Improving Citizen Participation and Feedback in Your Bagh: AManual on Town Halls
30
V.Appendices
Appendix 1: Town hall event checklist
A “how to” checklist for successful public meetings from
concept to follow-up
Setup
• Define purpose and structure
• Will the town hall begin with a presentation from the gov-
ernment official and then take questions or will the entire
conversation be driven by constituents’ questions?
Options for structure:
–– Reporting on specific programs/initiatives the govern-
ment has implemented
–– General thematic discussions such as: community
safety/security, economic opportunities/job creation,
trash collection/other municipal services, food insecuri-
ty
–– Issues targeted should be relevant to the community
as identified by public opinion polling, focus groups or
other participatory methods
–– Open discussion, completely driven by citizen interest
• Brief invited public officials on objective and expectations
• Based on the structure chosen, identify appropriate elected
officials
• Officials should understand the range of topics they are
expected to discuss, be willing to openly engage constitu-
ents and understand that CSOs will record their responses
to use in future monitoring
• Recommend that public officials bring support staff who
can speak on select issues/subjects expected to arise in dis-
cussion
• Identify location and time
