Improving Citizen Participation and Feedback in Your Bagh: AManual on Town Halls
6
I.Constituent Engagement
Constituent engagement is part of the process with which
government officials develop relationships with citizens to
promote civic involvement, increase public awareness and
respond to constituent needs. It is a critical part of a repre-
sentative’s responsibility to constituents. Through outreach,
representatives can be accessible, engaged and address
deeply felt needs.
A useful tool for conducting outreach and understand-
ing constituent needs and priorities are town hall meetings.
Town hall meetings are forums that connect citizens with
their elected officials to enable the two factions to dialogue
face-to-face about issues affecting the community. These
events are open to the public, fostering a positive environ-
ment for all citizens to share their questions and concerns,
thus holding government representatives directly accounta-
ble to take action and respond to their constituents’ needs.
In turn, elected officials gain a better understanding of cit-
izens’ priorities and are allowed the opportunity to explain
their own efforts, the impact of their past work and their
plans for future improvements within their jurisdiction.
Figure 1: Mongolian government structure
Mongolian
government
21 aimag
(province)
Capital
Ulaanbaatar
329 soum
(sub-province)
9 district
1568 bagh
152 khoroo
(sub-district)
