Improving Citizen Participation and Feedback in Your Bagh: AManual on Town Halls
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that differ from others in the community.
Serving the community
– In addition to serving the in-
dividual, and irrespective of whether they were elected in
a single mandate district or from a party list, an elected of-
ficial must also be available to represent the needs of the
community as a whole. This includes civic organizations
that represent a variety of issues affecting the citizenry, or
private enterprises that have interests within the community.
II. Engaging through town hall meetings
A town hall meeting is an important tool to inform cit-
izens about emerging issues, gauge where a community
stands and identify and implement solutions to a problem.
They are an effective way to get your message across to the
public, generate news media coverage, jump-start commu-
nity planning efforts and identify issues that matter to your
constituents. Town hall meetings are forums for citizens to
express their views as opposed to an opportunity to just con-
duct regular bagh level government business. These meet-
ings offer an opportunity for citizens to provide feedback to
government officials on the most pressing and concerning
issues that face them.
Town hall meetings, like all constituent engagement ac-
tivities, can serve a range of purposes. Typically, they most
often facilitate the middle three stages of the citizen-govern-
ment engagement continuum.
Adapted from IAP2
Listen
– Government officials explain an issue, policy or
program to constituents in an accessible, relevant manner to
better enable constituents to understand government actions
and, through their questions and comments, understand the
Announce
Listen
Discuss
Collabo-
rate
Empower
