregarding local culture in larger programs. Government agencies could enhance engagement by incorporating local culture into their decision-making processes.
Utilising a city's unique cultural heritage and natural resources in development projects can make engagement more relatable and meaningful to the community. For instance, organisations in Udaipur have successfully mobilised people for lake conservation efforts by tapping into the cultural and emotional connections they have with their lakes.
Government agencies can demonstrate their commitment to engagement by respecting local contexts and cultures. This approach not only fosters a deeper connection with the community but also promotes sustainable and inclusive development that reflects the authentic identity of the place.
2. Innovating with the modes of engagement
Emphasising the role of temporary engagements in shaping permanent solutions: Temporary projects, such as open street days, or awareness campaigns, play a crucial role in involving communities, shaping public perception and influencing permanent solutions. These initiatives, typically limited in duration and cost, serve as testing grounds where citizens can experience and provide feedback on potential permanent changes. Encouraging cities to adopt more temporary initiatives can foster a culture of active citizen participation. These initiatives not only engage communities in meaningful ways but also provide valuable insights that can inform the development of more permanent and institutionalized pathways for citizen engagement.
Balancing online feedback with offline feedback: Government-initiated spaces have increasingly favoured digital platforms over in-person interactions, especially in smaller cities. Yet, our work at Nagrika, an NGO investing in building knowledge for better city decisions, reveals that in smaller Indian cities, there is a clear citizen preference for offline engagement, such as informal meetups, volunteer days, clean-up drives, lectures, and symposiums. These intimate, community-focused approaches are highly valued in smaller cities, known for their strong community bonds. They facilitate deeper connections among residents and provide nuanced, context-specific feedback often missed in digital forums. Striking a balance between online and offline methods is essential for effective citizen engagement.
Engaging with local CSOs and NGOs as a better bridge: Engaging with local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is a strategic approach to bridging the gap between government initiatives and community needs. These organizations have established deep-rooted connections within communities, founded on long-term trust and mutual understanding. By leveraging these networks, government agencies can effectively tailor public projects to meet the specific needs and contexts of local populations. This collaborative approach enhances the relevance and success of initiatives, fostering a more inclusive and responsive governance framework.
Smaller cities have the potential to foster ground-up policy decisions that align closely with the aspirations of their citizens. However, the absence of clear avenues for expression and the underexplored nature of local issues and solutions underscore the necessity for accessible and valued platforms for citizen input. This entails gaining a deeper understanding of the key actors who initiate or facilitate these engagement opportunities. It also involves evaluating existing engagement models to pinpoint areas where citizen participation is robust as well as areas where it is lacking.
Tarun Sharma & Yutika Vora are Co-Founders of Nagrika, a social enterprise building a movement to turn small towns into resilient communities by giving voice to citizens.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
