Citizen Participation and Inclusive Governance

The Citizen Participation and Inclusive Governance course is designed for professionals working on participation, inclusion and social accountability processes. We encourage participants from national, regional and local governments, NGOs and donor and development organisations to apply.

After this course, participants will receive a professional certificate of completion from The Hague Academy for Local Governance.

*Professionals working in local government or for local NGOs on the DAC list of ODA-recipient countries (OECD) may qualify for a reduced course fee. Contact us for details.

Learning objectives

• Guided by high-level international experts, participants will:
• Specify conditions and do’s and don’ts for successful citizen participation projects;
• Define the conditions necessary to facilitate an open government, including open data initiatives;
• Adopt an innovation mindset and learn from innovative participation and inclusion practices from different countries.
• Develop actions to strengthen the inclusion of marginalised groups – such as women and youth – in decision-making processes;
• Identify instruments for increasing social accountability.

Experts

Shakira van Steenis

• A citizen participation expert and the director of Love and Sorrow Streets and the Grassroots office, foundations that aim to get participation off the ground, for instance, by designing urban spaces together with citizens.

Nicolas Haezebrouck

• Nicolas is a governance specialist and trainer with over 10 years of experience in a variety of conflict-affected and fragile countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He has experience in the areas of conflict, rule of law, human security, local security, gender inclusive governance and decentralisation.

Lindsay Vogelzang

• Lindsay is an anthropologist, facilitator, and program lead focused on driving social impact. Since 2021, she works at Fuge in Utrecht, which  develops participatory approaches for local, public, private governance, taken into consideration future generations. She has collaborated with Dutch Youth Institute and Erasmus+ Jeugd and works as a national coordinator for Democracy Reloading

Experience

Participants will be introduced to a diversity of practical and innovative tools to advance citizen participation at the local level. Exchanges of experiences and case-studies will test the applicability of tools to their own context during interactive exercises and debates.

A visit to the Schilderswijk in The Hague invites participants to think about the interaction between local government and citizens in public placemaking initiatives, and the collaboration towards joint solutions.

During a study visits to the Municipal Office of The Hague, participants are introduced to a variety of participatory methods used by the Municipality to involve citizens and partners in their activities, and what citizen participation looks like at a neighbourhood level.

Lastly, a visit to the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management will give participants insights into how public participation is organised on a national level in the Netherlands.